The Investment Dresser: the perfect boot

Ankle boots and ⅞ trousers have been locked in a mutually beneficial dance with one another for at least five years. It's been great. But now knee-highs are cutting in.

No biggie, I thought complacently, as I surveyed the crocodiles of tall, medium-to-high-heeled boots filing down the winter catwalks. I've got a nice little repertoire of knee-highs in my wardrobe dating back about 10 years.

And so I have. But having subjected each of the pairs to my own version of an Oxbridge viva, I discovered that nothing but nothing dates more than a medium-to-high-heeled boot. You can wear a dress that's 10, 30, 50 years old. But a Louis heel circa 2002? Don't make me laugh - and I don't care if it is from Jimmy Choo.

Even a blameless pair from Emma Hope, 2009, look hopelessly stubby and faded (I knew that suede was a bad idea). I love my Penelope Chilvers 2½in stacked-heel black boots but I've worn them so much they're knackered.

So, one magnanimous trip to my friend Sue Ryder later, and I'm in the market for knee-highs. I'm thinking smart, glossy but not patent (fattening and a bit flash). No exotics, either - also flashy and quite plumpifying. Who needs that? I want a shape that is slim but not sausage, with no bling, a rounded, squarish toe and a block heel around 2½in, because anything higher looks too un-Céline.

Black, or near black, obviously. Lanvin's midnight-blue style is perfect ( net-a-porter.com ). But £785. B Store's Vanessa boots (£458, mywardrobe.com ) are the right toe shape and have a Perspex heel you could wear at night, but at 8cm high they're stretching my definition of comfortable.

That leaves the Barry boots by Robert Clergerie ( robertclergerie.com ), which I've been prancing around in; right height, right width (slightly loose - makes you feel sylph-like), right colour and £630 (still steep, but sure to pass the price-per-wear test).

Only the heel shape is an issue: a striking but definitely of-the-moment chunk that's almost, but not quite, a wedge. Is it a classic? Probably not, but for now I love it and will wear it to death. And when it comes to boots, that's about all you can ask.

^{From left: Leather mock-croc riding boot, £150, by Dune ( dune.co.uk ), Leather stirrup boot with spur detail, £920, by Gucci (020 7235 6707), Leather boot, £320, by Kurt Geiger ( kurtgeiger.co.uk )}

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