Eckhaus Latta and Ugg Celebrated Their Capsule Collection With a Very L.A. Dinner

“I think we dove into this event the way we do our collections; it was very intuitive,” said Eckhaus Latta’s Zoe Latta of her collaboration with Ugg, sipping wine as the sky behind her swirled with blue, orange, and smog—a quintessential Los Angeles sunset. “We knew we wanted it to be L.A. based, and from there, it was very much us getting to work with our friends and community the way we normally do, putting together an experience for people to eat, drink, and be in a space that is different.”

Delightfully different it was; on Wednesday night, a crowd of creatives braved the rush hour traffic to make it to a remote location in Montecito Heights, where they were met with turmeric cocktails, hauntingly beautiful cello music, and a perfect view of the sprawling city below. And because this wouldn’t be an Eckhaus Latta event without a little quirk, all aspects of the evening had a surprising twist, from the table’s light fixtures, made from recycled plastics, to the whimsical centerpieces by ISA ISA and Renko floral—a casual eccentricity that was every bit Eckhaus as it was Ugg.

“We are really selective about the collaboration partners we work with, and these guys were doing something really interesting and special. I think you can tell from tonight they’ve got a very modern aesthetic that is intellectual but also really sexy, which is quite difficult to do. So we were really interested in seeing what they could do with our classic designs,” said Andrea O’Donnell, president of the global lifestyle brand behind Ugg. “Nobody needs more stuff, right? So the attention to detail, the beauty, the creativity, and the imagination we put into our shoes is incredibly important.”

The capsule is comprised of five imaginative footwear styles (for example mule-like booties with square toes and topstitching) and four limited-edition outerwear pieces set to debut next month at New York Fashion Week. Many guests—the Haim sisters, Alia Shawkat, Empress Of—sported pieces from the collection (so too did the event staff) before sitting down to the sunset dinner. Afterward, came dessert along with an impromptu comedy set by Kate Berlant and an energetic performance by sister duo Coqueta.

“Both of us grew up with Uggs having this very specific role of iconic importance in the early 2000s, most notably for this very specific boot that was very cool…then wasn’t. Then when we started working with them as a company, we became more and more interested in what we learned about their brand. For example, they’re not Australian, they’re Californian, and all of the shearling comes from byproducts of the meat industry,” explained Latta. Seems this was a collaboration full of surprises!