In the 1960s and 1970s a small group of climbers began making the clothing and gear they needed but couldn't buy, setting the ball rolling for four decades of technical innovation. Mountain Style tells this story, celebrating the history, vintage style and visual heritage of the UK’s outdoor clothing brands.
When a British expedition reached the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953, it put British mountaineering on top of the world. It also marked the start of an explosion in the popular love of the outdoors. In the next few decades, the clothes we put on for hill-walking, climbing and mountaineering would change beyond recognition.
Those early, amateur manufacturers sowed the seeds for global brands (Berghaus, Craghoppers, Karrimor, Montane, Mountain Equipment, Rab, Sprayway and others) we know today and set the template for what we all wear in the outdoors, inadvertently creating style classics along the way. In the 1980s and ‘90s, outdoor clothing entered the mainstream, appearing on football terraces and in city streets, on its way to the ubiquity it enjoys today.
Mountain Style features stunning new studio shots of vintage clothing, period adverts, brochures and photos, plus interviews with clothing designers, mountaineers and those at the birth of the brands. It brings together amazing images and deep research to tell a cultural history of the passion for the outdoors in the UK.
Thanks to unparalleled access inside many brands’ own archives, and items held by Mountain Heritage Trust and the Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection, it features an actual down duvet that went to Everest in 1953, classic Ventile smocks, down suits, early Gore-Tex, ravers’ jackets and many more.
Isola Press, 304pp, 30cm x 23cm, illustrated hardcover, 2024
