Fug or Fab

I think I'm starting to view Kirsten Dunst as a friendly but hapless cousin, or a beloved sports team that can't stop shooting itself in the foot. Every time I see that she's at an event, I catch my breath a little and wince, hoping against hope that she will look fabulous and yet fully bracing myself for the quarterback to get his ass sacked so hard it leaves a divot in the turf.

So it was here. I furrowed my brow in anticipation... and you know what? She kind of pulled it out, the little minx.

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[Photo: WENN.com]


The marbled fabric makes the bandaged look rather interesting, especially now that I know the strip across the top is not, in fact, reflective (the first time I looked at it, I was like, "I don't understand how it helps to have a mirror showing off the underside of her chin... is she on Unlikely Zit Patrol?"). The lightly colored netting on her shoulder, I'm less sold on, but overall this is interesting and it fits and it's mostly holding her boobs up in the right place. These are all victories. Especially that last one. It's kind of like my football team taking a seemingly safe lead into the fourth quarter, allowing me to get up off the floor and take a break from screaming to rehydrate and coax all the blood away from my face and back to the extremities that need it.

But then we get to the shoes. I'm REALLY not convinced they belong with this dress -- they feel too casual, too chunky in a non-chic way, and for my money, too ugly. I understand wanting to contrast the delicacy of the dress, but there's "contrast" and then there's "torching it with your candles of hate." So getting down to her feet is a bit like my team resting on its laurels in the final quarter and playing prevent defense and getting sloppy, and throwing a stupid interception that gets run back for a touchdown and then forgetting how to tackle the opposing team and suddenly it's their first-and-goal with 30 seconds left and your defense looks gassed and the stupid three-win opponent looks poised to steal its fourth from you on your home field and you're out of Diet Coke and the chips on the table are stale and suddenly you find yourself being restrained by your loved ones lest you punch a hole in the wall.

We have a long and varied -- okay, so it's not particularly varied. It's just long. A long, long history of complaining that Jennifer Aniston ONLY wears black or navy blue strapless gowns and it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BORING. So I have to hand it to her for breaking out of the color mold and going for a metallic:

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Yes, her body is great -- as one would hope, since doesn't she spend like 50 hours a week in the gym, sobbing through Bikram yoga? That's not judgment, by the way. If I spent 50 hours a week exercising, I would be crying, too. Anyway, obviously, she is in amazing shape, so it's nice to see her work it. What good is 50 hours in the gym if you can't wear whatever you like? Other than all that "health" mumbo-jumbo, of course. And I feel like this dress is very pretty, except...

As with a lot of magazine covers out there, it's not so much that Cameron Diaz looks BAD here:

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[Photo: Splash News]

She just doesn't look like herself. In fact, this whole cover feels cracked-out, like it's a designer-impostor publication called Cosmicpolitan that's trying to trick people at the newsstand into thinking it's the real thing. Even the cover lines -- which, incidentally, match her lipstick -- read like a joke issue of Cosmo and totally dwarf her presence. Seriously, there are a bajillion things I notice on this page before I even notice the ID that it's Cameron Diaz: "great sex," "dress sexy," "butt naked," "Super Diet," and "sex toy." My eye actually even went to "stalker" first.

So as far as the casual onlooker is concerned, this might as well be some random blonde chick who -- thanks to sexy clothes and a 10-day wheat purge -- just had the best bronco ride of her life atop a butt-naked man that she stalked for a year, who knows how to use props. And maybe that's all true of Cammy here (I don't know her life), but if you're going to all the trouble of putting her on and in your magazine, don't you want to make it feel more unique? As opposed to using a photo that looks as if it got pulled from a 2003 archive that went on clearance sale, and which is now used exclusively in those 150 Great Looks For Blondes magazines you only see at your hairdresser's?

June 11, 2009

Fug or Fab: Fergie

God help me, but the edgy stylings of one Ms. Fergie Ferg Duhamel have been growing on me lately. I actually like this:

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It KIND OF seems as if her midsection is being clamped by a gargantuan hair accessory, but somehow she makes it look good. And the underlying dress is sexy-short but not gynecological, and it has shape without being overly poofy and twee. (The bodice line is not actually crooked; it's just the angle at which she's standing.) I might even be starting to like the darker hair -- it makes her coloring pop out in an exotic way. I mean, am I secretly hitting the bottle in my sleep, shuffling in a half-dream-state to the bar and sticking a bendy straw inside my flask of tequila? Or is she looking kind of hot?

Wait, before you answer, check out another outfit of hers that's giving me a bit more pause:

Readers, why can't I get on board with this?

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[Photo: WENN.com]

Somehow, between the fabric texture and the cut at the bottom, I can't shake the feeling that the hem of her gown looks like insect wings parting. Or as though she's being slowly devoured by a dolphin that currently is savoring her ankles. Or as if something is giving birth to her feet. It's just... I'm DISTRACTED by it. I don't like to think about epidurals in the morning. Or ever, really.

This angle doesn't help:

So, I have a total soft spot for Michelle Williams. It might be because of the many many many years I spent toiling at the hem of Dawson's Creek, and it might be because every time I see a photo of her out and about with Matilda, I coo to whoever is in close proximity, "she [Matilda] looks just like her Daddy," and then I feel really sad about that whole Heath Ledger thing and ergo protective of the parties involved. Whatever the reason, I am fond of old Jen Lindley and I want her to be happy. But while we all know that outfits can not bring true happiness one way or the other -- although I certainly think they can make you feel MUCH BETTER about things, which is why I own so many pairs of shoes -- let's get to the clothes, anyway, shall we?

The front:

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The back:

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My suspicion is that this is one of those things that you see in person and it's crazy amazing (Cramazing! One of Areosmith's most popular tunes!) and then in photos it looks kind of like it's teetering on the edge of cheesy/chintzy. Like, I wonder if it just doesn't translate. It's a bit like a gladiator has raced in from fighting a lion, or whatever, and then realized that he's TOTALLY running late for Marcus Agrippa's stupid toga party, but if he doesn't go, it will be social DISASTER, so he just throws on his toga and dashes out the door. Which might be what M. Wil was going for. As her former co-star once so memorably announced, I don't know her life. Wait. That's not what he said, was it? Let's go to the tape:

 


OH. Well, close enough.

I always love to look at the OTHER people in a photo like this:

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[Photo: PacificCoastNewsOnline.com]

There's always Bored Bouncer Type Guy -- who sees these sorts of shenanigans all the time. And then you've usually got one Concerned Associate, and Some Dude Yelling, and then there is always one person who looks moderately amused by the fact that any of this is happening at all. I always wonder which of those people I would be. I like to THINK I would be Vaguely Amused This Is Happening, but I know me. I would probably be Some Dude Yelling.

But let's talk about Kate, here. I do have to hand it to her for taking risks -- if only because, if she didn't, I wouldn't have as much to write about. There are aspects of this dress that I really like -- but anyone who's read this site for longer than two minutes know what my complaint is: I don't think this color does anything for her. She looks like a pat of butter.



June 2, 2009

Fug or Fab: Fergie

I am still not wholly on board with Fergie Ferg's darker hair. Obviously, it's a person's prerogative to do whatever she wants to her hair -- hence my dangerous and mistaken flirtation with Sun-In circa 1989-- but while I think I am sort of used to this look on her now, and the blonde was a mistake on my own part, I kind of prefer her with a sunnier do. That being said, let's talk about the dress:

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Okay, before the dress: Yes, I see that her toes are hanging off the end of her shoe. Every time that happens, we get e-mails from people wondering why we haven't mentioned that, and it is because when you have a really high heel and you stand in one place for a long time -- as for a press opportunity like this -- your foot gets sweaty and you sort of slide down the arch of the shoe and this happens. Ain't nothing she can do about it in the moment, so it's doesn't seem fair to ding her for it. There we go! A much-asked question answered.  Those ARE some wicked shoes, though. NOW, let's talk about the dress. Except for how I'm tired already from typing all this blah blah about sweaty feet and Sun-In and yadda yadda yadda.
On first blush, I said of this outfit, "WHOA." Eloquent, right? But seriously, look at this photo:

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There is a LOT going on with Ms. Monique Coleman here, with the hair and the aluminum foil and the black tutu, and for a second I was overwhelmed.

But... come on, I am not made of stone. She looks like she's having such a good time, in that awesomely costumey and ridiculous Center Stage final performance way, where in two seconds someone will pan away from her and then pan back and she'll be in head-to-toe crimson with different eye makeup and streamers in her hair and then she'd start twirling while all the eligible dudes present tried to get her attention by doing a lot of jumping. And who wouldn't want to see THAT in real life? Not to mention that Monique's new afro is kind of sassy. It reminds me of when Tyra Banks made F'ing Yaya get one on Cycle 3 of ANTM, and it was so huge and fantastic and full of personality and RESPEITO that F'ing Yaya totally rocked it all the way to the finals and enticed Tyra to show up to one judging in a giant 'fro of her own that ALSO looked kind of glorious and I swear to God I had some serious Sass Envy that day.

So in sum: Cheap-looking prom shoes aside, I cherish the spirit of fun this look embodies. But I'm still putting it up to a vote, because I realize my reaction may have a lot to do with my taste in TV and my own personal affection for whimsy and possibly even the fact that I had a really tasty chicken-parm sandwich this weekend that put me in a really good mood for, like, two days. Seriously. Sandwiches are powerful.

May 29, 2009

Fug or Fab: Kate Walsh

So, I truly have been going back and forth on this one. And sometimes I want to just post a picture and let you guys vote without my saying ANYTHING. I mean, that's probably kind of boring to read, and it certainly isn't going to help anyone procrastinate for a long period of time but IS the most unbiased way of presenting a poll, right? Because clearly this is important work we're doing here and it should be unbesmirched by my opinions, right?

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Or it's Friday afternoon and I'm lazy. WHICHEVER.


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