Five ways to fake longer legs

ASA child, my ambition was to be a ballerina. I would stand on tiptoes and twirl around in the mirror imagining myself leaping across the stage at the Royal Ballet to the crowd’s rapturous applause.

But soon after starting dance classes, it became crushingly obvious that no matter how adroit my pirouette, I would never be Giselle.

Where my fellow dancers’ legs were long and lithe, mine were short by comparison.

I had to give up my dreams of ballet stardom and went into contemporary dance instead. It was an early lesson in having to make the best of what I had. Even now at 70, despite being under 5ft 3in, I always try to make the most of my legs because I’ve been so painfully aware of their, well, shortcomings.

It doesn’t help that I have gained weight over the past two years. I used to be very strict with my diet, cutting out carbohydrates, but recently I’ve relaxed a bit and started eating the things I love — cheese, chocolate and pasta. I’ve gone up from a size eight to a size 12, which is quite a lot for my height, and it means I have to dress even more cleverly, because some outfits — like the one pictured right I wore last September — can make me look dumpy.

If you’ve ever seen me judging, you’ll know I never give very high marks. But I do think some of these outfits, selected by the Mail’s fashion editor Eliza Scarborough, work wonders.