Most tights stop doing their job the moment you sit down. The waistband rolls, the gusset drops, and by midday you are doing subtle adjustments in lifts and hoping no one notices. High waist tights solve this in the most straightforward way possible: they actually stay where you put them. We have become quite evangelical about this. The waistband sits above the natural waist, which means there is simply more fabric holding everything in place, and the silhouette it creates under fitted dresses and skirts is genuinely smoother. Worth caring about, especially in winter when you are wearing tights every single day.

What we look for is denier range that covers real life. Something sheer enough for evenings, something warmer for the school run or the commute in February. The knit quality matters enormously because cheap tights ladder on first wear and that is just money in the bin. The ones we have pulled together here are the tights we actually repurchase. Not aspirational finds. The everyday ones that survive the week.

Good tights are unglamorous and completely essential. These are the ones worth stocking up on.