Let's beat the cold with (layers of) statement tights

I am making the bet that all the elaborate hosiery trends are really going to take off next Spring.

Not before, and especially not during the last mile before Christmas.

Knee-high socks might be spared because they are easy to accommodate with any pair of thick leggings, or even jeans.

They are a great way of adding a smudge of colour to a dark winter outfit - and colour lifts the mood.

Fancy print and lace tights however, are in danger of becoming winter-extinct.

Mostly, because they are too thin to protect against the cold.

And unless you work in an Caribbean-beach-like warm office and you have a taxi to shelter you from the frost and wind while traveling from point A to point B, they are often not worth a month with the sniffles.

The way out is to wear them over a pair (or two) of skin coloured tight. Because let's admit it, they look fantastic.

Statement tights however might be the solution

A lot of brands have opaque statement tights: they are thicker which rhymes with warmer.

Opaque also means it is easy to wear another pair underneath, without them having to be paper-thin and skin coloured.

And of course there are all the patent, PVC, shiny or leather imitation leggings.

Even ice-age temperatures cannot stop a girl to show off some leg from underneath woolen trenches.

Fashion's winter shapely silhouette

Ok, I might be a little obsessed about size but I really can't get my head around all these opposite messages we are getting:

* Models are getting thinner by the minute and celebrities like to compare their bones.
* Designers are changing the size labels to make customers feel good (that's why an 8 can easily be a 10 in another shop)
* They tell us chocolate is good for the health
* And shape is "in"...

The Brigitte Bardot look is likely to inspire quite a few ways in which we can wear this winter's trends. I think it's an amazing thing: hips and leggings have always been a spicy match.

Also, there is nothing better than a tight stripped wool mini dress to valorise a womanly figure. And, as not many people have the physique of Twiggy, the fifties shapely look is a perfect fashion!

The feminine form has been celebrated on the catwalk this season, from Luella's mini soft black glamour dresses to over the knee high socks.

Basically it's all about shape: cropped trousers with a tucked in shirt, flowy and soft, cashmere cardigans and wool dresses.

If we can do it, why can't the models?