The UGGLY Truth

It happened by accident. I was killing time at Nordstrom Rack waiting for a friend, who was upstairs at Best Buy, when a pair of boots caught my eye. They were a pair of black UGG Wrangell boots. I judged them immediately like I judge men with bad shoes or unkempt toenails. Disgusting! Spit! Spit! Vomit!

These are the shoes you see on guys who just don't know any better...like Tom Brady. But at least he gets paid to wear them. In my head, the guys who wear these have super trendy dominant wives/girlfriends who shop for them. They wear matching UGG boots to go to the mall together because it's cold in there.

Then, I realized that maybe I'm prejudiced and should have an open mind. It's what MLK (Dr. Martin Luther King) would do. Plus my friend was taking forever and there was nothing happening at the Rack. Besides, what is the big fuss about UGGs? I much prefer my LL Bean shearling duck boots. They're waterproof and classic. The downside is, it takes 20 minutes to lace and unlace them. It's not ideal when you  come in from the cold to a warm room and immediately have to relieve yourself; but you're stuck at the door trying to loosen up the laces so you don't track snow on your hard wood floors.

Out of curiosity, I slipped off my shoes and put these UGGs on. That's when it hit me. These are like the perfect pair of warm fuzzy slippers you'd wear around the house drinking hot chocolate and ginger bread cookies. But these slippers are meant for the great outdoors. Even though I was only wearing ankle socks, I immediately felt warm, cozy and even slightly happy. Who am I right now?

I can't be seriously contemplating buying these. There was a pair of Pirelli boots I tried on last year that were much lighter and chic, but they just didn't deliver this kind of warm fuzzy happy. Damn! I'm a fashion snob. I've got this UGGs trend so wrong. Now it makes sense why so many people wear them even to the cold LA mall.

Last winter, I went to Germany with only a pair of Bikkemberg boots that had the cool detail where the ankle straps laced through the boot heel. They looked amazing, but my toes were frozen. I didn't take the LL Bean boots because I would be that guy at airport security holding up the line. These UGGs would have been amazing for all the cold weather Germany had to throw at me.

This year, I'm planning to go back to Switzerland and France during the winter. These would make the perfect pair of travel shoes for the plane and for walking around. I must have them!

YES
It's not fashion, it's not style and it's pure comfort. Suck it.

NO
Just because you're a big Tom Brady fan doesn't mean you should buy everything he endorses.

MAYBE
I should tackle a list of things I think are tacky and see what I really think about them after I try to walk in their shoes. Here I come Rockport.