Remember the great Ugg revolution of 2004? Sienna Miller was at peak boho and the sand-coloured boots on her feet were a revelation. The first time you slipped your feet inside a pair, it felt like coming home, warm, cosy and protective. But in rain or snow, Uggs revealed crushing powers of absorbency: toes would freeze and your feet would turn to heavy, ice-cold slabs.
A decade later, as snow threatens to fall, there is a new chunky “It” boot in town, and chilly toes should not be a problem. They have been worn by many of the same people who were papped in Uggs on the school run a decade ago – Elle Macpherson and Gwen Stefani, for example – and have a similarly celebrity-friendly side effect of making limbs look leaner by comparison.
This is a trend that began in the snow – at the Sundance film festival in Utah, to be precise, where Liv Tyler, January Jones and other actors wore Sorel boots for reasons of genuine practicality in 2012 and 2013. Later, at a freezing New York fashion week that became known as “Snowmageddon”, some street-style stars – such as Taylor Tomasei Hill – left their heels in the car and stomped around in Sorel boots. The king and queen of driving fashion sales – David Beckham and Kim Kardashian – have been snapped in them on skiing holidays, too, endorsements that have paid off handsomely. In 2014, the company reported a 29% rise in global sales year on year to $166m.
Sorel isn’t the only brand capitalising on the appeal of snow-appropriate shoes. Last year, there was a five-month waiting list for JJ Bean’s similarly stompy £70 duck boots; premium brands such as Jimmy Choo and Miu Miu sell versions for upwards of £800. Next and Monki sell them for £60; Ugg produces waterproof models that are nothing like the soft, sand-coloured booties that made them famous, boots that could definitely cope with a blizzard. Perhaps the most covetable are the emerging handmade, highly functional brands – such as Montelliana and H:CE. H:CE, says Cassie Smart, Matchesfashion.com women’s shoe and bag buyer, have “retractable hooks that turn around, so if you are walking on ice you can use the spikes but you can also just use the incredibly comfortable, sturdy rubber soul if you wear them in the city”.
But Sorels remain king – and Smart says customers are increasingly wearing them all day and in the city – particularly the shorter, more subtle versions. “People have been wearing them with their winter fashion wardrobes – the only thing they have changed was their footwear. At very cold New York fashion weeks you might see them worn on the front row and worn with Chanel clutch bags,” she says.
What seems to appeal to customers most is that very 2015 combination of utility, function and heritage. As Joshua Rothman wrote in the New Yorker earlier this week, men’s fashion long ago swapped the pursuit of beauty for the more egalitarian ideal of “craftsmanship” – and the same could increasingly be said of womenswear. Certainly, Sorels make you look as though you have just enjoyed a James Bond-style arctic adventure or, at the very least, have once been on a skiing holiday.
