They're back and this time they're beautiful
High-heeled, handpainted or striped, the Wellington boot has been given a makeover by many fashion designers this autumn. In the past they have been viewed as the appropriate attire for the countryside but are they are now being worn by fashionistas far, far from the farm. Jill Hopkins finds out what traditional Wellington boot wearers think of the new styles. And Jenni talks to Sue Constable Shoe Heritage Officer for Northampton Museums and Jessica Lowe, fashion journalist at CityLife, Manchester's listings magazien.
bbc.co.uk radio 4 online - article link

Duke of Wellington's pastures lure hunters given the boot by Britain
IT HAS been about 190 years since the Duke of Wellington’s men galloped with their hounds through the rolling Gascony countryside beneath the Pyrenees. But the English spirit has never really left Pau, the Iron Duke’s garrison town which later became an elegant Victorian resort.
Now, thanks to Britain’s imminent foxhunting ban and low-cost airlines, les anglais are about to return to pursue the local renard.

Jeffrey Quirk, a retired English accountant living in a chateau near Pau, is working with two historic English hunts — the Puckeridge and East Suffolk — to have outlawed English huntsmen stable their horses with the Pau chasse and ride with it next season.

“They are both about 20 minutes from Stansted airport, where Ryanair flies direct to Pau,” Mr Quirk, 58, said. “This is the best quality riding that I’ve seen anywhere in Europe. It’s somewhere between Hertfordshire and Tipperary.”
www.timesonline.co.uk - read the full article

Ironic wellies only
Despite recently being at Leeds Festival, it has never seemed so distant. Writing this, on the day furthest away from my next rationed slice of an almost alter-ego-like weekend, I can’t help but feel slightly poignant... The Carling Weekend 2007 is dead. Literally, leaving behind ashes (of tents, drunks and Johnny Borrell effigies), contents of the pit toilets and of course the many memories, at least it made its mark! So what was it that made Leeds Fest, Leeds Fest, this year? Was it unofficial fancy dress convention? The fact that most people don’t remember it due to copious amounts of one substance or another? Or could it perhaps have been something to do with the music, I wonder?...
bbc.co.uk leeds online - read the full article

Why we all love wellies
There aren't many fashion trends loved equally by an (almost) 80-year-old Queen (who likes hers in dark olive green) and a supermodel with as much sartorial street-cred as Kate Moss (who has a penchant for black).

The Hunter Wellington is a style classic that seems to straddle every section of society, from farmers to fashion icons, and royalty to rock stars. In recent years, this humble rubber boot has been transformed from a much-ridiculed product that lent its name to the 'Green Welly Brigade' to become the footwear of choice to go with a Glastonbury backstage pass for the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Cat Deeley and Donna Air.

Madonna, desperate to perfect her image as a genteel Lady of the Manor, potters around her Wiltshire estate in a pair, while Angelina Jolie somehow gave Hunters sex appeal when she slipped on a scarlet pair in Mr And Mrs Smith. Co-star Brad Pitt certainly thought so...
Daily Mail online - read the full article

The leopardskin wellies taking the Tory party conference by storm
Ever since she addressed the Tory Conference in a pair of racy leopard-print kitten heels five years ago, Theresa May has been renowned for her eye-catching footwear. But yesterday she surpassed herself.

To highlight a community gardening project in which the Tories are involved, the Shadow Leader of the Commons took to the stage of the Winter Gardens in a pair of wellies....
Daily Mail online - read the full article

Wellies the height of fashion at Henley regatta
t's a scene more familiar to a music concert than a Royal rowing regatta. But after almost two weeks of downpours, wellington boots are being allowed at Henley for the first time. Organisers of the Royal Regatta on the River Thames usually adhere to a strict dress code, but have relaxed the rules this year due to the wet weather...
Daily Mail online - read the full article

Wearing wellies can make you beautiful — honestly
Designer wellies may look good on the stars, but I bet they smell of cupboard, writes Anna Burnside.
Nothing reveals the born and bred townie more than her attitude to Wellington boots. For those of us who grew up with the sound of traffic and thought potatoes came from supermarkets, wellies were a rare form of torture. Produced only when the weather was particularly foul or a muddy weekend outing was proposed, they were regulation black rubber, smelled of cupboard and rarely fitted. Despite there being many more wellies than there were children, the sizes available seldom corresponded with the wearer’s feet. Not that this mattered. If they pinched, they were worn with pop socks. If the feet were sliding within the boot, climbing socks were deployed. Nothing helped. They were never, ever comfortable...
Times online - read the full article

Hail the muddy wonder of wellies
EVERY couple of years, some newspaper sends a colour writer to Badminton Horse Trials to be “funny”. Invariably, they tell their readers that half a million people were all wearing hats, Barbours and Hunter wellies. Isn’t it hilarious? People not only live in the country: they actually wear clothes suitable for doing so.

Hunter wellies are not a country icon because they make a statement. They are an icon because they do the job they are supposed to do. They keep your feet dry: and if you have much mud in your life, that’s a great start. They also fit properly, don’t fall off, your feet don’t slither about inside them, being proper rubber, they are soft enough to walk about in for long periods of time. What’s more, they are light.
Times online - read the full article