Millennial-In-Chief Jennifer Lawrence Has Lifted The Leggings-and-Uggs Ban

One of the first pieces I wrote for this magazine made Erin, a woman in San Diego, cry. It was 2023, and I was proselytising on Alexander McQueen’s skull scarves – a trend long presumed dead alongside Blackberry phones – after spotting early signs of a revival. Erin filmed herself reacting to a screenshot of the article on TikTok, tears pooling in her eyes, while some 7,000 people piled into the comments. It was precisely the sort of thing that forty-something millennials – who do seem uniquely fascinated by their own feelings of nostalgia – baulk at.

And so, thoughts and prayers to anyone between the ages of 29 to 45, who might have seen the wire shots from Jennifer Lawrence’s latest outing. The actress, celebrated as much for her fashion as her filmmaking, was yesterday afternoon photographed strolling through New York with The Row’s Lady Bag swinging from the arm of a cashmere (also Olsen-made) coat, anchored to – cue the tears – Alo leggings and tall chestnut Ugg boots. It was a combination so 2007 that just a single glance risks a Proustian flashback to shoplifting “gourmand” bodysprays in Westfield.

AKGS

Uggs have been back for a while, of course, first adopted as an ironic throwback in the post-pandemic years, before being reabsorbed into the mainstream, with brands as disparate as Palace and Talia Byre now making their own. But here’s the thing: the comeback had always been contained to the brand’s mini and slipper silhouettes. The taller boots – and certainly the leggings pairing, also seen on Bella Hadid this week – felt startlingly close to the original sin of a shopping-centre teen. Whether the look will catch on remains to be seen, but once the line between irony and sincerity collapses in fashion, it does start to feel inevitable. This is, after all, the same industry that applauded Alex Consani for turning up to the 2025 Fashion Awards draped in Alexander McQueen skull scarves.