At 62, the outfit that looks like I made an effort and feels as soft as a cardigan
At 62, the outfit that looks like I made an effort and feels as soft as a cardigan
Six things the Cecilia set gets right that my wardrobe got 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 an outfit in my life. What I have done is spend years with two sorts of clothes and nothing in between, the soft comfortable things I wear round the house that I would never answer the door in, and the smarter things that look nice but that I cannot wait to take off the minute I am home. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally found the outfit that is both, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Cecilia, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. It is a soft two-piece set, a cosy roll-neck top and a pair of flowing wide-leg trousers that match. 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 soft black set. I took one look at it on and assumed I looked like I had made a real effort, the way a proper outfit does. Then I realised how soft and comfortable it felt, as easy to wear as my favourite cardigan. That was the moment it won me over. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of getting dressed taught me. Most of us have two wardrobes really. The comfortable one, the soft easy things we live in at home but would hurry to change out of before anyone came to the door. And the smart one, the nicer things that look lovely but pinch and dig and cannot come off fast enough the moment we are home. For years I owned plenty of both and never once had the one outfit that was comfortable and pulled-together at the same time.
Soft things I would hide in, or smart things I could not wait to take off. That was my wardrobe, and nothing in it was both comfortable and nice.
The Cecilia is the first outfit I have owned that is both, and having barely taken mine off since, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived, both pieces together. It looked far dearer than I had paid, and softer than I expected.
IT LOOKS LIKE I HAVE MADE AN EFFORT
The comfort I will come to, because looking pulled-together was my whole worry with anything this soft. But a matching set does something a single comfy jumper never can, it reads as a considered, put-together outfit. The neat roll neck, the clean line of the wide trousers, the two pieces that clearly belong together, it all looks like I planned it. Nobody has guessed it is really the comfiest thing I own, and I confess I have not always rushed to tell them.
Two people at church asked where my outfit was from. It looks so smart and considered, nobody believes how comfy it is.
Christine B., West BridgfordBUT IT FEELS AS SOFT AS A CARDIGAN
Here is the clever part. For all that it looks like a proper outfit, it is the softest knit you can imagine, so it feels as easy and comfortable as your favourite cardigan. There is none of that pinching or digging you get from smarter clothes, nothing to peel off with relief the minute you are home. It is the loveliest thing to put on, smart to look at and beautifully soft to wear.
The soft roll neck and the cosy knit. This is what makes it so comfortable to wear.
It looks like a proper outfit but feels as soft and easy as a cardigan. I am comfortable in it from morning right through to night.
Margaret E., SouthwellTHE SET DOES THE THINKING FOR ME
Because the two pieces match, there is no standing at the wardrobe wondering what goes with what. You pull the pair on and the whole outfit is simply done, and it looks like you thought about it. On the mornings when I have not the energy to put a look together, the Cecilia has already done it for me, and I walk out of the door feeling sorted.
No deciding, no matching, you just put both pieces on and you are dressed and you look lovely. It has made mornings so easy.
Pauline H., ArnoldTHE WIDE LEG IS SO FLATTERING
The trousers have a lovely wide, flowing leg, and that long clean line does wonders, it lengthens you and skims straight over everything you would rather it skimmed. The top sits just past the waist, so it covers the middle, and the waist is a soft drawstring, so there is nothing digging in anywhere. It is the most flattering thing I have put on in years, and it is comfortable while it does it.
The soft drawstring waist and the wide, flattering leg. It skims and lengthens, and nothing digs in.
The wide leg makes me look taller and slimmer, and the soft waist does not dig in at all. I feel good in it.
Dorothy S., BeestonIT GOES ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE
One set, and it does the lot. Round the house of a morning, on to the shops with a pair of trainers, then out to a lunch with a nicer shoe and a bit of lipstick and it looks the part. It dresses up and it dresses down without a moment's thought, and because the black goes with everything, I never have to wonder if it works. It has quietly become the thing I reach for whenever I want to look nice and feel comfortable, which is most days.
By the wardrobe, ready for the house, the shops or a lunch.
House, shops, out for lunch, it works for all of it. I add trainers or a smarter shoe and it just goes.
Eileen T., NewarkTWELVE COLOURS, AND HONEST SIZES
The sizing runs honestly all the way from a small up to a 5XL, so it fits properly with room to feel relaxed, and it holds its shape beautifully. It comes in twelve colours, my black and a beige, a green, a burgundy, a navy and more, so there is a shade to suit everyone. I have the black. I am rather tempted by the beige for something a little softer.
It goes up to my size and still looks elegant, not a sack. So comfortable that I have ordered the green as well.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Cecilia, against the way most of us get dressed
You can have a wardrobe full of clothes and still stand there with nothing that is both comfortable and nice. I know, because I did. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Comfy things you would hide in at home
Or smart things that pinch and dig
Endless deciding what goes with what
Nice clothes you cannot wait to take off
Often stops at the smaller sizes
Looks like you made a proper effort
Feels as soft as a favourite cardigan
A matching set, so no deciding
Comfortable enough to wear all day
Honest sizes, all the way to a 5XL
About the price
The Cecilia is £44.95 at the moment. It was £90.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that the middle sizes and the popular colours are the first to go, and with the sale on they are going quickly, so once a size has gone it can be a wait for it to come back. Their words, not mine. 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 an outfit that looks and feels like this, 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 away, ready for the next morning I want to look nice and feel comfortable.
If you are forever stuck between comfy clothes you would hide in and smart clothes you cannot wait to take off, this is the outfit I would hand you myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
CECILIA | SOFT ELEGANT EVERYDAY SET
- Soft two-piece set, looks pulled-together and smart
- As soft and comfortable as a favourite cardigan, cosy and light
- Cosy roll-neck top with matching wide-leg trousers
- A matching set, so it does the deciding for you
- Flattering wide leg and soft drawstring waist
- Goes from the house to the shops to a lunch
- Twelve colours, honest sizes S to 5XL
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The sale is on now. Middle sizes and popular colours go first.