Nowadays, no major chain misses the opportunity to brand you when you leave the store with a nice shopping bag that identifies you, at least until you get home, as a happy customer of their empire. But what do these bags say about you?

Meagan Cignoli

Meagan Cignoli is an up-and-coming fashion and portrait photographer in NYC. Only in her 20s, she has already photographed fashion editorials and features for the likes of Elle magazine, Prestige magazine, Fortune, Womens Wear Daily, and Industry magazine.

To say Cignoli is an incredible photographer would not only be an understatement, it would detract from what she actually does best--telling stories, creating characters, and playing with identities. Meagan's photographs have the feel of motion picture still lifes whose plots you are yearning to discover. Whether capturing beautiful women in exotic locales or mere mortals in the throes of mundanity, all of Meagan's images are perfectly crafted homages to mood and detail. Needless to say, we were excited to interview her here at Chicktellectual.

 When I decided to get a tattoo (not yet acquired) I searched for artists to convey that je ne sais quoi that I was after. Kelly Haigh pretty much fit the bill perfectly, so I have been mulling over her paintings lately. Naturally, I was delighted today to find some of her works on a clever little metel wallet and other chotchkies at Flirt in Brooklyn today, so I snatched one up. The photo does not do it justice.

 Behind that is the Acme Made Bowler handbag made especially for SLR Cameras. The description says "For Ladies", LoL! I put seven little spikes on it today. I bought those spikes years ago at Trash and Vaudeville (I think). Finally putting them to good use!

       The comparisons were inevitable. One is a sexually provocative, envelope-pushing, hit-churning, fashion-risk-taking, controversy-thriving, gay pop icon. And the other is....well, the same thing. While Gaga is clearly much newer to the fame game and has yet to demonstrate the enormous staying power of Queen Madge, they have both developed their own unique brands of cultural hysteria and fiercely loyal fanbases. Allow Chicktellectual to break it down for you.

When it comes to looking good in grad school, look no further than academichic, an awesome blog written by "Three feminist PhD candidates at a Midwest university, on a crusade against the ill-fitting polyester suit of academic yore." Yore? How about today? Man have you seen the way a typical PhD dresses? Like crap, that's how. But I digress, these PhDc's not only have a fab website (arranged with categories like "Funding" for ads, "Bibliography" instead of blog roll, etc), but they show off some truly adorable outfits on (mostly) grad-school budgets. And would we put them here if they didn't look smart and cute? Of course, with complete academic rigor, they show you how they put the outfit together and include well-photographed close-ups when necessary. This is no amateur fashion blog.

Is there feminist talk? Hells yea. As advertised. (although it is mostly in the comments).

Maya Erdelyi-Perez

From ice sculpting at the Ice Hotel in the Arctic to staging renegade fashion shows in the Paris subway system, the life of New York born artist Maya Erdelyi-Perez is not unlike one of her own surreal animated films.  On the eve of shooting a new music video, Maya chats with me about illegal subway spectacles, collaborating with band No Surrender and Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio and her upcoming exhibit this Saturday night.

 I previously reported incorrectly that Wonderbra had signed and then fired model Katie Green. After speaking with representatives from some of the parties involved, and doing a bit more research, here's the whole story, which unfortunately got a bit lost in our editorial backlogs. Apologies to Wonderbra.

Katie Green Stands in front of her Billboard.
Click to Enlarge.

Back in July of '08, Wonderbra announced it was inviting women of all ages, shapes and sizes to participate in what it called "Britain's biggest underwear photoshoot." The result of the photoshoot was a billboard mosaic made up of pictures of the 1,000 women who showed up and got free makeovers and photoshoots. Unfortunately, Katie Green, who was chosen to be the star of the shoot, (her picture would appear as the composite of the mosaic) forgot to leave her digits (probably out of habit from all those slimy pub nights, right Katie?). When Katie didn't get called back, she thought it was time to move on to other things, and was just about to apply to become a police officer when her friends told her that her photo was in the paper and that Wonderbra was looking for her.

Helle Mardahl looking relaxed just a few days before her first NYC show opens up

 It's not often that you meet someone who says she gave up her successful career to become an artist because she was sick of working so hard for so little money. But that's how Helle Mardahl came to be an artist. In fact, she told me, "I believe in destiny and destiny told me to calm down a bit."

 I met Mardahl recently at LaViolaBank Gallery, where she was preparing for her upcoming show, The Largest Possible Audience. She was white-washing a canvas in preparation for a projection, which seemed more like a Zen exercise than work. We discussed her art and her previous career in fashion and I noticed that she certainly had the energy, passion and vigor of someone in fashion, but at the same time I also noticed an air of relaxation and even contentment about her. The satisfaction she seems to have found in developing the complex and intricate works she was putting up might have surprised her a few years ago, but her drive and determination didn't mean she had the manic furvor I've seen in so many fashion designers.

 Despite the complexity of her works, she explained her ideas and inspiration in very simple terms. People's obsession with the royal family, which inspired her last show, and people's desire for attention which inspired this show, are so simple that you don't have to be a 'tellectual to understand what she's talking about.

Interview With One of England's Coolest Burlesque Dancers

Anna Fur Laxis
Everyday Wear
Photo by Candee Photography

On my list of American things -- way above apple pie, which isn't American, and motherhood, which we all know is universal -- is Bettie Page. Page, who passed away in December, is both the most unique and most iconic symbol of the entire so-called "Cheesecake" photography movement of the 1950's.

Recently, Cheesecake, along with burlesque, has seen a big comeback, and I had a chance to chat with one of Page's biggest admirers, England's Anna Fur Laxis, about her Bettie Page inspired modeling and burlesque show. Her sense of humor, fetish, and sexuality channel something that many people don't even know existed back then. So true to Bettie's spirit (not to mention appearance!) is Anna, that it was hard for me to remember that I was speaking with a Brit -- except when she said things like "uni" for university and used the occasional British spelling. Of course, there are a few other super British things she does in this interview, but I can't give away all the surprises!

If there's more to life than having ten dogs and designing retro bathing suits, Sheila Frank doesn't know what it is.

When I came across Sheila Frank, I immediately took notice of her retro bathing suits. These suits would look right at home on Betty Page (or if you're young and hip like that, let's say Katy Perry), but her other looks are thoroughly contemporary. They are simple, unique and elegant. We here at Chick tee dot com love the fact that her looks aren't just designed for barbie dolls, either: most of them will fit women of various body-types equally well, so you don't have to look like a model to, well, look like a model.

Sheila Frank's World

After trying to pose Sheila Frank (above, right) with makeup artist Sam Lennon (above, left) and their model (above, center, and below), Sheila just chilled out with them and had a laugh.

I visited with Sheila recently when she was in New York for a photoshoot. Crammed into a tiny bed-stuy appartment converted for use as a photo-studio, Sheila had assembled some amazing tallent. Interacting like seasoned pros, I was surprised that they had all met online and that they were all working for free in exchange for the right to use the photos in their portfolio. Sheila, on the other hand, hardly had to do anything, and when I asked her to stand next to the makeup artist and model for a picture she got uncomfotable and didn't know what to do -- it wasn't her place to be tinkering with makeup and so on. Eventually they just chatted and teased each other. Sheila said that on some occasions she would have the work sent away and not even gone to the shoot herself.

Bangs are hot.  If you don't believe me, just check out the hair of the people who know fashion the best: teens, musicians, models and those cute people at the clubs who you envy -- or want to get with.  They are wearing bangs and they look terrific.  Bangs are so popular that the sarcastic blog Stuff White People Like even had to have an entry about it.   However you look at it, though, there's no denying a good look, and the last few years has seen an explosion of bangs.  If you're considering jumping on the bang-wagon, now's your chance because with the help of some people who have some seriously great bangs, we're gonna show you how it's done!

Note from our friends across the pond: bangs are also called fringe hair!

Goth, emo, dark punk and related looks have been making inroads into mainstream fashion since... well... forever. Long ago, mainstream fashion discovered that it's not just a fad, and regular people don't have to seek out specialty stores or even Hot Topic to do the look. But let's face it, the complete vamped-out gothic-lolita style is not for everyone. Maybe you just want a touch. These looks have a lot of sex-appeal, but maybe it has too much charge for everyday wear. You can easily vary it so that the same look is appropriate for going to galleries, dancing or even a fancy dinner -- maybe even work, if you work somewhere laid back enough.

We thought we'd start off NYC Fashion week with a little tip from our good friend Liz who created a more subtle look you might want to try out.

Liz is a PhD student in psychology. She studies Asperger Syndrome.

[Editorial note: we were recently contacted by Wonderbra about this story because of some incorrect statements we made. For an update, we posted the full Katie Green story with a more accurate tale portrayal of Wonderbra.]

 You may not know who Katie Green is. Well, you are not alone. But Sony thought it would be clever to have her pose in her unmentionables for for their new press release showing how thin their new flat-screen TV is. The irony? Not too long ago she was fired by Wonderbra because she wasn't thin enough and refused to slim down. Of course, putting her in the TV pictures frankly makes it hard to see the TV, but I suppose that's one way of selling a £3000 ($4300) TV. You'd think just pointing out that it's the world's thinnest would be enough.

  Well, let's face it, you probably know already, but you might be a drag queen at heart. Have you been a little extra dramatic lately? Have you been a little, shall we say, less than shy? Here's our check list so you can find out if you might be a drag queen.