Fifteen brunettes, sorted by the evening rather than the shade

Bianka, 165 cm and hazel eyed, begins among the old wine rooms of Berry Bros. and Rudd and then chooses the bottle at supper, usually correctly. She lives in Knightsbridge. Laura, 169 cm with green eyes, orders at Murano on Queen Street and talks about the Dolomites between courses. Rosa, 160 cm with chestnut curls, bakes every weekend and prefers afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason to anywhere grand. Sonya, 162 cm and hazel eyed, a ballet class twice a week, chooses the formal service and hushed room at Wiltons.

Margo, 166 cm, follows the auction season closely and likes to walk a Christie's viewing before dinner in St James's. Liana, 167 cm, will choose a book for you at Hatchards and hand it across a drink. Samanta, 174 cm, practises the violin most days and keeps a single glass for the dark, photograph-lined room inside Brown's Hotel, on Albemarle Street.

Molly, 164 cm with loose dark waves, starts at the Hotel Café Royal and knows every record shop in Soho. Stacy, 176 cm, takes a seat near the stage at The Comedy Store and replays the best lines over a late supper. Jasmin, 160 cm, dances salsa every week and opens at The American Bar in The Stafford. Tina, 158 cm, heads below Brasserie Zédel to Bar Américain, notebook of recipes in hand.

Lucy, 163 cm with dark curls, runs by the river at dawn and can find the brighter planets above Green Park once it is dark. Michelle, 173 cm, opens with Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner and strolls east along Piccadilly at lighting-up time. Tiffany, 169 cm, photographs the lanes of Shepherd Market at dusk. Vanessa, 173 cm, tries scents on paper at Floris and makes you pick a favourite.

Pair this page with one other and the field shrinks fast. By figure: petite leaves six names, slim and slender six more, with Lucy counted in both, statuesque four and curvaceous four. By decade: only Margo and Sonya are past thirty.

Tell Octavia three things instead: the hour you are free, the room you have in mind and the kind of conversation you enjoy. She will reduce fifteen names to two and give a line of reasoning for each. The final choice stays with you, and so does the right to ask for a third suggestion.

Every name above is £600 for the first hour. The after-ten group suits the late invitation especially, three hours that carry a good bar into a late table; longer formats are listed on rates. Send Octavia one name, or two if you cannot decide, through booking.