It’s kind of ironic that I work in finance and analyse risk-reward ratios for a living, but when I see a festival lineup, all that money smart-talk goes out of the window and I make the same footwear decisions I did at uni. * Last year at Reading Festival, I told myself those cute little ankle rain boots from Zara would be “totally fine” for the weekend the weather was threatening to be (about a million percent rain, “aggressively British” as we like to say). *I say last year, but it was really three years ago, Festival Season having being cut shockingly short in 2020 and 2021. Turns out they weren’t “totally fine” and after four hours my feet were completely soaked. I spent the entire Saturday afternoon waddling around like a penguin from trying to keep my socks dry with each step.
Everyone else in my group – and especially my friend Maya, who’d sensibly rocked a pair of proper wellies – kept giving me dirty looks as I hobblingly made myself look more and more pregnant throughout the weekend. Between you and me, I was basically rocking trench foot while waiting for my doctor’s appointment at Mountain Sound. *sobs into llama-shaped stress ball* What happened to me that weekend wasn’t uncommon Festival Styling knowledge – but what I learned afterward about how to wear wellies to a festival IS. Fact: nice wellies can actually be an investment in your festival wardrobe that elevate your outfits, not destroy them.
Like festival denim, a good pair of boots will take you from an act from the BBC Music tent to watching the headliners on the main stage. I spent way too long convincing myself that wellies are unfashionable and only come in ugly shades of beige, when if you look hard enough there are plenty of options that work with your outfits, not against them.
Trust me, I dove down the rabbit hole of welly research after humiliating myself at Reading.
If there’s one thing I’ll spend money on after making a pricey mistake, it’s doing everything in my power to never repeat that mistake again.
There are plenty of options out there between Smiggle-style awful wellington boots from garden centres and full blown Lord Of The Manchesters getups. You just need to know where to look!
Let’s start with the obvious: Hunter Wellies. Yes, everyone has a pair. Yes, it’s funny that thousands of people crowded into one muddy field wearing wellington boots basically invented the term “fake hike.” BUT I have been wearing the same pair of Hunter Original Talls in matte black for five years and they’re still going strong.
I took them to Glasto twice, Latitude thrice, and yet they still look chic enough to wear IRL. To the pub. To the tube.
You get the point. They’ve been on countless weekends away with friends where someone always suggests “doing something outdoorsy” and then we all end up miserably soaking wet except for me, because guess what? My boots are waterproof.
The thing about Hunters is that if you avoid the insane shiny variants of their classic boot (yes they make those), they’re basically chic enough to pass as normal boots. The matte black, navy, and hunter green options are what you should really be looking at. They pair with literally everything in my wardrobe, from festival jeans to my too-expensive-for-actual-festivals Ganni dress.
They’re perfect. However! I know what you’re thinking.
Hunter is so ubiquitous. Nobody wants to be that girl. But, my friends, let me introduce you to Aigle.
They’re French. They make amazing boots. They’ve been around forever.
They know that wellington boots can be practical + stylish, and NOT some hideous mama boot that makes you look like you’re trying to birth your band tent at 3am. I borrowed a pair of their Parcours boots in cognac from my sister last summer when my Hunters were dirty from a day trip (story of my life…) and attending End of the Road, and I was blown away by the difference. Aigle boots have neoprene lining so your feet don’t sweat after an hour of standing around like mine do in Hunters.
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They also just grip the ground so much better – literally watched people slipping and sliding around me in their wellies at End of the Road because Aigle has the rubber technology figured out. They’re pricier than Hunter – I think these retailed at around £150 but they’ll last you YEARS if you take care of them. Like Hunters, they’re great for actual countryside walks if you ever find yourself doing that sort of thing.
Investing in the good boots truly changes how you think about putting together your festival wardrobe. Rather than having to build an entire outfit around the hope that no one will notice your shitty shoes, you can actually pull together looks that work. I basically live in uniform for festivals now: vintage band tee, high waist denim, bigass blazer I can tie around my waste when I get too hot, and Hunters.
It’s comfortable, practical, and allows me to enjoy myself without worrying that my shoes are going to kill my vibe. Photo: Ilse Jacobsen Danish brand Ilse Jacobsen make these lace-up rubber boots that look almost hiking-boot-esque but are fully waterproof. They’re basically what I’ve been searching for my whole festival-boot-shopping life EXCEPT for the fact that they look like boots I’d actually wanna wear to festivals.
Obsessed with them in theory, haven’t pulled the trigger on buying a pair yet because I’m trying not to be greedy with adding to my shoe collection at the moment, but will definitely be considering them next year! The good news is that if Hunter-level saturation is a vibe you’re trying to avoid, Joules have really stepped their welly game up recently. They do brights and pastels and even subtle prints without looking like kid’s boots – something I never thought was possible before I gave them a chance!
The genius of their tall styles is that they have an adjustable back strap meaning you can wear them over thick leggings or thin leggings depending on if it’s hot-but-muddy or cold-and-muddy (both very REAL British festival scenarios). A colleague of mine raves about these boots from an Australian company called Merry People. They look almost like ankle boots but are totally waterproof!
She wore them to Field Day last year with cropped trousers and looked incredible. The way she styled them was completely different to how I would have rocked a pair of wellies previously – she wore them like actual shoes instead of hoping to disguise them under long trousers. Worked so well.
What I learned from spending way too much money on festival footwear the hard way is this: 1) Good grip is everything. I learnt on gnarlyWellies with zero grip are basically WATER SKATES. Invest in a pair with deep tread and rubber made for GRIPPING MUDDY GROUND, not dollar store rubber dipped in magical waterproofing dust.
2) Lining is key for comfort.
If your wellies are unlined you will hate yourself halfway through day 1.
Unlined rubber boots are agony – first your feet sweat, then they get cold, and then you have blisters from wet socks rubbing raw.
Spend a few extra quid on lined boots that will actually keep your feet HAPPY. Lesson learnt! 3) Height matters!
Seriously, I love my tall boots but they do get annoyingly hot if you’re purely walking around festivals (good reason to break out the cute ankle boots when you can). Mid-height boots are usually my jam because they cover enough of your legs for most mud situations but aren’t towering like a kayaker’s boots. The other thing I learned about investing in good boots?
It actually makes packing WAY easier. If you know you have a pair of boots you can trust to keep your feet dry, you don’t need to pack three backup pairs of shoes “just in case it rains.” Streamline your footwear to a single pair of wellies that will roll with whatever weather comes their way. Trust me, you’ll have more space for things that actually matter (aka the backup phone charger and a good moisturizer because festivals do NOT care about your skin).
Lastly, take care of your boots if you spend good money on them. I rinse mine off after each festival (not just a pathetic splash in the toilets), let them dry completely, then pop them inside other shoes so they don’t lose their shape. It sounds like such a fuss but when you drop £150 on boots you treat them like the investment they are and they’ll last you years.
Promise.
