DAPHNE
At 62, the jumper that keeps me warm and actually gives me a shape
Six things the Daphne gets right that jumpers 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 jumper in my life. What I had done, somewhere in my late fifties, was quietly give up on them, because every jumper I owned had started to hang off me like a sack, straight up and down, hiding whatever waist I had left. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally found the jumper that gives her a shape back, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Daphne, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. It is a soft wrap-front jumper with a V-neck, and the front crosses over and drapes softly across the middle. 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 red one. I put it on expecting the same straight-up-and-down shape as all the others, and instead the wrap crossed over and gave me a waist. That was the moment it won me over. Read on.
Here is what my late fifties taught me about jumpers. They keep you warm, and they take your shape away. The ordinary ones hang straight down from the shoulders, skim over the waist without touching it, and leave you looking like a soft rectangle, warm but shapeless. For years I owned a drawer full of them and quietly stopped wearing anything but the darkest, plainest ones, because at least then nobody could see how little shape they gave me.
Every jumper I owned hung off me like a sack and took my waist away. So I gave up on them, and stuck to dark plain tops.
The Daphne is the first jumper I have owned that keeps me warm and gives me a shape at the same time, and having barely taken mine off since, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. It looked far dearer than I had paid, and softer than I expected.
THE WRAP FRONT GIVES YOU A WAIST
This is the whole thing, really. The front of the Daphne crosses over, wrap style, and where it crosses the soft knit gathers into gentle draped folds across the middle. That crossover nips you in just slightly and draws a waist where an ordinary jumper draws a straight line. The first time I put it on I actually turned sideways in the mirror, which I had not done in a jumper in years.
The wrap crossover and the soft draped gathers. This is what gives you a waist.
It actually gives me a waist. Every other jumper hangs straight down, this one crosses over and gives me a shape.
Christine B., West BridgfordTHE V-NECK IS SOFT AND FEMININE
The wrap forms a soft V at the neck, and that does something lovely, it opens up the neckline and flatters the face rather than closing everything in the way a high round neck can. It is feminine without being at all revealing, just an open, pretty neckline that shows off a necklace beautifully and softens the whole look. It is the most flattering neckline I have worn in years.
The V-neck is so flattering, it opens up my face and shows a necklace off a treat. Not low, just pretty.
Margaret E., SouthwellIT IS A FINE LIGHT KNIT, NEVER BULKY
For all that it is warm, it is a fine, light knit, so it skims the body instead of adding bulk. There is none of that thick, chunky, padded feeling you get from a heavy jumper, none of that added weight across the middle and the arms. It sits close and soft and light, which is exactly why it flatters, and it layers under a coat without turning you into a barrel.
Lovely and warm but so fine and light, no bulk at all. It goes under my coat without making me look twice the size.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT FEELS LOVELY AND SOFT ON
The knit is beautifully soft against the skin, not a scratch or an itch anywhere, and it moves with you rather than holding you stiff. I can wear it all day, at my desk, out to the shops, round the kitchen, and never once want to pull it off. Soft, warm and comfortable, and it still looks like I have made an effort.
The soft draped wrap across the middle. Comfortable, and it gives you a shape.
So soft, not a bit itchy, and comfortable all day. I forget I have it on, then catch the shape in a window and smile.
Dorothy S., BeestonIT DRESSES UP OR DOWN
One jumper, and it does the lot. With my jeans for the shops of a morning, then with smarter trousers or a skirt and a necklace for a lunch or an evening out, and it looks the part every time. It dresses up and it dresses down without a moment's thought, and the soft red gives an outfit a lift the way a dark top never does.
By the door, ready for jeans or something smarter.
Jeans by day, nice trousers and a necklace by night, it works for all of it. I feel put together in it.
Eileen T., NewarkSIX LOVELY COLOURS, AND IT HOLDS ITS SHAPE
The sizing runs honestly from a small up to a 2XL, so it fits properly and flatters, and it holds its shape wash after wash rather than going baggy. It comes in six lovely colours, my red and a beige, a green, a blue, a black and a soft light blue, so there is a shade to suit everyone. I have the red. I am rather tempted by the green for the autumn.
It keeps its shape beautifully and still flatters after plenty of washes. So pleased I have ordered the beige too.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Daphne, against the jumpers you have been reaching for
You can have a whole drawer of jumpers and still feel shapeless in every one. I know, because I did. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Hangs straight down, no waist
Thick and bulky across the middle
A high neck that closes you in
Warm, but shapeless
Dark and plain, to hide in
Wrap front that gives you a waist
Fine and light, never bulky
A soft V-neck that flatters the face
Warm and full of shape
Six lovely colours to feel good in
About the price
The Daphne is £35.95 at the moment. It was £72.00.
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 a jumper this flattering, 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 cool day that calls for a bit of shape.
If you have given up on jumpers because they all hang off you and hide your shape, this is the one I would put on you myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
DAPHNE | WRAP-FRONT V-NECK JUMPER
- Wrap front that gives you a waist and skims the middle
- Soft, feminine V-neck that flatters the face
- Fine, light knit, warm but never bulky
- Beautifully soft on, comfortable all day
- Dresses up with trousers or down with jeans
- Six lovely colours, honest sizes S to 2XL
- Holds its shape wash after wash
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The sale is on now. Middle sizes and popular colours go first.