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Go Fug Yourself’s Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Published by USC Bedrosian Center on

by Brettany Shannon

For the fall’s final episode, we welcome the Fug Girls, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, self-proclaimed “authors, bloggers, and fashion assassins.” In 2004, they created the successful celebrity fashion blog, Go Fug Yourself, a witty and wordsmithy blog that by turns critiques and celebrates celebrities’ fashion choices. The premise is simple but the execution is not, and for their work, GFY has ranked at the top of all respectable popular culture lists since its beginning.

Over these many internet years, Heather and Jessica have fostered a self-styled Fug Nation community through their website, then social media, and even The Fug Awards book. They are taste ambassadors in the heightened world of red carpet regalia and are among the best and funniest writers the internet has to offer. That’s not hyperbole: anyone can crack wise about a star’s ill-conceived outfit or gown, but I know of only two people/one blog that elevates that bubbly snark into perceptive, emotionally thoughtful cultural commentary. They write all their posts and have somehow managed to take on multiple freelance assignments, including covering New York fashion week for New York magazine and writing by-lines for the New York Times. Over that same time, they have published two young adult novels, Spoiled and Messy, and the bestselling The Royal We, the story of an American girl falling in love with and getting engaged to a British prince. (So it appears they can also see into the future.)

Heather and Jessica help bring this season full-circle. As digital research strategist Marissa Gluck gave us the history of the internet from the industry perspective, the Fug Girls provide us with the cultural content producer’s lens. Also, it is my view that with Go Fug Yourself, Heather and Jessica have made way for and actively take part in the mainstreaming of fashion for feminist political engagement, the kind we now regularly read on Roxane Gay’s Twitter feed or in Teen Vogue’s Thigh-High Politics column. From the start, Heather and Jessica have nurtured their shared voice and sought to establish an online community “to be something we’re proud to share with people.” They understand that words matter—no matter the topic at hand—and culture coalesces around how much attention is (or is not) paid to creating a positive and engaging community. If only the current administration was a small fraction as thoughtful.

Listen to this delightful conversation which handily engages with the fall’s four themes. Preservation: of good sartorial taste. Resistance: against poison pen comment boards. Healing: since we all know laughter is the best medicine. Transformation: developing a communal, beneficial community online. Many thanks to Heather and Jessica for joining us in the Price School recording studio and to you, as always, for listening. Leave us a review and tell us what you thought of the conversation on Twitter (Bedrosian, me), Facebook, or email.

Links…

Read gofugyourself.com and follow the Fug Girls on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And buy their books, The Royal We, Spoiled, Messy, and The Fug Awards. Every one of them will make you laugh. As will this New York Times op-ed.

LA#Itself is produced by Aubrey Hicks, Jonathan Schwartz, and myself and mixed by Corey Hedden. Stream the interview on this page, or you can download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play.

Bedrosian Center