The Chics About Town, June 2015 Edition

Oh Chicsters, forgive us, for we’ve been remiss at keeping you in the know! A mixture of life, busyness and sheer laziness kept The Chics from tuning in but, rest assured, NO MORE!

As you know, The Chics exploded unto the scene by interviewing fashion icon, and the inspiration of A Pile Of Chic, Betsey Johnson! Next up was supermodel Kate Upton, followed by a very busy month of March that saw them politely stalking, meeting and filming Margaret Cho, ending with a big splash that was their interview of Danish actress, incredible visionary, philanthropist and activist, Connie Nielsen!

Their interview with Connie was their first professionally filmed interview. What do we mean? Well, we are so excited to announce that A Pile Of Chic has their very own Team Chic, comprised of videographers Nancy Ericsson, John Chris Lopez and Stefunny Pettee! Welcome to our world of Chic guys!

Now let’s delve in, shall we?

May 7th the incredible Writer/Director/Producer Jill Soloway, of Transparent fame no less, was in town for a conversation with Michelle Tea and Eileen Myles at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Of course, our Chic actress Leila Radan rushed on over and met her! Does that get our Chics one step closer to maybe interviewing Jill some day? We do not know but we do know this, what The Chics decide they want, The Chics will get so we reserve bragging rights for the day that interview is indeed scored! Jill Soloway, we’re coming to getcha!

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May 11th saw The Chics in the company of Justin Fichelson, San Francisco native and one of the stars of the upcoming reality TV show, Million Dollar Listing San Francisco! Michele was under the weather but gracefully showed up for moral support and in solidarity with Leila as Leila interviewed Justin at one of their favorite San Francisco stores, Wonderland SF. Thank you Irene Hernandez-Feiks for welcoming The Chics into your incredible world with open arms!

Check out the sneak peek of the show here, our candid shots below and stay tuned for our interview with Justin!

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May 20th Michele and Leila proved their hard core admiration of none other than acclaimed director John Waters, by being first in line for his sold out (within the first 4 minutes of it being posted online we were told) book reading at local San Francisco bookstore, Green Apple Books on the Park! Though they have yet to score an interview with Mr. Waters, they are pursuing him and have even tracked down his very lovely and polite publicist and come Fall may be able to talk one on one with the Pope of Trash himself, the very Prince of Puke, or as he likes to refer to himself, the one and only Filth Elder! Oh yes they will!

They did, however, manage to get some Chic guerilla footage of the man himself reading from his latest book, Carsick, and answering their questions in the Q&A no less, but we’re gonna tease you for now with the below snapshots and show you the footage at a later date just because we can! So, for now, the below is all the John Waters Chicness you get!

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May 27th Leila and Michele interviewed former model and celebrity photographer Mr. Nigel Barker, of America’s Next Top Model fame, as he made a stop at Macy’s San Francisco to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and to promote his latest book, Models of Influence! Oh yes, THE Nigel Barker! What can we say? The man was a true gentleman and as charming, intelligent, passionate and polite as he is handsome!

Here’s a little side chat Leila had with Nigel, dedicated to her high school Sri Lankan friend Sasha, and a couple of shots, both that Nigel himself snapped with Leila’s iPhone 6Plus. Does this mean that The Chics have been photographed by Nigel Barker? Why yes, yes it does!

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And last, but definitely not least, we are beyond thrilled and honored to announce that we are partaking in quite the fun and exciting Fashion Incubator San Francisco panel Using Blogs to Build Your Brand, moderated by our favorite writer, fashionista-in-the-know, San Francisco Chronicle STYLE contributor and fashion commentator Tony Bravo! Spread the word and come on down and join our Chics as they add their voices to those of leading fashion and lifestyle bloggers from j’adore couture and Stylenik as they all reveal what works and what won’t in building followers to grow your brand. Get your tickets here and join us this Wednesday the 17th, from 6:30pm – 9pm! Don’t miss it!

How’s that for an update? But wait, to recap and to add a bit more goodness to the mix, stay tuned for:

  • The posting of our Justin Fichelson interview.
  • The posting of our guerilla footage of director John Waters.
  • The posting of our Nigel Barker interview.
  • The posting of our first panel experience.

HUZZAH! And on we go with the show. YO!

Chic Talk with Connie Nielsen!

April 20th found my partner-in-Chic Michele and me in the beautiful Marin home of Danish actress Connie Nielsen, safely tucked away from the rowdy-trafficky-overcrowded-pretty-much-shut-the-city-down infamous San Francisco pot day festivities.

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As gracious as she is beautiful, Connie warmly welcomed us into her home and generously granted us an extended interview that found us doing away with our Hollywood career related questions (after all, her incredible body of work speaks for itself) and placing our focus on her inspiring non-profits, Human Needs Project and Road To Freedom Scholarships.

We left Connie’s home in awe of her accomplishments and fully enamored by her, her kind heart and compassionate ways. In a world where quick fixes are the norm, where solutions are short term and, more often than not, act as self-aggrandizing bandaid token acts of kindness aimed at elevating one’s philanthropic profile rather than truly offering those in need a long term solution, Connie’s accomplishments with Human Needs Project and Road To Freedom Scholarships stand out as models of tangible hope that both elevate and nurture human dignity along the way. But why write about it when you can delve in and see for yourselves?

Click on through and join us in our awe, and in our celebration, of a woman we admire, respect and simply adore, Connie Nielsen.