Real stories · The bracelet I can actually put on myself

The vintage-style bracelet that ended my battle with fiddly clasps — it hinges open, clicks shut, done

A bracelet I could put on by myself, with one hand, without my reading glasses — that's genuinely all I wanted. I'm 67, and somewhere along the way those tiny lobster clasps became my sworn enemy. I'd stand at the mirror pinching away at a spring the size of a grain of rice, and nine times out of ten I'd give up and go out with a bare wrist. My prettiest bracelets lived in a drawer, unworn, because getting them on required a second pair of hands I don't have.

What I wanted was something that looked properly elegant — the sort of piece that finishes an outfit — but that opened and closed without a fight.

Then I found the Isadora from a British label called York Boutique — a vintage-style bangle with a deep green oval stone, and the moment I read the word 'hinged' I understood it was made for people like me.

The whole difference is the hinge. There's no clasp at all — the bangle opens like a tiny locket, you lay it over your wrist, and it clicks shut. Three seconds, one hand, no glasses required. And because it's a solid bangle rather than a chain, it sits still on the wrist instead of spinning round so the pretty part faces the floor. The green stone is a deep bottle green with an ornate vintage-style setting around it, and it reads as something inherited rather than something bought last Tuesday — which is exactly the effect one wants.

No clasp to pinch, no chain to chase around my wrist. It hinges open like a locket, clicks shut, and stays exactly where I put it. I had it on in three seconds flat.

I wore it to our church coffee morning the first week and two people asked if it had been my mother's. My daughter has already tried to claim it for herself, which I'm treating as the highest possible review. It's dressy enough for a lunch out but not so grand that it looks silly with a cardigan and jeans, which is where most of my life happens.

It was £19.95 in the summer sale, half the usual price, which for the piece of jewellery I now wear most is very little money indeed. I'd checked before ordering that I could send it back if it wasn't right — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — so there was nothing lost by trying. It comes in four colours; I chose the green.

If your favourite bracelets are also sitting in a drawer because of a clasp the size of a grain of rice, do treat yourself to a look. The Isadora is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 180 women, it's £19.95 in the summer sale instead of £40 — half price — and the green always seems to go first.