‘Mountain Style: British Outdoor Clothing 1953–2000’
Designed and art directed by Bravo. Charlie. Mike. Hotel. for Isola Press.

British Outdoor Style

Written by Max Leonard and Henry Iddon ‘Mountain Style: British Outdoor Clothing 1953-2000’ tells the story of how, in the 1950s and ’60s, a small group of climbers began making the products they needed but couldn’t buy, setting the ball rolling for four decades of technical innovation. They sowed the seeds for global brands 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.

Thanks to unparalleled access inside many brands’ own archives, as well as those of the Mountain Heritage Trust and the Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection, the book features over 400 images including new studio photography of vintage clothing, period adverts, brochures and photos. Alongside interviews with designers, mountaineers and those who were there at the birth of the brands, it tells the cultural history of the passion for the outdoors in the UK.

Case bound in Pertex fabric. 230 x 300mm / 9 x 12in. 304 pp.

Details such as the Pertex fabric case bound cover, and a drawstring chord page marker provide the book with a tactile, material connection to the jackets showcased inside.

The book’s story is built around the clothes that have defined British mountain style. Granted with unparalleled access to the archives held by each of the brands, we travelled around the UK to the headquarters of the numerous brands featured in the book, alongside photographer, Henry Iddon, to document these precious vintage pieces.

Each chapter details the prevailing trends in outdoor clothing in a single decade. From the ’50s and ’60s, when small groups of climbers began making the functional products they needed but couldn’t buy, to the more garish outfits of the ’80s and ‘90s, when outdoor clothing found its way onto the city streets and football terraces. Colour stories derived from the clothing of the time is used to signal the start of each new chapter.

Several years in the making, this project proved to be an adventure in and of itself. A huge thank you to both Max Leonard and Henry Iddon for this Mount Everest of a collaboration.