How Wellington Boots Became a Cool Festival-Girl Staple

We’ve all seen those images of Kate Moss at Glastonbury. In 2005, the supermodel was photographed attending the British music festival sporting a black suit vest worn as a top, itty-bitty shorts, and a pair of muddy, below-the-knee Wellington boots by Hunter. The look became instantly symbolic of Glastonbury style—so much so that many stars like Alexa Chung and Florence Welch have copied Moss and rocked the rain boot with leather pants or velvet blazers. But the Wellington boot’s unexpected rise to becoming a cool festival-girl staple certainly didn’t happen overnight.

The Wellington boot’s origin story dates as far back as the 1790s. It’s a derivative of the Hessian boot, a knee-high leather shoe with a stacked heel and front tassel worn by officers in the British army. One of the first public figures to begin wearing them was Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, who was a leading military and political figure in Britain at the time. In the early 19th century, however, Wellesley tasked his shoemaker, George Hoby, of St. James’s Street in London, to modify the shoe in a supple leather treated with wax, so that it could fit more closely around the leg. This silhouette, sans tassel, was deemed “the Wellington boot”—and it remained a must-have well into the early 1850s. 

Photo: Getty Images

Around this time, manufacturers were beginning to experiment with crafting boots out of rubber or “gum” fabrications, and the Wellingtons evolved as well. They became a revolutionary innovation. French farmers could wear them to work in the fields, while soldiers in the First World War began wearing them to prevent trench foot. A brand who produced vast amounts of rubber Wellington boots for troops during this war and WW II? That would be Hunter Boots, which is still the leading Wellies brand. Even after the war, they remained a mainstream staple as they were waterproof, comfortable, and relatively inexpensive. They skyrocketed in popularity in the 1950s, when Hunter introduced the green Wellington (now its most iconic shoe). The style was embraced by members of British high society, including Princess Diana, a major fan, in the ’90s.

There are now several rain boot brands that continue to specialize in the Wellington boot, all of whom are keeping its original intent—to stay dry!—alive. Hunter still leads the pack, though brands such as Aigle, Ilse Jacobsen, and Joules have all made the boot’s style their bread and butter (luxury labels such as Burberry, Tamara Mellon, and Dior have incorporated it into their core offerings too). But that doesn’t explain how the army shoe became the It girl festival shoe.