Winter may have arrived earlier than expected this year but at least we can say goodbye to the bottle of St Tropez and hello to our favourite cover-ups: tights.
 
This season the trusty black opaques that were once our winter staple have been scrapped in favour of the latest trend dazzling the fashion catwalks – funky hosiery.
 
Designers have gone colour-me-crazy for the new trend and flaunted their love for rainbow legs with a multitude of quirky prints and block colour-styles in recent weeks, inviting all fashion-followers to snap up a pair and paint the town red (or yellow, purple, orange and blue).

You don't even need to go designer to pull off this trend as the high-street are stocked to the rafters with funky printed tights and block-coloured hosiery at affordable crunch prices.

If you want to take D&G's tartan lead and go graphical check out American Apparel's tribal red and black pair to make a bold statement, but for those who want to ease into the trend gently, try quality hosiery-maker Aristoc's wet-look purple pair and work up to Pretty Polly's red nanos.

For cheaper versions check out the huge range at Topshop and web-lover's ASOS.

The best news about the fashionable legwear is that brightening your wardrobe this winter can be cheap and easy, with the only rule to wearing these winter-warmers is to avoid matching - and go for clashing.

Who says you can’t be chic in le crunch?