Tall Girl Treat: Tights That FIT!

Another day, another Long Tall Sally catalogue that makes me do a sad face. Who are they aiming at these days, exactly? And shouldn't the clothes at least look beautiful on the models? And why this obsession with everything being long? Long-length cardigans and maxi skirts - I just want things that are the right length on me. Eurgh.

With no clothes on the horizon to make me sing for my long-limbed supper, and a gloriously snowy snap on the horizon, my thoughts turn, as always to good hosiery.

Attention! Tights for tall women need not be deathly boring!

By now us tall girls should be old pros at where to get tights, but given that I am still - still! - coming across women with size 9 feet squeezing them into size 8s, or wearing trainers because they don't think they can find pretty shoes (my shoe guide! Read it!), it's worth a recap just to make sure.

I'm a size 14 with a 37" inside leg, and I can quite happily buy tights and the like on the high street. These are my cast-iron success stories. (Note: I am a cheapskate, and if I can get quality for less than a tenner, I ain't paying £17.50.)

1) Boots
Their Tall or Fuller Figure size is incredible for on-the-go tights disasters, and you can also buy some decent nude hold-ups as well. That's pretty much all I've got to say about them really, their range is never as exciting as...

Topshop red brocade tights, were £15, now £5

2) Topshop
A fairly unimpressive selection on the website, but Topshop's incredibly flexible high denier tights in 'one size' - ignore large, it's a cop-out - have served me brilliantly for years. I have loads of these, particularly their 100 denier opaques in claret and bright pink. Great for opaques that really do the job, rather than going all thin and weedy once you've dragged them half-way up your gams.

3) Marks & Spencer

Mmm, sparkly

Every pair of tights I've truly loved, I've got here: M&S are the ibuprofen to my tights-buying headache. Their XL size is fantastic and gives great coverage without going all thin, or the crotch hanging several inches under par. I loved the (many, many) sparkly woolly opaques I got in 2010 so much that I actually darn them, and the red ribbed numbers I bought in 2009 are still going gloriously strong. I learned to darn, I love M&S tights so much.

They're also dead cheap. They've got some fantastic brights in at the moment for £3.50 (pictured above: including my beloved pink!), and their Limited Edition and Autograph (£9.50) are always worth keeping an eye on. If you don't like what's in now, it's always the way that you'll be beating their door down in a few weeks.

Their XL hold-ups - well, they're fine. They're not as successful as the tights, certainly, and always sit a little lower than you want them. That said, M&S used to do coloured opaque hold-ups which were the NUTS and which I always hope they'll bring back at some point.

So if you know the perfect place for hold-ups that sit at just the right point on your long thighs, or you're a tall girl with the last word in tights - don't keep it to yourself, share! And as ever, happy shopping. Being a stylish tall woman needn't be the battle that the shops and mags would have us believe.