UGG shoes walked the runway at Dauphinette's Spring/Summer 2027 show during New York Fashion Week, transforming the brand's famously cozy silhouettes into custom, high-fashion pieces built for the runway.
Dauphinette is known for a playful, art-driven approach to apparel, incorporating unexpected materials like preserved bugs, botanicals, reclaimed textiles and found objects into its designs. For this collaboration, the label took iconic UGG styles and reworked them into one-of-a-kind runway looks featuring wearable art and reupholstered fabrics.
Founded by Olivia Cheng, Dauphinette has built its identity in New York's fashion scene around nature-inspired design, often incorporating real preserved flowers and insects into its garments and accessories. The brand has shown on the New York Fashion Week calendar in previous seasons, developing a reputation for whimsical, one-of-a-kind pieces rather than mass-market basics.
A Childhood Dream Come True
Dauphinette founder Olivia Cheng said the partnership fulfilled a wish she had held since childhood. "Partnering with UGG is the realization of a childhood dream. As a longtime UGG fan who grew up outside Chicago, I've long associated the brand with both function and coveted status, wishing I had a pair throughout middle school," Cheng said.
"That personal connection made collaborating with UGG a natural fit, after all, I've been waiting a long time for the shoe to fit," she added.
Cheng's comments frame the UGG collaboration as more personal than a typical brand partnership, rooted in her own history with the shoes rather than a marketing exercise alone.
New York Fashion Week's Comfort Moment
New York Fashion Week brings designers together each September to unveil their spring and summer collections, and labels have increasingly folded everyday comfort staples into their runway shows in recent seasons. UGG's appearance on the Dauphinette runway continues that trend, pairing a brand built on sheepskin boots and slippers with a label known for elevating unconventional materials into wearable art.
NYFW is held twice each year, in September and February, and brings together established fashion houses and independent labels to preview upcoming collections for editors, buyers and retailers. The event has become an increasingly popular showcase for footwear and accessories brands looking to position casual staples as fashion statements rather than purely functional basics.
UGG traces its roots to the 1970s, when the brand began making sheepskin boots inspired by an Australian style of shearling footwear. It became a mainstream fashion staple in the United States in the 2000s, propelled in part by celebrity adoption, and now operates as part of Deckers Brands alongside labels such as Hoka. In recent years UGG has expanded well beyond its original boot, adding slippers, sneakers and, with Dauphinette, high-fashion ballet flats to its lineup.
The Shoes Behind the Runway Looks
The custom pieces that walked the runway are not for sale. But the UGG ballet flats, slippers and booties that served as the base canvases for Dauphinette's designs can be shopped directly.
The UGG Zora Leather Ballet Flat was named the best runway-meets-comfort shoe from the collection. It has a leather upper, a plush sheepskin sockliner and a lightweight sugarcane EVA outsole, and it retails for $145 at UGG, $144.95 at Amazon and $144.95 at Nordstrom.
The suede version, the UGG Zora Ballet Flat, was picked as the best cozy-and-cute flat to wear this fall. It shares the same plush sheepskin sockliner and sugarcane EVA outsole as the leather style, and it is priced at $135 at UGG and Urban Outfitters, and $134.95 at Amazon.
Classic UGG Styles on the Catwalk
Two of UGG's most recognizable silhouettes also made it onto the Dauphinette runway: the Tasman II and the Classic Mini II.
The Tasman II, described as the brand's original viral shoe, has a low profile, signature braid detailing on the collar, a sheepskin interior and a sugarcane EVA outsole. It costs $130 at UGG and Anthropologie, and $129.95 at both Amazon and Nordstrom.
The Classic Mini II bootie has overlock stitch detailing on the seams, a rear pull tab and a sugarcane EVA outsole, along with a sheepskin upper, lining and insole. It retails for $175 at UGG and Urban Outfitters, and $174.95 at both Amazon and Nordstrom.
What Comes Next
Pricing and availability for the UGG styles shown on the Dauphinette runway were accurate as of publication. The custom, art-embellished versions worn during the show remain one-off pieces made for the runway rather than retail products.
