Charlie Gowans-Eglinton, 31

In the past, I have always thought of knitwear as a basic, a foil for the more exciting pieces in my wardrobe. I’ve stuck to black, navy and grey jumpers, assuming that neutrals would get the most mileage in my wardrobe. As a result, my knitwear drawer is full of useful, but not particularly exciting, pieces that keep out the cold on mizzly winter mornings, but don’t particularly cheer them up.

Mum has been put off buying cashmere by the miserly thin versions she found on a recent windowshopping trip, but some high street shops (I can’t justify designer knits as I’m hard on my clothes, as are moths) do cashmere very well, and I love the softness of it – I don’t tolerate any itch or scratch. I have a cashmere hoodie from M&S that is the ultimate comfort buy – perfect for plane journeys and lazy weekends – and Gap does very good cashmere rollnecks.

For finer merino wool, I love Uniqlo.

My knitwear eureka moment

(who knew such a thing existed) came in the form of this cornflower blue cashmere mock-neck jumper from J.crew. I tried it first with burgundy trousers, and loved the contrast.

Then I realised how well it went with camel. And khaki. And black.

But its real superpower is the ability to help with “winter face”: the dry skin and eye bags that come with switching the heating on and not seeing enough daylight. Black is draining: a bright colour is lifegiving.

Blue might not be for you, but once you’re looking for bright knits, you’ll see them everywhere – it seems I’ve been walking straight past them with my colour-blinkers on. My J.crew comes in eight colours. And Scandinavian label Samsoe Samsoe has a really chunky, beautiful quality cashmere turtleneck in a very grown-up speckled pink (£440, samsoe.com). Not cheap – but certainly cheaper than a week in the sun.