Her dilemma is that it is too early in the season to go bare-legged and now that the days are brightening she is sick of doing the black opaque tights and half-boots thing.

She is thinking dress, leggings and peep-toe wedges and I am thinking absolutely . . . but won't your tootsies feel the cold? Oh, and look just a teensy bit raw and weathered too?

"I have a personal rule about that, " another friend pipes up. "As soon as Paddy's day is over I stop wearing socks." Brave defiant woman, I think, and only slightly mad, but just the kind of punter for whom fashion's somewhat imaginary 'seasons' were invented and who is in danger of true style passing by, because if there is one way of telling a naturally stylish woman from a fashion try-hard it's identifying those who are such slaves to whimsy that they discard all reason when it comes to knowing what to wear and when.

Banishing yourself from the warmth of socks from now until autumn is not only foolhardy, in my opinion, it could be damn-right uncomfortable, not to mention painful. I mean, get real. We live in Ireland after all and if we get two months of decent sunny weather in July and August that's good going.

Just as I am not a big believer in fashion rules ("no white after labour day" and "don't wear brown in town" mean what exactly? ), I am a believer that those who are truly switched on about clothes and who always manage to look good know that it's 99% about feeling comfortable in both temperature and occasion.

No matter how much you love those open-toe shoes, purple feet and streaky bacon legs are just never a good look. Not now, not ever. Full stop. End of story.