I got a message from a lovely 15 year old girl called Fabvinne who is an amazing 6’2”. We had a few email exchanges about being so tall when you’re a teenager and how to cope with it.

I was about 6’ at 15 and went on to grow another inch! People always assume you’re delighted to be tall, but in my experience it can take time to grow into your height. I was definitely a tall introvert when I was young, so I was always trying to disguise myself with flat shoes and lots of black.

OK, my top tall tips… posture, posture, posture. I know, you don’t want to hear this, especially if your Mum’s been nagging since you were small, but tall people tend to slouch and if, like me, you’ve got boobs, you might be tempted to slouch even more. Ballet or yoga are definitely the answer. I did a yoga class every week for two years in my 20s and it changed my back completely. Now people compliment me on my posture! Sitting up straight comes naturally (shock!) I definitely think it looks better. Walking tall is the way to go, even if you are a foot taller than everyone else around.

If you are a tall person who loves heels: great, fantastic, go for it! Personally, I don’t really need the extra two inches. I feel freakish. I bump my head on doorways. I like one inch at the most. But my flat shoes must be pointy, this looks best on big feet.

Above the knee skirts and tight trousers, yes, I like. If you have 36 inches of leg, you might as well flaunt it. I never wear long dresses, because I look like a column. Even long, for me, ends well above the ankle.

Don’t get me started on finding trousers long enough. Only really Top Shop Tall and Long Tall Sally do them long enough. Most men’s trousers are sold un-hemmed and I am kind of outraged that this can’t be done for women’s trousers too. In fact, men’s jackets and men’s shirts often come in short, regular and long. Why not ours?!

I do use an alterations service to make jacket and coat sleeves long enough and I buy blouses with men’s style double cuffs and wear them unfolded, a good way to get a long enough sleeve.

My favourite tall shops not yet mentioned: Mango clothes are long enough in the sleeve and the body, Hobbs have tiny clothes but a great selection of size 8 and 9 shoes, I also like Uniqlo and Banana Republic. Then there are posh clothes. It does sadly seem to be that the bigger the price tag, the longer things are.

Now just a little advice on shorter men… when I first set eyes on my husband what went through my mind was: ‘cute but too short’ so I risked ruling him out – which would have been a very bad thing! If he stands very, very straight, he’s almost 5’10” but he loves the fact that I’m taller than him, so I don’t slouch, stand on one hip, lean sideways or try to appear smaller in his company.

Stand tall and learn to love your height!

A day trip to Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh! Yes, I may have had one sister and her three month old baby in tow, but it was still very glamorous.

I got to play Annie Valentine (I am a personal shopper at heart) with the added challenge of entertaining baby while Mummy was in the changing room.

Let’s face it, three months after giving birth is a challenging time and not just on the wardrobe front. My sis is doing brilliantly, in fact, I’m completely jealous of how well she’s coping. I still feel post-natally depressed compared to her and my youngest child is five!

Anyway, she was desperate for new clothes and her hands kept travelling to the shift dresses that used to suit her, so I’d be there going ‘No, no, no! You’ve got boobs, you need a scoop neck now, babes,’ in true Annie style.

‘I’m a size 16,’ she kept wailing at me. (She used to be a perfect 10)

‘Yeah, but not forever!’ I insisted.

In my experience, it takes nine months to grow a baby and get to the size of a bus backend and it takes full nine months to get back again. There’s no point rushing it. Personally, I swear by breastfeeding (nothing hoovers up cellulite faster!) and walking about for miles every day with your baby in a sling. Mind you, I had to do the walking because my babies were only quiet when I was tramping about outside with them in a sling, as soon as we stepped back into the house… waaaaaaaaaaaaah!

We got the sis very hot, stretchy, high-waisted Armani jeans and yes, in size 16, because better to have a pair of hot size 16 jeans that spend the next few months in the kind of shapeless trews she had on at the start of our session. In the jeans, she really did look half a stone lighter straightaway.

I did seriously overhear this in a Hobbs outlet as one assistant uttered training instructions to another: ‘Your customer has got a business meeting in Paris. She’s a size 8 and she doesn’t like brown? What outfits do you choose for her?’

Excuse me while I fall about laughing! Dressing anyone who’s a size 8 for a business meeting is about as easy (and unrealistic) as it gets.

Try: ‘Your customer is a size 14 on a good day, needs clothes she can wear at home, to her part-time job, on the school run and out to the cinema and, by the way, she has no idea what she likes.’ Now that requires a good shop assistant.

Annie Valentine exists (in my head) because good shop assistants not to mention shops full of irresistible clothes are very, very hard to find… a fantasy in fact!