At 62, the Easy White Top I Reach For
At 62, the easy white top I reach for without even thinking
Six things the Caselle gets right that everyday tops get wrong, from a woman who is not a fashion writer.
Caroline Richards · Customer · Nottinghamshire · 5 min read
Let me be plain about who is talking. I am Caroline, I am 62, I live in Nottinghamshire, and I have never once sat down to write about a top in my life. What I have done is open the same tired drawer every morning, full of shapeless t-shirts and blouses that pull, and end up in the same thing I always end up in. So this is not a review. It is a woman who found the one top she reaches for without thinking, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Caselle, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I first saw it on a woman at a coffee morning, and when the boutique later asked if they could put my letter up for others to read, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
A simple white top. Nothing fancy, nothing trying. I rather assumed a plain top like that would make me look as though I had given up. Then I saw how easy and how put together she looked in it, and I changed my mind. Read on.
Here is what a drawer full of tops taught me. Everyday tops come in two piles. The give-up pile, the shapeless t-shirts that are comfortable enough but do nothing for you. And the fuss pile, the blouses that pull across the bust, gape at the buttons and need ironing before you can leave the house. I have owned plenty from both piles and never once had one that was easy and lovely at the same time.
A shapeless t-shirt, or a blouse that pulls and gapes and needs ironing. Those were my two piles, and neither of them was easy to reach for.
The Caselle is the first top I have owned that is neither, and having practically lived in mine, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. It looks like nothing folded up, and then you put it on.
THE SOFT V AND THE ONE BUTTON DO THE DRESSING FOR YOU
The plainness I will deal with first, because it was my worry. What lifts it above an ordinary t-shirt is the neckline. There is a soft V at the front with a single wooden button, and that little bit of detail frames the face, draws the eye up and makes the whole thing look considered rather than thrown on. You put it on and you look like you made an effort, when in truth you did nothing at all.
The soft V and the one wooden button. That is all it takes to look put together.
It is the little button and the V that do it. I look like I made an effort and I promise you I did not.
Christine B., West BridgfordIT IS A RELAXED SHAPE THAT SKIMS, NEVER CLINGS
It falls loose and easy from the shoulders, so it skims over the middle and the bust instead of clinging to them. No pulling, no gaping at a button, none of that tugging at the hem you do all day in a top that is a size too hopeful. There is a shape to it, but it is a forgiving one, and I can eat my lunch in it in perfect comfort.
It skims right over everything I would rather it did. No gaping, no pulling. So comfortable I forget I have it on.
Margaret E., SouthwellIT IS LIGHT AND BREATHABLE, FOR EVERY SEASON
It is a soft linen sort of feel, light and breathable, so it is cool and comfortable on a warm day and does not cling in the heat. And when the weather turns, it layers beautifully under a cardigan or a jacket, so it is not put away for half the year. It is genuinely a top for all seasons, which is rare and rather good value when you think about it.
Cool and light in the summer, and I layer it under a cardigan in the winter. I wear it all year round.
Dorothy S., BeestonTHE SLEEVES ROLL TO COVER THE TOPS OF THE ARMS
The sleeves roll to a neat three-quarter length with a little tab to hold them, so the tops of the arms are covered, which so many of us want by now. And if the day warms up you can push them up to the elbow, or let them down when it cools. It is a small thing that turns out to matter every single time I put it on.
The sleeves roll to a neat three-quarter length, covering the tops of the arms.
The three-quarter sleeve covers the tops of my arms, which is exactly what I want at my age. Just right.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT GOES WITH ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING
This is where a plain white top earns its keep. It goes with everything I own, jeans for the shops, smart trousers for a lunch, a skirt for something nicer. Flats and it is easy, a heel and a necklace and it is out to dinner. One simple top, and it works with the whole wardrobe, which is exactly why I keep reaching for it.
On the wardrobe door, ready to go with whatever I put it with.
Jeans, trousers, a skirt, it goes with the lot. It has become the top I reach for first every morning.
Eileen T., NewarkHONEST SIZES, AND SIX COLOURS
The sizing runs honestly all the way up to a 5XL, which is not something you can say of every pretty top, and it comes in six colours, the crisp white like mine and a beige, a black, a red, a green and a navy. It washes and wears beautifully with no fuss. I have the white. I have half a mind to add the navy while they are still in.
It goes up to my size and still looks lovely on, and it washes without any fuss. I have ordered a second colour.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Caselle, against the tops you have been buying
You can buy a top for a tenner almost anywhere. I know, because I have a drawer full of them, worn once or twice and never quite right. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Shapeless t-shirt, or a blouse that pulls
Gapes at the bust, tugs at the hem
Sleeveless, or too warm and needs ironing
Bare arms you keep wanting to cover
Often stops at the smaller sizes
The V and the button make it look considered
Relaxed shape that skims, never clings
Light linen feel, cool and easy for all seasons
Roll-tab sleeves that cover the arms
Honest sizes, all the way to a 5XL
About the price
The Caselle is £26.95 at the moment. It was £54.00.
I will be honest with you, as I said I would. The white is very nearly sold out, and a couple of the other colours are going the same way, and once a size in a colour has gone it can be a wait for it to come back. What I can tell you from my side is that half price is usually where I start asking what is wrong with a thing, and for a top I wear this much, I have found nothing wrong with it.
And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars, which sounded like real women rather than robots, so I read on. The same six things I have just walked you through come up in them, over and over, in other women's words.
Folded for the drawer. The one I reach for first.
If your top drawer is all shapeless t-shirts and fussy blouses, and you would like one easy thing you reach for without thinking, this is the top I would put in your hands myself, while the white is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
CASELLE | RELAXED V-NECK TOP
- Soft V-neckline with a single wooden button
- Relaxed, forgiving shape that skims, never clings
- Light, breathable linen feel for all seasons
- Roll-tab three-quarter sleeves that cover the arms
- Goes with jeans, trousers or a skirt, up or down
- Six colours, honest sizes S to 5XL
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The white is almost sold out. The middle sizes go first.