Real stories · The short dress that tights make possible

I thought short dresses had retired me — then I remembered what thick tights are for

The short dress that tights make possible — that's what this is. I'm 67, and I'd quietly filed short dresses under 'not any more' years ago, along with festival tickets and white trousers. Which was a shame, because a shorter hem with boots is the one silhouette that always made me feel put together without any effort.

Let me be honest about the hem: it's short. On a hanger, alarmingly so. But that was never the real question.

The real question is what you wear under it, and the answer is the Noelle from a British label called York Boutique — a soft brown knit dress with a proper wide belt — worn the only way I'd wear it: over thick opaque tights with knee-high boots.

Styled like that, the arithmetic changes completely. The tights and boots cover everything from mid-thigh down in warm black and brown, which is why the short hem reads as a neat line in an outfit rather than bare leg — you get the leg-lengthening silhouette with nothing actually on show. Meanwhile the top half is generously cut with soft batwing sleeves, so there's no clinging anywhere, and the wide belt puts the waist exactly where you tell it to. Comfort of a jumper, shape of a dress.

Opaque tights and knee boots do the covering, the belt does the waist, and the roomy top half does the comfort — which is why a short dress at my age turns out to be the easiest smart outfit I own, not the bravest.

It was £34.95 — half the usual £70 — less than the skirt and jumper it replaces put together, and with a fortnight to send it back and free delivery, there was nothing to lose.

It has since done a lunch, a gallery afternoon and a school pickup, and my daughter — who does not hand out compliments — said I looked 'genuinely stylish', then checked the label twice. It was £34.95 in the sale, half the usual £70.

If you also filed short dresses under 'not any more', do have a look — and buy the thick tights first. The Noelle is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 190 women, it comes in this one warm brown, in UK sizes 6/8 to 16/18 — and at half price the middle sizes go quickest.