Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks.

Have you ever wondered why the very people that have tons of cash to drop at swanky stores can be such fashion trainwrecks? Often celebrities have the nerve to flaunt both their big paychecks and free designer clothes. Lucky for us, it's always fun to watch. That's where you'll find Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of the super-popular Go Fug Yourself. Every day they skewer the super famous and their questionable sense of style. One day they will tease Kristen Bell for dressing like a grandma and later praise her for looking cute and non-stumpy. LAist asked Heather and Jessica about all things fug, awards season, and what in the world Posh Spice is thinking.

LAist: What inspired you to create Go Fug Yourself?

HEATHER: Oh, we were just punchy, really. We were wandering through the mall making cracks about movie posters with horrible photos and worse styling, and it led to us making a string of jokes about how maybe we were just behind the times, and looking fugly is really in with the kids today. That's where "fugly is the new pretty" came from; starting the site itself was just an easy extension of the joke, and we never really considered the idea that people would find it and read along with us. I don't know where we thought it was going, but in the moment, we were just out to amuse ourselves and our friends, and then suddenly we realized we had a budding readership. It evolved from there.

JESSICA: We definitely didn't go into it with any kind of plan! We basically just started the site to amuse ourselves.

LAist: Is the Go Fug Yourself empire a full time job?

HEATHER: Oh my gosh, I don't know why we haven't been calling it the GFY Empire this whole time, but that's what it will be henceforth. Yes, the Empire -- I love it; it's like we're the Darth Vaders of celebrity fashion, constantly Striking Back, but without all the raspy breathing -- is a full-time job. It wasn't for a long time, but when we sold our book proposal in June of 2006, we realized we could realistically quit our day jobs and focus on GFY and our freelance work. Best decision we ever made, too. It's been so much fun, and sometimes I don't know how we ever got anything done back when we were juggling it with a 10-to-7 gig. I don't think we'd ever have gotten the book finished.

JESSICA: We also had reached a point where we had to turn down freelance opportunities, because we simply didn't have the time (or the energy!) to fit them in with our day jobs, and we realized that if we COULD make a go of our own project, we probably needed to give it a shot.

LAist: With celebrities having access to stylists and designer clothes, are you ever amazed at how often they make bad fashion choices?

HEATHER: Oh, absolutely. That's the crux of the site, really. That's why we don't fug so-called normal people -- the folks you see at the mall, or on the street. We prefer to focus on the people who've chosen a life in the public eye, and all it entails. They have resources we don't, and their fashion choices have bigger consequences and more impact. Clothes are always a statement about who you are, but when you live your life in front of a camera lens, that is writ much larger -- what you wear is is a much bigger part of your image and your brand. That's why we question a lot of it. It's like, "Did you WANT the world to think you're the movie star who makes dresses out of Hefty bags?"

JESSICA: I also think that celebrities, because they have the resources to do so, tend to go out on a limb more than the average Jane. I'm 100% sure that, if I were a celebrity, there would be a day when I woke up and said something like, "yes, I AM going to wear that one-armed latex catsuit I was sent the other day! What the hell!" And thank god, really -- the one-armed latex catsuits are what make what we do so fun for us.

LAist: Has a celebrity ever contacted you to complain?

HEATHER: Define "celebrity." We definitely get the odd complaint here and there, but usually just from the lesser-known "Random Fug" types -- who are not ACTUALLY random people, I should clarify; it's just a term we use for people on the red carpet we have never heard of and whom we suspect very few other people have heard of either. One girl's complaint was, in fact, that she did NOT believe she was random, thank you very much. By and large I don't think the upper-tier people are really that concerned with anything like this. But it's worth mentioning that the few well-known people who HAVE written to us in response to a fug have always done so in great humor. Elisha Cuthbert sent us a great note once, for instance, and Laura Bennett from Project Runway (we wrote up her Emmy dress last year and she totally dug it) is completely delightful and has been even cooler than we'd imagined.

JESSICA: Yes, most of the few celebrities we have heard from have been tremendous good sports.

LAist: When the WGA Strike led to The Golden Globes being canceled. Did you cry? What's a Fug Girl to do?

HEATHER: We hit the bottle hard and then went cow-tipping. No, just kidding. It IS really sad, though -- there's nothing like all that pageantry, and we'll miss it. Not to trivialize all the strike issues or anything. Obviously we're not arguing that filling the fashion void in our souls is more important than everyone getting fairly paid for their work. But that doesn't mean we weren't this close to chucking a random red carpet sample out on the street in the hope that some gowned celebs would smell it and come running.

JESSICA: Of course, it's disappointing for all of us armchair fashion police not to get our usual line-up. But the strike has affected the Los Angeles economy is so many real ways that we can't legitimately complain about it in any way other than a factitious, "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE OUTFITS?!"

LAist: With daily Fugs such as Ask Aunt Fugly, Fug the Cover, Random Fug, and Celebrity Terror Watch having legions of readers captivated every day, how do keep creating such funny material everyday?

HEATHER: It's simple -- I go to sleep at night with Arrested Development DVDs tucked into my pillowcase, which has the 30 Rock cast silk-screened onto it. Are you implying that not everybody does that?

JESSICA: What a complimentary question! Thank you. Heather, as she's noted, works solely by osmosis. I, on the other hand, get all my best ideas in the bathroom, so I spend a lot of time scrubbing the shower grout and praying for inspiration.

LAist: Your Well Played posts celebrate good taste and judgement. On January 10 even Helena Bonham Carter got inducted into that illustrious group? What's your criteria giving out this honor?

HEATHER: Basically, we just have to like it, or something in the overall look has to strike a chord. Take Katie Holmes in the toga recently. We got a ton of emails from people who were certain she was going to get dinged for it, and in the end I disagreed. The dress on its own wasn't really anything great, but something about how she looked in it really caught my attention in a good way. So I decided to give her credit for wearing something risky that had a big payoff. It made HER, not the dress itself, the star of the show. We like stuff like that, where it's a choice that might not look good on anyone else, but somehow totally fits in that particular context -- those are more fun to write than just, "Hey, that cocktail dress is pretty. I want it."

JESSICA: Although I have definitely written posts in which I just loudly covet something. For me, basically, it's just about my gut reaction to something. The clothes that we don't think are full-on hideous, though, sort of lend themselves to a lot of things. One of my favorite things that we do is the Fug Or Fab posts, where we poll the readers. I'm always interested to get their take on things.

LAist: You often post imagined dialogues between celebrities on the red carpet. Paris and Nicky discuss Paris' Paris dress. The actors from Gossip Girls reveal their seductive thoughts. You've had some fun with conversation between Posh Spice and Karl Lagerfeld. Have you thought about writing Go Fug Yourself: the play?

HEATHER: Ha! Not until right this second. But suddenly, I see Karl Lagerfeld, Posh, Joan Collins, Bea Arthur, Intern George, Shannen Doherty, Bai Ling, the Peldons... it's going to be a very expensive cast of thousands. And there will be elephants. Violet Affleck can ride in on one. Prepare for some serious magic here, people. Although maybe we should save ourselves the effort and just go see "Xanadu: The Musical" instead. I'm sure it's similar.

LAist: When you meet people do you automatically figure out how you would insert the word fug into their name? Would I be Julie Fugson or Fuglie Wolfson? Hey this is fun!

HEATHER: It's bizarrely satisfying, no? The one that kills me is Paris Hilton, though. Well, actually, Nicky is worse, since at least Paris has been in a few movies we can use. But with both of them I feel like I've milked all the different combinations for all they're worth. I do have to thank Paris for starring in "Repo: The Genetic Opera!" though, because that was some welcome fresh material.

JESSICA: I actually have never done that when meeting someone in real life. I am going to start, though.

LAist: What do you do after a long hard day of fugging people?

HEATHER: I am a chimney sweep in my spare time, so I dance around people's rooftops with all my other sweep pals. Wait, I should probably answer at least one of these seriously. Let's see: I play a lot of Scrabble on my computer, I sit down to my piano for an hour or so, sometimes I cook a proper dinner... I am clearly so very interesting. Honestly, sometimes I write a post or two late at night and set them to go up the next day, so that I can then spend that time running errands or going to the gym, or doing really fun things like getting my eyebrows threaded. Again... so fascinating, right?

JESSICA: I guess I do what anyone else does after work -- I read, I cook, I run (when I can get myself properly motivated), I have the occasional cocktail. I buy shoes on the internet.

LAist: What's next for Go Fug Yourself?

HEATHER: We're always hoping to get it so we're updating more during the day; we've got some other photo sources lined up that will hopefully make that a reality. And we have a book coming out February 5 called "The Fug Awards", so we'll probably be busy stressing out about that for a while.

JESSICA: Yes, the book is the next big deal for us. We're very excited about that. And then hopefully we'll just be able to keep on keeping on with the blog. As long as people keep leaving the house in manpris, I think we'll do okay.

LAist: Posh Spice, Scarlett Johansson, Sharon Stone, Fergie, Bjork, Britney Spears, Beyonce, and Paris Hilton are on cover of your new book. Who just missed the cut into that ultimate level of fugness?

HEATHER: The designers went for stuff that was visually arresting, but it still breaks my heart a little that we couldn't get Grace Jones on the cover. Her pictures in the book are, I think, truly magnificent.

LAist: What do you see yourselves doing in five years?

HEATHER: Your guess is as good as mine, frankly. This site didn't even exist five years ago. We've been very fortunate to get this far without a masterplan; in many ways, it keeps us more open to whatever opportunities that come our way. Hopefully we'll still be doing this, because I personally still love it, and maybe we'll be able to break into the book world a little harder. We both love to write, so I imagine whatever we do, it'll involve putting pen to paper -- or fingers to keys, as it were.

JESSICA: I just hope I'm not living in the same apartment, frankly. I'm running out of room for my shoes.

photo by Kim Fox