A letter from a reader

At 62, the jacket for the days that are neither one thing nor the other

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

Here is the truth of it. It is the in-between days that defeat me. September and October, when it is too cool to go out in just a cardigan and far too mild for the big winter coat. I would stand at the door and dither, pick the wrong one, and spend the afternoon either carrying a coat over my arm in the queue at the post office or standing at the bus stop with my arms folded, cross with myself.

Half the year is neither one thing nor the other, and I had nothing at all for it.

So I gave up and wore the same padded coat to everything, from October onwards, whatever the weather was doing.

Then I saw it on a friend at the garden centre

My friend Pauline met me for a coffee wearing a quilted jacket with a whole summer meadow printed on it, daisies and red poppies and cornflowers, open over a cream jumper with her jeans. It was one of those grey, mild mornings, and she looked perfectly comfortable while I was carrying my coat. I asked her where it was from before we had even sat down. She told me it was the Kaia, 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 garden centre

I wore it the following Saturday, open over a cream jumper with my jeans, for a wander round the garden centre and a coffee afterwards. Three different women asked me where it was from, and my friend Sue told me I looked like I had made an effort, which I have decided to take as a compliment.

The best part was that I did not think about the weather once. Not too warm inside, not too cold in the car park. I simply had the right thing on, which at this time of year feels like a small miracle.

Three things I have learned since

One. Quilting does the work of a coat without the weight. It is padded enough to hold the warmth on a grey morning, but it is light on the shoulders, so I am not lugging a coat about all afternoon.

Two. It layers over what I already wear. A jumper underneath on a cold day, a blouse on a milder one. It goes over jeans or a dress, and the pockets are just where you want them.

Three. It is cheerful without being loud. The flowers are thick at the bottom and fade away towards the shoulders, so it reads as a proper print rather than fancy dress.

About the price

When I saw the price I was suspicious. Something with a whole meadow printed on it, I assumed, would either cost a small fortune or look cheap the moment it came out of the bag.

The Kaia is £49.95. It was £100.

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, "I have worn this every day since it came. It is the only thing I own that is right for September." 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.

Stop trying to make the winter coat do a job it was never meant for. Get one light, warm thing for the in-between weeks, hang it by the door, and stop dithering.

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