A letter from a reader

At 62, I found a little sunshine to wear through the grey months

I have never written to a shop before, and I certainly did not expect my first letter to be about a hoodie.

Every year, somewhere around the end of September, the colour drains out of me. The sky goes grey, the evenings draw in, and my wardrobe follows suit. Navy coat, grey jumper, black trousers. By January I look like the weather, and if I am honest, I feel like it too.

I thought bright colours were for summer and for younger women. So I dressed like the sky, every single winter.

So I gave up on colour until May, and told myself that was sensible.

Then I saw it on a friend on the greyest day of the year

It was pouring down outside the chemist when my friend Pat came round the corner in a hoodie with a great golden sun across the front and rays of every colour spreading out from it. Half the queue looked up. She told me it was the Amanda, from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I ordered mine that evening.

What happened at the Saturday market

I wore it to the market on Saturday under a sky the colour of porridge. Three different women stopped me to ask where it was from, one of them said it had cheered her up just to look at it, and my friend Sue told me I looked like I had made an effort, which I have decided to take as a compliment.

I walked home in the drizzle smiling to myself. It is a small thing, a bit of colour, but it changed the whole day.

Three things I have learned since

One. Colour works at any age. The sunburst has every colour in it, so it sits happily with navy, grey, denim or cream. It is not loud, it is joyful, and there is a difference.

Two. It is easy. A relaxed pullover shape with long sleeves and a drawstring hood. I throw it on over a plain top and I am ready, and the hood is there when the wind gets up.

Three. It dresses up or down. With jeans for the market, or smart trousers and loafers for lunch in town, it looks like I chose it on purpose, because I did.

About the price

When I saw the price I was suspicious. Something with this much detail, I assumed, would either cost a small fortune or look cheap the moment it arrived.

The Amanda is £29.95. It was £60.

There is no catch. They have their autumn sale on, delivery is free, and it arrived looking exactly as it did in the pictures.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered a second one. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. One woman had written, "Everyone smiles when I wear it. On a wet Monday in November that is worth every penny." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you came round and we sat out on the porch with a cup of tea, this is what I would tell you.

Do not pack your colours away with the summer clothes. The grey months are exactly when you need them most.

It does not look like it was made for somebody half my age, and it does not look like I have given up either.

Caroline