The fashion world has a great love/hate relationship with UGG Australia boots. A couple of years ago they were the must-have footwear. What started out as functional shoes for surfers on the beaches of Australia and New Zealand soon spread to the States and ended up – where else? – on the relaxed, surfer-friendly California shores. In an instant, Hollywood starlets were photographed in them – even fashion darling Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw wore them on an episode of Sex and the City.
At one point there was a six-month wait to get a pair (which meant that waiting fashionistas wouldn’t be blessed with a pair of their own until well into the summer months when fully-lined sheepskin boots are no longer an option). Less than six months later when the weather began to cool again UGG boots were taboo – the ultimate fashion faux pas.
The contradiction lies in the design of the shoes themselves. The chunky sheepskin boots are the ultimate in warmth and comfort; the ideal footwear for neighborhood brunch spots or walking the dog. So comfortable, in fact, that women started wearing them to the office and out to dinner at night.
Fashion mavens (who will only admit to wearing them in the privacy of their own homes) were up in arms. While we’d like to say UGGs are “so 2004,” in December of 2005 Oprah declared the UGG Uptown boot – a newer more fashion conscious design – one of her favorite things, just proving that clunky or not, they are here to stay.
