Real stories · The trousers that ended the waistband war

I'd started undoing my jeans button at the dinner table — these stretch trousers look smart and never once dig in

Trousers that look smart but never dig in — I'd honestly started to think they didn't exist. I'm 67, and my relationship with waistbands has turned quietly hostile: jeans that leave a red line by lunchtime, 'smart' trousers I unbutton at the dinner table and hope nobody notices, and leggings, which are comfortable but which I refuse to call trousers.

What I wanted was simple: something I could wear to lunch in town and then sit in all afternoon without a single seam making itself known.

Then I found the Marviennea from a British label called York Boutique — comfy stretch trousers, and I chose the taupe, which is smarter than black somehow and goes with everything.

The difference is the waistband. It's wide and high, so it holds you gently — a bit of light support for the tummy — instead of a narrow band that saws in when you sit down. The fabric has real stretch, so they move when I move, but they hang like proper trousers with a neat, slightly flared leg, and there are real side pockets, which trouser-makers seem to think women don't need. I've worn them to lunch, on the long drive to my sister's, and through an entire afternoon of gardening — not once did I think about them.

A wide, high waistband that holds gently instead of digging, fabric with real give, and proper side pockets — they look like smart trousers, but by four o'clock I've completely forgotten I'm wearing them.

And here's the part that decided it: they come as one-plus-one-free. Two pairs for the price of one. I kept the taupe and ordered the second in black, so there's a pair in the wash and a pair on — which, at my age, is simply correct trouser administration.

Two pairs together are £39.95 in the sale — I hesitated at nearly forty pounds until I did the arithmetic: that's under £20 a pair for trousers I wear almost daily, against the usual £80. And I'd checked before ordering that I could send them back if the fit was off — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — so there was nothing lost by trying. They come in five colours and in sizes UK 8/10 to 16/18.

If your jeans button also comes undone at the table more often than you'd admit, do treat yourself to a look. The Marviennea is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 320 women, it's two pairs for £39.95 in the sale instead of £80, and the middle sizes always seem to go first.