The Ugg-ly

Sherpa boots, Uggies—call them what you will, sheepskin lined footwear is always going to be a difficult look to pull off. Yes, they’re the ultimate in comfort footwear—think macaroni and cheese for your feet—and yes, they’re more toasty than a hot, doughy bagel, but Uggs have a troubled history in the cultural lexicon that remains unknown to many of the campus fashionistas who sport them with a mini in public. From admittedly cool beginnings among Aussie surfers in the 1970s for warming up after hanging ten, the Ugg became shorthand in Antipodean fashion circles as synonymous with only the most slothful and sloppy of lazy layabouts. Banned from public places—either through cold stares or more formal door policies—the Ugg was the ultimate in fashion faux pas. That was, at least, until unlikely style icon Pamela Anderson was spotted sporting a pair of the yeti-esque boots on the streets of LA. Suddenly the trend went ballistic trans-pacific. Fashion victims on the west coast paired with Juicy Couture trackpants for lounging about the house; across the country in colder climes, however, they’ve been granted fully-fledged status as supposedly stylish outdoor footwear—in many cases highlighted as the crowning glory of an otherwise respectable outfit. Warning to all the Ugg-inclined: this is one of those trends that is going to appear patently stupid in but a few months. Australians make killer denim, flirty sun dresses and a dizzying array of inexplicably polka-dotted bikinis: why instead adopt the most laughable fashion trend to emanate from Down Under since Crocodile Dundee hit the big screen?