Real stories · The trainers that pass as smart

Six hours of Christmas shopping, then straight to the café — in the same shoes

Trainers that pass as smart shoes — that's the whole magic of the silver, and my feet negotiated the deal. I'm 67, and every winter brings the same footwear dilemma: the long days — Christmas shopping, town errands, museum trips with my daughter — demand trainers, but I've never liked what trainers do to an otherwise put-together outfit. So I'd wear the smart black shoes, and pay for it by four o'clock.

What I wanted was one pair that could do the miles AND the café afterwards.

Then I found the Velanique from a British label called York Boutique — a trainer in soft metallic silver with a neat little side zip and a cushioned sole. There's gold, black and brown as well, but the silver is the clever one.

The silver is doing something sly. Across a café it reads as a smart shoe — a gleam, not a gym shoe — which is why it goes with the good coat without a second thought — while underneath, the cushioned sole and light flexible build are pure trainer, carrying me through six-hour days without a single complaint from below. The little zip means they're off at the door without bending to laces.

A soft metallic silver that reads as a smart shoe across a café, on a cushioned sole built for six-hour shopping days — which is why the black 'good' shoes have quietly retired.

They were £34.95, half the usual £70 — rather less than the smart black pair they've now retired, which cost more and lasted until lunchtime. A fortnight to send them back and free delivery, checked and immediately forgotten.

They have since done one full Christmas-shopping Saturday — six hours, four shops, one grotto queue — straight into a café with the fairy lights on, feet blameless throughout, and my daughter looked under the table and christened them 'the disco trainers'. She has since asked for the link. And my size, worryingly.

If your winter days are also too long for your smart shoes, do have a look. The Velanique is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 210 women, it comes in silver, gold, black and brown, in UK sizes 3 to 10 — and at half price the silver goes first.