DON’T look now ladies but there are some potentially very dangerous things on the high street right now.

They are everywhere you look, they are very tempting, and if you are not careful they could seriously affect your winter wardrobe.

They are over-the-knee boots.

Once the preserve of pantomime principal boys and on-screen prostitutes, top designers have decided that A/W 2009 is the time to reclaim the much maligned footwear for the world of high fashion.

And with everyone from Primark to Preen doing a version, they have the potential to be this season’s gladiator sandal.

Given that shoes seem to have gone completely bonkers this year, featuring everything from vertiginous pencil stilettos to silly straps, studs, bows, feathers and Queen Anne heels, we shouldn’t be at all surprised that over-the-knee boots are now having a stab at mainstream acceptability.

The fact that fashion insiders have even started referring to them as “OTKs” suggests that they are edging their way in.

Plus we have already seen them on some seriously A-list stars including Rihanna, pictured, Jennifer Connelly, Lindsay Lohan and Beyonce.

But can the thigh highs ever really shake off their Pretty Woman image?