Society Update: A Bientôt

We're headed off to marvel at the sights and sounds of Mercedes Benz Berlin Fashion Week and Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. With interviews, trade fairs, fashion shows and celebrations on our schedule we're hoping we'll have some fabulous things to show you when we get back. Thanks for visiting and we'll see you next week!

Bis,

Your Editors

Rebecca&Maddy

Time Out with the Editors of Go Fug Yourself:
Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Everyone knows that "Fugly is the new Pretty"

They're "bitchy, funny, and just a tad vicious..." and the world loves them for it. They were recipients of the 2009 Bloggies "Best Fashion Blog" over the Sartorialist, and it's not hard to see why. After all, Jessica and Heather, also known as the fug girls, know just how to combine everything the world cares about: celebrities and fashion mishaps. So settle down in your silkiest jammies and a steamin' cup of joe to see what these two girls who blogged their way to NY fashion week told us about Fuggin' it up.

As all good things do, it started at a shopping mall: "We were out shopping one day, and we noticed that every single ad and poster in the mall was TERRIBLE. Everyone looked just awful. So we started joking that maybe that was the new trend -- that fugly was the new pretty -- and, because we were totally over-caffeinated, we really found this amusing. So we basically just started the blog as an in-joke between the two of ourselves, for our friends. We never ever thought anyone else would read it."

Fashion Week ...enough said: "Fashion Week is amazing.The people watching is great and the shows are really inspiring, even when they're bad. It's just fascinating. It's one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. I always say that if I get tired of Fashion Week, I am just too tired to live."

Heather and Jessica's Latest Publication

Les Nouvelles :
HEATHER: "I had identical twin boys in June, two months early, and yet they're healthy and happy and growing. Greatest gift of 2009 by far. And one that's turned everything upside-down, in the best possible way."

JESSICA: "Heather and I are working on a fiction book aimed at young adults that will be published by an imprint of Little, Brown in 2011 -- that's VERY exciting. We can't wait for people to read it!"

The Up's and Down's of Professional Blogging: "One thing that's nice about being your own boss is, you can tailor your work hours to other commitments -- meetings, appointments, sales at Banana Republic, whatever. The down side is that often, I'll spent my evenings and nights noodling around looking for pictures I can write about in advance and set them to publish the next day, to free me up for one of our other assignments. So it really can be an all-day thing, not even just a full-time thing. It's so easy to get sucked into the photo sites and lose a few hours. To compensate I try never to use my laptop on weekends."

a snapshot of the award-winning site

Street Style: Place Republique

Photo : Madeline Fuhrman

Black Felted Hat
Checkered Foulard
Classic Bretange Striped Tee
Navy and Rose Plaid Coat
Rich Grey Wool Mini
Roman Gladiator Sandles
Classic Leather Satchel

First off, this look is not a normal sight in Rennes. It's rare that anyone steps out of the classic dress code of heeled cowboy boots, skinny jeans and a black double breasted coat. However, we're likin' the "par hasard" look that Marie's pulled together and wouldn't change a check on her fabulousity list for all the Alexander Wang in the world...but please....don't hold us to that and don't tell A.W. what we said.

Time Out with Sandra Wininger

Coat: Vintage (her mother's); originally floor-length but had it trimmed for every day wear. Bag: Michael Kors.

After leaving her hometown of Paris for Israel when she was twelve years old, retired Hollywood costume designer Sandra Wininger has yet to slow down. At the tender age of fourteen, she began working in clothing stores and restaurants to help support her large family of seven. She never went to college, saying that “she was never given such an opportunity”, but with her street smarts and sheer drive, she proved that sometimes a diploma isn’t necessary.



When she was twenty-one, she packed up her bags and moved to London, where she was immediately inspired by the fashion, culture, opera museums, and of course, Tina Turner. After having conquered Great Britain, she took off for a trip around the world – it was just her and her backpack. On her first trip to Los Angeles, she wanted nothing to do with the “ugly city and the superficiality of the [movie] industry.” Oddly enough, it was through a babysitting job of hers a few years later where she met Claudia Weil – the director of Sesame Street – when her career took off.

Sandra, inspired by her travels around the world, particularly by the colors and prints she saw in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, loved every minute of picking fabrics and making clothes. After many 18-hour days on set and $6/hour shifts at the Costumer’s Union to get accredited as a costume designer, she finally got invited to design as the head costume designer for her very first show – E.R. Though she eventually turned down the offer because she was pregnant with her first son, she scored positions as stylist and costumer for the original Melrose Place, the 1992 film Straight Talk starring Dolly Parton, and several Target and Gap commercials. This past weekend, she met us in Rennes to talk about her incredible “rags to riches” story.




Be prepared for The Devil Wears Prada-esque tasks: “When I was working on the Straight Talk set, Dolly Parton refused to wear anything but 6-inch heels with 1-inch platforms. Granted, back then they were difficult to find…we had to get 12-15 pairs custom-made for $800 a pair. Jodie [Tillen, her boss and head costume designer] then called one day and said Dolly didn’t like a single pair. Jodie said for me to get new shoes, to ‘figure it out in 3 days’. I started panicking, thinking…where can I get 6-inch platforms? And then I finally got it – sex shops on Hollywood Blvd! I got them for about $60/pair and she loved them. This all just goes to prove…how much you pay doesn’t mean a single thing.”


From costumes to window blinds: “Now I run an interior design business with my husband called F and R Interiors. Interior designing is, in many ways, an extension of my love of fashion. Clothing and interior design goes hand in hand – many times you’ll find that the color of the season on the runway is also the color of the newest curtains, and vice versa."

Her fashion philosophy: "I love fashion but I hate things that are 'in fashion' "

Cutthroat industry: “In Hollywood, it’s all about your connections and about how powerful your connections are. That being said, hard work is still key to succeeding. I’d much rather take someone who wakes up at 5 AM every morning and is willing to work than someone who has the diploma.”