Hunter Original A/W 2014

The name is synonymous with Britain's most famous wet-weather Wellingtons, to the point where the brand is often substituted for the article. In fact, there aren't many home-county residences that don't have a permanent line-up of Hunters next to their front doors; a legacy that the brand's new creative director Alasdhair Willis was only too aware of going into his first catwalk presentation for A/W 2014. In the basement of the University of Westminster, the former Wallpaper* alumni, set the scene with a waterlogged runway, complete with semi-submerged Birch trees. The message was immediately clear, if we'd worn our Hunters, we could have splashed straight to our seats, rather than waiting to be ushered over bridges. But then that was part of Wills' first task: to avoid alienating the heritage brand's past, while mapping out its global future. After all, Willis is catering to both the farm owners, as well as the Primrose Hill weekend ramblers. And so he began by elevating the iconic welly into a heeled boot, and then championing the brand's pioneering spirit with a re-mastered outerwear expedition starting with festival-ready waterproof anoraks, and moving through rubberised trenches, toggle-fastened Paddington Bear coats, quilted hunting jackets, scuba bombers, and flap-pocketed utility jackets to silver après-ski puffers. The show was an all-weather adventure in high-tech fabrications and British wit (thanks to pom-pom balaclavas), and was perfectly timed considering much of England is currently under water. Extending the sentiment, the finale looks then fittingly faded back into the wooded environment behind a mesh screen. It was the perfect metaphor for a brand that has kept man, and country, moving - no matter the weather extremes - for well over the past 150 years.