TAKE A HIKE WITH HOLLY
HAVE you got yours yet? Not your Christmas tree – I couldn’t give a stuffed koala about your festive decs. Have you got your hiking boots yet?
Because, at a time when we should be out buying sparkly party shoes, the UK’S fashionistas are in a frenzy over the sort of footwear usually reserved for fell walkers.
Not since the Gareth Southgate-inspired summer run on waistcoats, have we seen such an instant style hit.
And the reason we are all going gaga for Gore-tex? Holly Willoughby.
Filling in for Ant Mcpartlin on ITV’S I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, TV’S busiest blonde has swapped her heels for hiking boots and female viewers are desperate to walk a mile in her shoes.
Well, Louboutins were never gonna fly in the middle of an Aussie rainforest were they? Plus she’d have been towering over the diminuitive Dec.
For her first appearance this series, Holly (or should that be Angie, because super-stylist Angie Smith is repsonsible for most of Holly’s wardrobe and is hopefully getting a well-deserved trip Down Under out of her client!) chose a pair of Nanette boots from Grenson.
Grenson is a British handmade shoemaker with a heritage going back more than 120 years, but I’ll wager you’d never heard of them before.
I have, but only because my husband is a fan. Now everyone is. Within hours Holly’s £255 Nanette pair had sold out and the site was groaning under the weight of traffic.
As with her This Morning looks, everything Holly wears on I’m A Celeb is documented on her Instagram under the hashtag #hwjunglestyle.
As well as Grenson’s, there have been boots by Russell & Bromley, Rag and Bone, Maje, Camilla Elphick and Ganni. They’ll all set you back in the region of £300, but retailers can’t restock fast enough such is the demand.
While Holly’s footwear has been a hit, there have been more mixed reactions to her clothes. A £120 tartan dress from All Saints flew off the rails, as did her £358 floral dress by The Kooples, but the £485 ‘Darth Vader’ skirt by Ellery sparkled countless online jokes.
My first inkling something big was happening on the footwear front was when my mum started messaging me pictures of Holly. Ever the early adopter, she already has a pair, albeit hers are Clarks – comfort comes first at her age.
I think I’ll have to settle for Holly’s Topshop ones, a snip at £79. Granted they are not quite as gorgeous as Grenson’s but I’m sure they’ll cope with my concrete jungle.