Wellies: The Carnaby wellington boot by Hunter.

Black embossed croc print wellies: I shouldn't like these. I just shouldn't. I was brought up in a small village in the English countryside where Barbours were muddy and wellies were green. Even children's wellies were green. And God forbid you wore anything but Hunters

But then again change is a good thing, right? I succumbed to purple Hunters for Christmas five or six years ago when they introduced a limited line of coloured wellies to support various charities. They were red for The British Heart Foundation and yellow for lung cancer & so on. I think my purple ones supported The Woodland Trust.

Of course they were such a runaway success that Hunter now do wellies in all manner of styles & colours. They've now introduced a luxury range, and goodness these are desirable. Given that women in Manhattan wear wellies in which to commute - and then wear them in the office - I suspect they will go down like hot cakes.

They may have been produced using the same animal embossing technique used by Jimmy Choo, but I'm still not sure that I could bring myself to pay £139 for a pair of wellies tho. £139? My grandmother must be rolling in her grave. (There is a short pair for £99. I can accept coloured wellies, but short ones? Never.)

The Carnaby wellie by Hunter.