I likes leggings, I do

I never really took to the cropped leggings that were sported by the world and his sister under floaty frocks during the summer, mostly because anything that cuts across my pins is pretty much guaranteed to make my legs look really short. With their leg-shortening ends tucked into boots for winter, though, I've discovered that they're a most excellent substitute for tights: toasty warm without the bulkiness of woolly tights or the not-entirely-office-appropriate transparancy that opaques tend to suffer from, regardless of their denier.

Getting good leggings, I've discovered, involves a bit of trial and error. Oh sure, those New Look numbers are cheap, but that's because they save money scrimping on the lycra that keeps the damn things up!

No, to avoid the Nora Batty look, Topshop is your only man. Leggings are sized and come in a variety of lengths and finishes, with a choice of lace or zips or studs (oh my!) at the ends.

And even if you're refusing to be taken in by all this legging jazz but are in the market for some daycent tights, my top tip is to take a trip into Topshop or Oasis for a pair that won't end up around your ankles or under your armpits. Remember when your Mammy used to "sack" you into your schooltights when you were little, pulling them right up so that you wouldn't get a cold in your kidneys? Yeh. Not comfy. River Island's tights, by the way, are unspeakably crap - I bought a pair of black sheers with a shexy black sheam (ok, I'll stop now) up the back of them and they didn't even sit properly against my legs, gaping at the backs of my ankles and the backs of my knees. I'd have understood why if I were a giantess of 5' 8" or something and had inadvertantly picked up a "Small", but I'm 5' 2".

I love you, River Island, but come on!