Jessica and Heather, the Fabulous Ladies behind GoFugYourself

The Queens of Cool and the Keepers of the Red Carpet have hit FabCrush– we’re talking about Heather and Jessica of “Go Fug Yourself” fame. We got to steal a few minutes of their time to find out about how things got started, which celebs are totally “fug,” and their own personal fashion triumphs and errors. Mix in the scoop on who’s been looking hot lately and the background on their new book, and you’ve got a great primer on these GFY heroes!

Let us ask about how GFY got so big. How did it start, and how did you get where you are today?

HEATHER: The blog started as an inside joke. We were goofing off at the mall, marveling over terrible movie posters that were pretty appallingly styled, and wondering if we’re just too crotchety and old to understand that the kids these days are actually INTO looking as crazy as possible. So after a really punchy afternoon, we started a blog to preserve the joke, figuring it would just amuse us and maybe our friends. Pals of ours on Television Without Pity threw it some links, and Defamer found it, and then suddenly our hits were going up, up, up. We realized we had an actual popular hobby on our hands, so we tended it more carefully and tried to devote more time to it, tried to add a bit of functionality, started selling ads when we got enough page views, and voila — here we are with about 3.5 million visitors a month.

Which celeb do you think dresses consistently well?

HEATHER: Everyone has off days and on days, frankly. Reese Witherspoon looks reliably cute when she hits the town. Nicole Richie is doing pretty well. I don’t much care for what she wears around town, but then again, what she wears to run errands isn’t really my business — and her red-carpet looks have been really lovely in the last few years.

JESSICA: Yeah, I really like Nicole Richie’s style, generally. I also covet like 99% of what Rachel Bilson has been wearing out lately.

Is there anyone who’s far less fug in ‘08?

HEATHER: Katie Holmes has made herself very, very interesting to watch lately. We all knew the big makeover was coming after she and Tom Cruise got married, and it’s been fascinating to watch her transform herself into a fashion plate with the money to buy any label she wants. For the most part I think she’s really effectively amped up her sophistication.

JESSICA: Fergie has also been looking way cuter in the past year or so than ever before.

We must know: what’s your “official” take on Lindsay Lohan’s new leggings line?

HEATHER: Sigh. I think that is my take: “Sigh.”

JESSICA: Poor Lindsay. She once had so much promise.

Can you let FabCrush in on your favorite and least favorite trends of the season?

HEATHER: I’m pretty lousy at following trends, except as they show up on the red carpets. I’ve never been a huge fan of booties. I’m having a debate with myself about shoes with big clunky, chunky ankle cuffs — there’s a leather pair by Calvin Klein that I think might be kind of cute yet still affordable, but I also think that style gives people cankles, so my jury is still out on that one. And oh my GOD, please, people, stop with the high-waisted jeans. It is almost impossible for those to do anything but hurt a girl’s figure.

JESSICA: I am not into the sort of shortie rompers we’re seeing for summer. I feel like a romper is adorable and appropriate when your age is in the single digits only. One trend I’m kind of into right now is the oversized clutch. It’s one of those things that I think most straight men totally don’t get — the last time I took one out, one boy asked me if I had important legal documents in it, and the other asked me why I was carrying my laptop — but I think they’re cute and fun and surprisingly practical. And I think we can all continue to give thanks for the revival of the dress as casual wear — it really makes looking put together so very much easier.

Which trend is the easiest to make super-fug?

HEATHER: The aforementioned high-waisted jeans, because it’s inherent in them. And of course leggings. They do very little that tights or pants couldn’t achieve in a more flattering way.

JESSICA: The high-waisted jean is really hard to wear. A high-waisted skirt is much more flattering if you’re into that trend.

How do you personally dress? Are there any past fashion choices that make you cringe?

HEATHER: I’m pretty basic, really. Jeans, dresses, sexy-tall stilettos… I love boots, but with skirts rather than over jeans. Essentially I want to look cute but I don’t want the clothes to overshadow me, so that probably makes me a little less risky. There’s a lot of stuff I have trouble trying, because I’m more of an hourglass, so big floaty shirts make me look pregnant, skinny jeans make me look like I have thunderthighs, and generally I need to be able to wear a bra with my shirts and dresses. You’d be surprised at how many things that simple fact can eliminate from contention. I don’t like to be hyper-trendy, because when people are trying too hard to be uber-fashionable, I think that’s when they tend to fall into stuff that doesn’t flatter them as much just for the sake of wearing what’s “in.” Which is how I got to one of my big fashion mistakes — there have been plenty of times when I’ve bought stuff and then brought it home and thought, “Wow, that really doesn’t work. What was
I thinking?” But what takes the cake is my sweater-coat from 2001. It looked cute on Felicity, so I bought one, but then never had the guts to wear it in public because it made me look kind of huge and maybe a little homeless. That one went to Goodwill pretty quickly.

JESSICA: I dress kind of retro-preppy. Lots of patterns and colors. Little jackets and shift dresses — I used to call it “classic
quirky,” which I think is still true. I’m sure plenty of people think I look like their nutty old aunt. Lots of jeans and big sunglasses — living in Los Angeles, we’re lucky because it’s so casual. Whenever we go to New York, I think, “I NEED A WHOLE NEW WARDROBE.”

You’ve referenced your “day jobs” on GFY. After the publication of your tres-fab book, is Go Fug Yourself a full-time gig?

HEATHER: Aw, thanks for the nice words about the book. We’re so proud that it’s done and out there. The day jobs we referenced, we quit in the summer of 2006 — we both used to do the blog while we worked as reality TV producers, but once we sold the book proposal, it was the kick in the pants we needed to make the blog and its associated assignments our entire professional life. So yeah, at this point, GFY is full-time. And it’s been fantastic — so much fun.

Is book #2 in the works, or are there any other exciting projects you have planned for the future?

HEATHER: I think we’re still recovering from the birth of Book #1. But we’re hoping to get into writing some fiction together, maybe something in the young adult arena, which could suit our soapy sensibilities pretty well. It’s been so fun to work and write together that we’re really hoping to keep that going.

Find their Go Fug Yourself: The Fug Awards book over at Amazon, and then head on over to their website for lots more.

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