Back with boots

So I hope you've all missed your dose of Swelegance the last week or so. My birthday celebrations ran into a hellish week at work and a night at the theatre; with one thing and another, I've been too busy or exhausted to blog.

But shopping marches on, the sales are ending, and we still need to dress, and as this weather is making obvious, end of season bargain boots will get plenty of wear before summer.

I've mentioned Duo before, and their sale has taken an even bigger turn for the bargainous. Sale prices start at only £32 (and go up to £90) for winter boots in calf sizes up to 50cm. Each of the work-smart boots above costs less than £40, but there are also biker, Victorian lace-up, even cowboy styles and pretty colours to be had. If you are concerned about having large calves, though, you'll want to avoid the two styles below. The first is a pretty shade of pink, but hard to wear on dirty winter streets, and besides which, pale shades make everything look bigger. The other is a gorgeous, wearable bottle green, but that Romanov-esque frogging draws far too much attention to the horizontal line. Horizontal lines make you look wider. Avoid, avoid.

The good thing about the Duo site is that you can search by size - in this case foot and calf size. It's distressing in the shops when you find a style you like but your size isn't in stock. Internet shopping should be able to easily avoid that disappointment, and it's particularly important in the case of retailers who stock a myriad of size combinations - like a bra supplier, or indeed a calf-fit boot store. Infuriating, then, when Plus in Boots - an e-retailer also specialising in calf-fit boots, fails to do so.

Plus in Boots is a much smaller concern than Duo, with a much more limited line. But they too have a sale on, and so it's worth navigating their slightly irritating site, where knee boots are unnecessarily separated from calf boots and you must click into every style to see the colours available and if it still comes in your size. Sale boots here are all at either £50 or £60, so priced in the middle of Duo's sale. I like the black riding style boot above, and the gorgeous teal suede calf boots - both £50, and well worth dealing with the awkward site.