Kate Moss has revealed that one of the most recognisable festival fashion moments of the 2000s was never planned. The British supermodel says she ended up wearing black Hunter wellies to Glastonbury Festival in 2005 because she was running late, the fields were already covered in mud and there was no time to buy anything else.
'We didn't have time to go shopping,' Moss recalled more than two decades later while revisiting the story behind the look. The revelation comes as the fashion icon reunites with Hunter to front the British footwear brand's 170th anniversary campaign, bringing the boots that became closely associated with her Glastonbury style back into focus.
Kate Moss Grabbed the Boots at the Last Minute
Kate Moss was preparing to leave for Glastonbury when a friend warned her about the state of the festival grounds. Her then-boyfriend, Pete Doherty, was due to perform with Babyshambles later that day, and the couple were already running behind schedule. Babyshambles played the Other Stage on 24 June 2005, during a festival weekend remembered for exceptionally muddy conditions.
With no time for a shopping trip, Moss searched her wardrobe and found a pair of Hunter Wellington boots. 'They were black and were tighter to the leg and they were waterproof. Bingo!' she recalled in Hunter's new anniversary campaign. The practical choice would soon become part of a series of Glastonbury outfits that remain closely linked to Moss's mid-2000s style.
Across the festival, Moss teamed her wellies with pieces including tiny shorts, fitted waistcoats, low-slung belts and a shimmering gold minidress. Rather than hiding the weatherproof footwear beneath a conventional rain outfit, she mixed the boots with clothes more closely associated with her off-duty model wardrobe. Looking back at the famously short hemlines, Moss joked that 'my shorts wouldn't be so short now'.
Her Glastonbury Look Became Part of Hunter History
Images of Moss walking through Worthy Farm helped cement the Wellington boot as a familiar part of 2000s festival style. Hunter now highlights Moss's relationship with the Original Tall Wellington Boot as part of the brand's cultural history, while her Glastonbury appearances became closely associated with the rise of festival wellies as a fashion staple. Moss said she realised the outfit had made an impact when she returned to another festival and noticed how many people were wearing similar boots.
Her association with Hunter also predates that famous Glastonbury weekend. A pair of personalised Hunter wellingtons belonging to Moss, dated circa 2000, was displayed alongside boots from Queen Elizabeth II's wardrobe in the Barbican's Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion exhibition. The exhibition explored fashion's relationship with dirt, nature and deliberately imperfect aesthetics.
For Hunter, the connection now forms part of a milestone year. Founded in 1856, the company is celebrating its 170th anniversary in 2026 with Moss starring in its 'Iconic by Nature' global campaign. Photographed by Mikael Jansson, the campaign once again puts the supermodel in the brand's tall Wellington boots.
Hunter Brings the Original Boot Back for Its Anniversary
#Hunter #Rubber #Boots #KateMoss
— NotAnotherName (@N1otAnotherName) September 24, 2026
Kate Moss showcasing Hunter boots and jackets.
I am intrigued!😅 pic.twitter.com/EWEVSqTwHw
Hunter is also marking the anniversary with a limited-edition version of its Original Tall Wellington Boot. The company says the Hunter Green design recreates the first Original Tall introduced 70 years ago, using the same construction method and 28 individual parts. The anniversary edition features gold hardware and an original-style badge carrying the words 'Since 1856'.
For Moss, however, the story began without a campaign, stylist or carefully constructed fashion plan. She was late, her boyfriend was performing and somebody had warned her that the Glastonbury fields were already deep in mud. A pair of black boots sitting in her wardrobe solved the immediate problem and, more than 20 years later, remains one of the defining images of her festival style.
