It doesn’t matter how much you love shoes, you can’t afford to buy all the pairs you want. Which got me thinking: how can you spruce up the ones you already own without forking out too much cash? If, like me, half of your shoes are masculine lace-ups, there’s a really easy – and cheap – answer. Shoelaces!

With a little help from what my rheumatologist calls Dr Google (worrying?!), I soon discovered that you can bag yourself some brilliant bright coloured laces for less than £2. This red pair (DM cord 4mm fun laces) were £1.94 from shoestring.co.uk. I also bought them in yellow and I love how they look in my Grenson boots. They took three days to arrive in the post – the longest of all the laces I ordered but still very speedy.

These ones (60cm green lace) were the first to arrive (next day!) and were just £1.15 from theshoelace.co.uk. Lacing them in these Swear desert boots really gives them a new lease of life and makes them look not unlike the men’s desert boots with coloured laces currently available in Russell & Bromley. Only MUCH cheaper!

With this final pair (round maroon laces) which were £1.90 from biglaces.com, you can see that I haven’t quite got to grips with finding the right length for shoes! There’s a bit too much extra lace here. But I still like the effect they give and the combination of mustard and maroon is lovely for this time of year.

So if you want to make a tatty pair of shoes en brogue, give them a polish and add some bright laces. New shoes for less than two quid!