What to do now that it's September and whatever suntan we might have got has faded, and it's too cold, too often, for us to bother with fake tan? This autumn, that staple of the British wardrobe, the tasty black opaque 40 denier, looks undeniably dated. The day the Princess of Wales's decree absolute was announced, a photograph of her taken last year appeared on the front page of one newspaper showing her in a pinstripe suit, her legs encased in thick black tights. Suddenly, inexplicably, those tights, like Lycra bandage skirts and shoulder pads, just don't look right. Of course nothing's really going to stop most of us, and that certainly includes me, wearing them again this winter (what else keeps you warm, camouflages less than perfect skin and takes inches off your knees?) but to the fashion aficionado the black opaque's moment has been and gone. The new tights are patterned, lace or woollen affairs, shown on all the catwalks last spring, and they are pretty good news for an English winter, when they can be worn with teetering stack-heeled shoes or wellington boots with equal aplomb. Last week, as the first chilly mornings returned, I set out on a foray to buy some patterned woollen tights I had first seen on the floor of our fashion room, and had just spotted on a woman with great legs in the Prada shop. Little did I realise that I was among many with the same idea, and the hosiery departments of London's major stores had already been ransacked. The tights I was looking for, Follow Me by Wolford, have sold out all over London, or at least they have in their most wearable colours, black or brown - you can still find ecru, a rather difficult white shade that is not destined for many of us. I didn't think I'd ever get to the point where I was on style-name terms with woollen tights, but there I was in one shop, even contemplating putting my name down on the Follow Me waiting list (had I gone mad?). The only reason for this lunacy was that the harder they were to find, the more convinced I became that they would be the linchpin of my winter wardrobe. Perhaps they'd even do an exercise class for me. Unbelievable as it may seem, these tights - at a cost of £22 a pair - have hijacked the legs of not only London but the whole country.