At 62, the Jumper With a Bit of Colour
At 62, the jumper with a bit of colour that lifts a grey day
Six things the Janice gets right that everyday winter 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 have done is fill a drawer with jumpers in grey and oatmeal and navy, sensible and safe, the sort we are told to fade quietly into once we reach a certain age. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally put on a bit of colour and remembered how nice it felt, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Janice, 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 garden centre cafe on a drizzly grey morning, the one bright thing in the whole place, 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 jumper in every colour of the rainbow. I can hear you, because I said the same to my friend Sue. That will be far too much at our age, I thought. Then I saw how it lifted her whole face on a dull day, and how happy she looked in it, and I changed my mind. Read on.
Here is what a drawer full of grey taught me. Somewhere along the way we decide that sensible means beige, and we spend every winter in the same safe, dull colours that do nothing to lift us on a dark morning. And the alternative always seemed to be something loud and garish that felt like too much. I had made a quiet peace with grey and navy, and never once felt the better for it.
Sensible beige and navy, or something loud and garish. Those seemed to be the choices, so I faded quietly into grey and told myself it was tasteful.
The Janice is the first jumper I have owned that is cheerful without being garish, and having been stopped and complimented more times than I can count, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. Every colour of the rainbow, but soft and considered, not garish.
THE COLOUR GIVES IT REAL CHARACTER, AND IT GETS COMPLIMENTS
The too-much worry I will deal with first, because it was mine too. In the flesh it is not garish at all. The colours are soft and blended, like a proper heritage knit, so it is cheerful rather than loud. But it has real character, and on a grey day it lifts you and everyone around you. I have been stopped in the street and at the shops and asked where it is from, which has not happened to me in twenty years.
I have never had so many compliments on anything. It is cheerful without being loud, and it lifts my whole mood on a grey day.
Christine B., West BridgfordIT IS COSY AND SOFT AND WARM
For all the colour, it is a proper cosy jumper. The knit is soft and warm against the skin, cosy without being so thick and heavy that you cannot move in it, so it keeps the winter chill off beautifully on the cold days. It is the loveliest thing to pull on of a morning, warm and soft and cheering all at once.
The soft striped knit and the bright blue neckline. Cosy, warm and full of colour.
So soft and cosy and warm, but not heavy or itchy at all. I reach for it every cold morning now.
Margaret E., SouthwellIT DOES THE TALKING, SO PLAIN JEANS LOOK PULLED TOGETHER
This is the part I did not expect to love. Because the jumper is the whole outfit, you do not have to think about the rest. Plain jeans and the Janice, and you look considered and put together with no effort at all. It has taken all the fuss out of getting dressed on a winter morning, which at our age is worth a very great deal.
I just put it on over my jeans and I am done, and I look like I have thought about it. It does all the work.
Dorothy S., BeestonTHE BRIGHT BLUE TRIM GIVES IT A PROPER FINISHED LOOK
Look closely and it is nicely made. The neck, the cuffs and the hem are finished in a bright royal-blue rib that frames all the colour and gives it a proper, finished, heritage-knit look, the sort you would see in a far dearer shop. It is that little bit of detailing that lifts it from a cheap novelty jumper to something you are proud to wear.
The blue trim makes it look really well made and expensive. People assume it cost far more than it did.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT IS A RELAXED, FLATTERING FIT AND LAYERS BEAUTIFULLY
It is cut with an easy, relaxed shape that skims rather than clings, and it looks lovely worn over a shirt with the collar showing, which is how I wear mine. There is room for a blouse or a thin top underneath, and it flatters rather than swamping you. Comfortable, easy and forgiving, exactly what a winter jumper should be.
Relaxed and flattering, lovely worn over a shirt with the collar out.
It skims nicely and looks lovely over a shirt. Roomy and comfortable, but it still has a shape to it.
Eileen T., NewarkIT SLIPS UNDER A COAT, IN HONEST SIZES
Because it is a proper jumper and not too bulky, it slips easily under a coat on the very coldest days, so it works right through the winter. And the sizing runs honestly from a small up to a 3XL, so it fits properly rather than pulling or swamping. It has quite quickly become the thing I reach for whenever the day looks grey and I do not.
On the wardrobe door, ready to bring a bit of colour to a grey morning.
It fits under my winter coat with no bother and the size is spot on. I wear it all the time now.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Janice, against the jumpers you have been reaching for
You can find a winter jumper for twenty-odd pounds almost anywhere. I know, because my drawer is full of them, most of them grey and forgettable. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Grey, beige or navy, and forgettable
Do nothing to lift you on a dull day
Or loud and garish, and too much
Plain finish, looks as cheap as it was
Need a whole outfit thought around them
Cheerful colour with real character
Lifts a grey day and gets compliments
Soft and blended, cheerful not garish
Bright blue trim, a finished heritage look
Does the talking, plain jeans and you are done
About the price
The Janice 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 are the first to go, and 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 I have found nothing wrong with this one.
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 to lift the next grey morning that comes along.
If your jumper drawer is all grey and oatmeal and does nothing to lift you on a dull day, and you would like one with a bit of cheerful colour that still looks considered, this is the one I would put on your shoulders myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
JANICE | HERITAGE KNIT JUMPER
- Cheerful multicolour striped knit with real character
- Soft, cosy and warm without the weight
- Bright royal-blue ribbed neck, cuffs and hem
- A finished, heritage-knit look
- Relaxed, flattering fit, lovely over a shirt
- Slips under a coat, UK sizes S to 3XL
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
Middle sizes go first.