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Best Multimedia Hair Salon

Hairspray

Not too many clip joints have their own art gallery, but Cue Perez's Hairspray is outfitted with large-scale work by local artists in various media, including photography, prints, oil and acrylic. The exhibits change every couple of months and complement the hip, industrial feel of the salon. A cut above, Hairspray elevates the art of beauty.

Best Thrift Store

Mile High Thrift

Clean, well-organized and spacious, Mile High is a bargain hunter's dream. How about a cashmere turtleneck for $1.99? Or maybe that immaculate leather jacket for six bucks? If you're feeling flush, splurge on a Dooney & Bourke handbag for $14.95. There's even a decent selection of books and crockery. Bring cash and your size chart: There are no fitting rooms, and Mile High doesn't take checks or credit cards. But there is an ATM on the premises, and with prices this low, your bank's service charge may be the most expensive transaction of the day.

Best Thrift Store for the Really, Really Thrifty

Goodwill Industries

The conversion of Goodwill Industries' north Denver store to a 99-cent emporium has been a hit with cash-strapped families, seniors and anyone else trying to stretch a buck. Clothes and housewares that may have been passed over at other stores get renewed attention here. With every item beckoning at the bargain price of $.99, it just makes cents.

Best Consignment Store

Twice as Haute

The deals are hot at Twice as Haute, where ladies can pick up stylin' black Banana Republic leather pants for $60, a red DKNY cocktail dress for $68 and a full-length white mink coat for $998 -- plus the Kenneth Cole heels, Gucci purse, velvet fedora and gemstone jewelry to go with them. Located in an old house on 6th Avenue, the store carries labels like Burberry, BCBG Max Azria, Miss Sixty and Kate Spade for a smidgen of the original retail price. Be sure to check the tags closely: Items hanging for more than thirty days are automatically reduced another 20 percent. And if your closet deserves an "enter at your own risk" sign, Twice as Haute will take designer goods off your hands on consignment, as long as they are less than two years old and still in fabulous shape. Get ready to turn into a haute mama.

Best Place to Buy Armani on the Cheap

Buffalo Exchange

It's a misnomer to call the Buffalo Exchange a vintage-clothing or thrift store. Nearly a fourth of its eclectic inventory is brand-new, cherry-picked from debut lines of contemporary streetwear that escape the notice of larger, more corporate, mall-based fashion chains (Denver's Capitol Hill location is one of 24 nationwide). If a new indie line's catching a buzz at the MAGIC fashion trade show in Las Vegas one week, it's headed for the racks at the Exchange the next. The store's bread and butter, though, is "recycled fashions," and its heavily pierced in-store buyers excel at mining the garbage bags and laundry baskets trade customers bring in. Prices are generally lower than those at consignment shops offering similarly high-caliber brands and rare finds. We've walked out of Buffalo Exchange with a classic KISS tour shirt ($100 on eBay), a mint-condition Armani pullover ($180 new) and a pair of barely used leather Skechers ($80 new), all for less than sixty bucks. The store's soundtrack is also suitably fashionable: No canned Top 40 here; just the best in edgy indie rock and electronic ambient. Herdy up.

Best Vintage Fabrics

Boss Unlimited

Tucked in the back corner of Boss Unlimited, a Kennedy-era vintage store, is an innocuous box stuffed with bolts of fabric. And what a fun box it is -- full of mid-century mod fabrics that look oh-so-fresh in the current season of Jackie O-inspired fashion. The stock is small, but it changes frequently based on what owner Cynthia Wright scouts. And for the real DIY-er, there's a valise packed with '40s and '50s patterns. Express yourself!

Best Hangout for Knitters

La Ti Da

We don't know when, or why, it happened, but knitting is suddenly hot, with knitting groups popping up like crop circles. La Ti Da, at home in a converted Old South Pearl Street cottage, came along at just the right moment. Knitting mavens Kim Allegretti and Rita Marshall knew exactly what they were doing when they opened the combination coffeehouse, yarn store and gift shop. La Ti Da not only caters to south Denver's needle-wielding denizens by offering them a comfy place to gather, buy top-drawer yarns, learn new stitches or simply while away an afternoon; it also provides an outlet for local artisans, whose wares -- teensy sweaters and poodle dresses for babies, stunning scarves, jewelry, pillows and more -- line one homey alcove. Just the thing for a tight-knit community.

Best Charitable Ladies' Cause

Knit for the Homeless, Shivering Sheep/Coppélia's Needlepoint

Here's a good yarn: Shellie Lubowitz of the Shivering Sheep and Coppélia's Needlepoint in Cherry Creek North so wanted to help the homeless that she organized an ongoing Sunday-afternoon knitting circle for that purpose. Participants get to knit, purl and gab while creating warm items -- gloves, scarves, hats and blankets -- for those who are exposed to the elements all winter long. Knit for the Homeless needles on through the end of April. Look for the new tradition to start up again next fall.

Best One-Stop Shopping for Homeless Kids

Threads clothing program, Denver Public Schools

It's every teenager's birthright to endure the humiliating rite of passage known as the high school prom. Though formal events are a low priority for school-age youths and families living in shelters, that doesn't mean homeless teens don't want to put on a puffy dress or boutonniere and dance the night away with their peers. That's why the Denver Public Schools created the Threads program, which started out as a prom-dress bank before evolving into a full-fledged store with hygiene items and racks of donated clothing kids can purchase with vouchers. Threads has been a huge success since it opened in a local school last fall (whose location is disclosed only to those eligible for the program). The concept has been expanded to serve homeless children in elementary school, who receive vouchers they can use at local Goodwill stores. Who knew something so positive could come out of prom night?

Best Place to Dress for Success

Men at Work Suits Closet

If clothes make the man, Suits Closet can make an employed man. To help male job-seekers obtain interview-appropriate duds, the non-profit job-placement agency DenverWorks recently reopened its clothing bank to underprivileged guys seeking work. Offered by referral to clients in need of the right stuff, the program doesn't seem like much at first. But when you consider that a good suit can make the difference between landing a job and being shown the door, Suits Closet becomes one of those small steps for man and a giant step for mankind.

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