Tyson Beckford Makes Uggs Look Like Leading-Man Material

3 min readTHERE ARE THREE guarantees in life: death, taxes, and someone on TikTok trying to convince you Uggs are back in style the second temperatures drop. But real ones know the brand’s been making cozy-cool boots beyond its sheepskin Classics for years. Leave it to Tyson Beckford to remind everyone else. The 55-year-old OG supermodel stars in Ugg’s Born to Feel campaign wearing the Birch Boot II, a chunky pull-on boot revived from the brand’s 1999 archive. With chestnut uppers and a rugged lug sole, they’re an easy match for the fall jeans and trousers already in your closet.Beckford wears his like a rom-com hero: with roomy brown pinstriped trousers tucked into the boots, a white tee, and a relaxed taupe jacket. It’s a foolproof vibe that’s easy to copy, and a good reason to ask the guy a few questions about getting dressed. Below, Beckford talks about his everyday uniform, his commitment to short shorts, the ’90s trend he wants to leave behind, and whether you should wear socks with your Uggs.MEN’S HEALTH: What’s your go-to off-duty uniform when you just want to look good without thinking about it?TYSON BECKFORD: My go-to uniform when I’m chill and relaxed is probably workout shorts and a tank top. But if I’m going outside and running errands or whatever, it’s probably a tank top, and jeans, and probably some Air Jordans or maybe even cowboy boots.MH: You’ve been around menswear for decades. What’s one thing guys still get wrong about getting dressed?TB: I wouldn’t say that they get anything wrong, because fashion is what you make it, and so is style. Your fashion, your style, might not be what everybody else is doing, but then again, I never do what everybody else is doing. I do what I feel and how comfortable I am with what I’m wearing. So yeah, there’s no wrongs in it for me.MH: Did becoming a dad change the way you dress?TB: Being a dad hasn’t changed my style at all, but I do get a lot of feedback that I’ve got on hoochie daddy shorts. I’m a kid from the ’70s, so I’m used to wearing shorts up to my upper thigh. That’s why you can’t skip leg day. You gotta keep that going.Being a dad, I don’t really think about having to dress appropriate, because I would drop my kid off wearing tank tops, cutoff shirts, and sleeveless shirts. There’s nothing about being a dad that changed the way I dressed.MH: What’s one trend you wore back in the day that you absolutely don’t want to see come back?TB: In the ’90s, we used to have these tight shirts. They were like spandex shirts. They’re kind of like the Under Armour stuff now, but they were a lot shinier and came in all kinds of colors. We used to wear them with baggy jeans and Timberlands. Your shirt would be crazy tight, but your pants would be crazy loose and baggy. I don’t want to see that one come back.MH: Be honest: socks with Uggs or no socks?TB: I normally don’t wear socks with my Uggs. It’s not as comfortable because you’ve got the furry stuff on the inside of the Ugg boots. For me, I like it without socks, to be honest.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.Shop Tyson Beckford’s Ugg FitChristian is the Style and Reviews Director at Men's Health and Women’s Health, where he oversees shopping and style content for both brands. He started his magazine career as an accessories assistant at Vogue, and has since held editorial roles at Tatler Asia and The Manual. When he’s not online shopping, you can find him on long walks with his two corgis.