Real stories · The trousers that added inches

Malcolm asked if I'd got taller — it was the trousers

Same me, apparently two inches taller — that's what these trousers did, according to my own husband. I'm 67, and I'd made my peace with trousers that merely fitted: waistbands that sat wherever they landed, legs that stopped conversation with the floor at an awkward moment, the general effect of someone slightly compressed.

What I wanted was a pair of trousers that did a bit of quiet flattering on my behalf.

Then I found the Chalvessa from a British label called York Boutique — flared trousers in a deep bottle green with a lovely soft ribbed texture and a proper high waist. I chose the green; there's pink, red, deep red and brown as well.

The geometry does the work. The high waist starts the leg earlier than nature intended, and the gentle flare balances everything below — which is why the eye reads height and proportion instead of hip and ankle — while the soft, breathable feel means all this flattering happens without a single restrictive seam. With a tucked jumper it's an outfit; with the good blouse it's an occasion.

A high waist that starts the leg early and a gentle flare that balances everything below — which is why the eye reads height, and my husband reads confusion.

They were £34.95, half the usual £70 — rather less than the 'magic' trousers a boutique in Harrogate once sold me, which magicked nothing. I did check I could send them back — a fortnight, free delivery — which settled it.

They have since done a coffee morning, a bookshop trip and one dinner out, and the reviews are in: Malcolm asked, in genuine confusion, whether I'd 'got taller somehow', and Sandra demanded to know what I'd 'had done'. Nothing, Sandra. It's geometry.

If your trousers also merely fit, do have a look. The Chalvessa is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 210 women, it comes in five colours, in UK sizes 8/10 to 18/20 — and at half price the green goes first.