Brunettes: the thickest spread in the issue, fifteen shades of brown

Bianka, light brown with ends lit by summer, keeps a tasting notebook and stirs a risotto with saintly patience. Liana, straight chestnut and slim, picks her courses at Hélène Darroze by instinct and quotes Colette between them. Rosa, chestnut curls and usually a new bake to report, takes afternoon tea as seriously as any competition judge. Samanta, sleek dark brown at 174 cm, pairs an early recital with a grill room supper on South Audley Street. Vanessa, sandy with a soft balayage, likes a marble counter at Bentley's and a chance to practise her French.

Molly, with big glossy waves, regards ten o'clock as the start of the evening and follows soulful house like a critic. Jasmin, petite and chestnut, can talk a bartender through her own twist on a daiquiri. Stacy, near-black and 176 cm, keeps up a commentary at Hakkasan that rivals most comedy clubs. Michelle, straight dark brown and curvy, begins at the Connaught Bar and reviews the martini trolley with great kindness. Tina, espresso brown and 158 cm, has firm views on how ice ought to be cut.

Laura, light brown and athletic, rides, skis and fills a notebook with Italian villages she means to revisit. Lucy, dark curls and a tiny star on a chain, can name the planets above Piccadilly on a clear night. Margo, lacquer dark and in her early thirties, lingers over sculpture at the Gagosian on Davies Street. Sonya, smooth dark brown with hazel eyes, brings a dancer's bearing to an early table at Tamarind. Tiffany, chocolate brown, photographs the doorways of Shepherd Market in black and white.

The quickest filter is a second archetype. Six of the fifteen are also petite, four stand among the statuesque and four carry the hourglass line of curvaceous. Or skip the filters altogether: describe the plan to Bella and she returns two or three names who are genuinely free, each with a sentence on why she would suit.

Each of the fifteen costs £400 for a first hour, and the first person evening, warm and at ease from the hello onwards, is a lovely way to meet any of them. The longer lengths, two hours up to an overnight, are itemised on the rates page. Home districts range from Soho and Marylebone to Chelsea and Knightsbridge, and the ride to Mayfair adds nothing to the figure.