{"id":23572,"date":"2021-05-20T18:58:19","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T18:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=23572"},"modified":"2021-05-20T22:00:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T22:00:46","slug":"hari-nef-ugg-pride-campaign-interview","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/hari-nef-ugg-pride-campaign-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Hari Nef’s Relationship With UGG Goes Way Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hari Nef for the fifth annual ‘Proud Prom’ campaign<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I write this article, I’m wearing the footwear I’ve spent the most time in over the past year: my lavender UGG Fluff Yeah Slide Slippers.<\/a> They were also my shoes of choice when I hopped on the phone with SAG Award-nominated actress and writer Hari Nef, who stars alongside Lil Nas X<\/a> in the American footwear company’s fifth annual PROUD Prom campaign. Just minutes into our conversation, we established that the slides are The Most Comfortable Slippers on the market, Nef admitting that she “literally stole [them] off the set of the shoot.”<\/p>\n

Since UGG footwear’s founding in 1978, the brand’s undeniably grown and evolved. “I grew up in New England, so it was all about the UGG,” Nef tells me during our interview, reflecting on her early days wearing the comfy-cozy footwear. Back then, the\u00a0<\/span>Young New York<\/span><\/em>\u00a0author says they were a “feminine status symbol”\u2014and that struck a chord with me, having been one of the many middle-schoolers who asked for a pair for Hanukkah. Today, though, equity is at the absolute forefront of the conversation\u2014a commitment that resonates with Nef, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the record, Nef isn’t one to say “yes” to a fashion campaign, just ’cause. Nef is big into supporting the collaborations UGG has done with designers in New York, like Eckhaus Latta and Telfar<\/a> (two designers she interned for in her early days in NYC). “Seeing that UGG can identify talent and taste at this label to secure collaborations with up-and-coming people when the call came through from UGG, I was not only enthusiastic about being a part of a fashion campaign, but I was also like, ‘These people are cool, and I trust them because my friends trust them.'”<\/p>\n