Y/Project Debuts Thigh-High Ugg Boots for Men

“When you put on an Ugg, it’s like putting your foot in warm butter, it’s so comfortable,” said Y/Project designer Glenn Martens. And that statement sheds light on why the Belgian designer decided to work with the shearling shoe brand. His fall ’18 collection, which was presented today during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, featured a capsule collection with Ugg.

“Y/Project is always very frontal and in your face,” said the designer backstage after the show. “Ugg is such an iconic shoe, so for me, the challenge was about, ‘How do we twist it? What do we do with that?’ Y/Project is all about challenges.”

Martens gave Uggs the trademark Y/Project twist: rubber-sole, shearling-lined slides and a pair of exaggerated slouchy thigh-high boots (a Y/Project signature silhouette). There were also Uggs featuring double or triple shearling layers, which were made to look as though models were wearing one shoe inside another. Pants, too, were layered and lined with shearling to achieve an effect where “you don’t know where one thing starts and the other finishes,” said the designer. “It’s all about versatility and experimentation.”

Ugg made its runway debut for spring ’17 in London with Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, but the lace-embellished, bow-bedecked flatforms that resulted didn’t feel true to either brand. This one, however, successfully marries both brand aesthetics, and we suspect we’ll most likely see a pair on Rihanna in the near future.

See the full Y/Project fall 2018 collection.