How & Why You Should Have Been Wearing Uggs This Winter

March 16, 2015

Let’s Talk Ugg Boots

I know. I know. You’re thinking… how is this thing back? And yeah, I’m well aware that I am not breaking any news here. Because this winter they have been showing up everywhere as an actual acceptable fashion statement. And not just with pajamas, or on sorority girls doing the walk of shame. To be honest, I normally wouldn’t write about Uggs in early spring if it weren’t for the fact that, a) that stupid groundhog saw his shadow (don’t be fooled by that sun that you got!) and b) I’ve been hit up like cray about Uggs all through the winter because I think most people are still just a little hesitant about how or why they even work in fashion.

You probably fit into one of three types:

You Love Uggs. Uggs Love you. They look great on you. You feel great in them. You were sold on Uggs before this article came across your feed. You probably read the intro to this post and rolled your eyes. Duh. OE. Duh. Uggs for your second post?
You just… can’t. I mean. You. Just. Can’t. You love the utility. And, maybe if it was a different brand. But Uggs? NO.
You like your Uggs. From a comfort level they might just be your favorite boot. But you just can’t get on board with them actually fitting into fashion. You’re just not sure how to make them work. For you. In public.

For you 1’s I have links to feed your addiction at the bottom of this post. For you 2’s it’s going to be hard to convince you. It might just take time, or it might not ever happen at all. But even you might find something you love in the bottom. And when someone says, “I love your Uggs!”, you can smugly reply, “these aren’t Uggs, honey”. As for me? I was definitely #3! So let’s focus on that for a sec.

Want to know the inner working of not being a size 00? Well your wish is my command…

The weight I carry is at waist level. So the widest part of my body is my ribs and stomach and everything gets proportionately smaller going out. I have a broad back and no hips. So I’m the widest right in the middle. And, when I accentuate this shape, it looks off. Just plain not flattering. An apple with arms and legs if you will. Sexy, I know!

And when proportions are off as a woman, it sucks when the current trend does nothing but highlight your “problem areas”. Skinny jeans were really hard for me. If you are really trim OR hourglass shaped, I bet you rock skinny jeans like a total boss. But if you’re like me, it’s just a little harder to get it all together. I held onto the “bootcut look” as long as I could.

Ready for a weird metaphor? Let’s talk about buildings. Buildings don’t have feelings. Building are… buildings. But shape and proportion becomes very clear in architecture. Look at this building in Seattle. (Tear. This is my body in building form.)

Fold this bad boy in half and you’ll see this building’s proportions are seriously out of whack. And, as beautiful and unique as it is, I would argue that this is not the best a building could look. That this building might look a little “top heavy”. And if I were going to style this building I most definitely would not be accentuating this shape. This building needs some serious camouflage. This building needs some landscaping around it’s base. Some big trees. And lights. And colors. Anything to counter the weight of it’s big heavy top. It would would just be more pleasing to the eye.

So to circle back to fashion, I think I can guarantee that most women don’t set out in the morning to make their body type look off balance. I’m pretty sure the goal here is pleasing to the eye? The goal is that the bad parts blend away and the good shows.

Petite and hourglass body types are proportioned from top to bottom with a generally pleasing balance. But, if you don’t fit into one of those two body-types, adding some bulk to your base can be a valuable secret weapon of deception. Simply to balance everything out. Draw the eye up.

If you’re still reading I am going to guess you’re a little bit like me. You and I might share the same connection with the first building, poor Miss Seattle.

But You Can Fix It

In almost every outfit. You fix it by countering the natural footprint of your leg by wearing:

a) flare or bootcut — or –

b) adding a big or wide boot to your skinnies.

Hence my love of Uggs. They take what the skinnies do to highlight my “off” proportions and completely counter all wrong doing. Come on, you have to at least be convinced on the proportions? Now let’s get your base looking firmly planted on the ground!

My long time favorite Uggs are these knit ones (see below). I fold them down. And they just do such an epic job of correcting the proportions all on their own. But realistically they go more slippers than fashion. And in deep snow… yeah they don’t get the job done. Then I got these (see below). But for me, they didn’t fix the proportions. They were tight around my calf. I needed the boot to look like it went out. Not that my actual calf was really that big around. Be weary when choosing a boot (Ugg or any other) that your leg looks skinny at the point it goes into the boot. You don’t want the boot to look small with your big leg going in. You can look even bigger when you look like you’re barely squeezing into something that’s already big. Get the difference?

And this might sound crazy, but I’ve come up with a little hack that can make even this scenario correctable. But these new Uggs I’d received weren’t going to hold me back. And yes, this is an expensive boot. And you’ll see in a sec, I am going to hack at it with scissors. But here is why I’m here. I believe in being able to wear whatever I want. Whatever is in fashion. I’m not going to tell myself no just because my body doesn’t fit in the same categories as Kate Moss or Kim Kardashian. I would have never worn those boots without doctoring them up a little. A DIY if you will. And because of it, these boots are now my all time favorite.

I started with the aforementioned Ugg Becket Buckle Boot.
I unbuckled the top buckle (and I leave them unbuckled still when wearing them)
Cut with very sharp scissors down the seam to the top of where the next buckle starts.
Color the edges of the leather with sharpie. If you are more crafty than me, you could sew this with black thread or fold over and sew some fabric to create a great new edge. But sharpie totally gets the job done.
Fluff the fur on the inside along the seems just to add a completed look.
Leave the top buckle undone and hanging.

And now you took a boot that wasn’t going to work and totally corrected the proportions of your leg. Fake it until you make it ladies! Fake it ‘til you make it!

Now for you #1’s:

It’s really not hard to find awesome Uggs. But if you want my opinion. I like the half calf and am crushing on the minis. Or of course, the Becket Buckle Boot.

And for you #2’s:

I am guessing I still haven’t convinced you to love Uggs. And virtual high five for sticking through this whole post. But here are some awesome winter boots in different brands just because I like to keep up with Shana as the shopping enabler. All these Toms are amazing. These Minnetonka boots are seriously my next purchase in black. And of course, these are bomb! Expensive, but bomb!

And for you #3’s:

Girls! You can wear anything you want. As Tim Gunn would say, “Make it work!”