Real stories · The polo-neck without the strangle

I love what a high neck does for the face — I just hate being throttled. This sweater fixed it

The polo-neck without the strangle — that's the best description I have. I'm 67, and I've always known a high neck is the most flattering thing a jumper can do: it frames the face, covers the neck, and keeps every draught out. The problem is the actual polo-neck, which grips like a firm handshake from nine in the morning until you finally peel it off.

What I wanted was everything the high neck does — without spending the day being gently throttled.

Then I found the Avrielle from a British label called York Boutique — an elegant high-neck sweater, and I chose the black, which does dinner just as happily as it does Tuesday.

The difference is all in the neck. It's a soft funnel that stands gently away from the throat instead of clinging to it, which is why you get the flattering frame around the face and the warmth at the back of the neck with none of the gripping — you genuinely forget it's there. The rest is cut relaxed, so it skims rather than reports, the long sleeves cover the arms properly, and it looks just as right over smart trousers as it does over jeans.

The high neck stands softly away from the throat instead of gripping it — so you get everything a polo-neck does for the face and the draughts, with none of the strangle.

It has since done a gallery café with my friend Sandra, two ordinary Tuesdays and one dinner where I'd normally have fussed with a necklace — the neckline did the work instead. Sandra, who abandoned polo-necks years ago for exactly the reason you'd think, tried mine on in the ladies'. She has ordered the blue.

It was £24.95 in the sale — the usual price is £60, so that's nearly 60% off — and I'd checked I could send it back if the neck gripped after all, which you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free. It comes in black, blue and white, and in sizes S all the way to 5XL, which is a properly generous range.

If you also love a high neck but not the strangle, do treat yourself to a look. The Avrielle is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 250 women, it's £24.95 in the sale instead of £60, and black always seems to go first.