At 62, I Found the Outfit That Saves Me
At 62, I found the one outfit that saves me whenever I have nothing to wear
Six things the Melize gets right that occasion outfits 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 an outfit in my life. What I have done is stand in front of my wardrobe before every wedding, lunch and christening for forty years, with a rail full of clothes and nothing that felt right, and end up in the same navy I always end up in. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally found something that ends that panic, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Melize, 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 christening lunch, 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 black and white tweed two-piece. I took one look and assumed it had cost her a small fortune, the way a designer suit does. Then she told me the price. Under fifty pounds, for the pair of them. Read on.
Here is what forty years of dreaded occasions taught me. The outfits we reach for come in two piles. The safe pile, the same navy dress and the same beige, which does the job but makes you feel invisible. And the fussy pile, the fascinators and the frocks you buy in a panic for one wedding and never wear again. I have owned plenty from both piles and never once walked into a room feeling like myself, only relieved to be dressed at all.
The same safe navy, or a fussy frock for one wedding I would never wear again. Those were my two piles, and neither of them was me.
The Melize is the first thing I have owned that is neither, and having been asked where it is from every time I have worn it, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. Two pieces, and I could see straight away they were made to go together.
IT LOOKS FAR DEARER THAN IT IS
The price I will deal with first, because it was my whole objection. Up close, the tweed is the thing. It has that woven black and white texture you see in the designer windows, with a neat darker trim and little buttons, and it catches the light like something that cost hundreds. Nobody has ever guessed what I paid, and I confess I have not always rushed to tell them. It simply looks expensive, and that, at our age, is half the battle won before you leave the house.
The tweed up close. This is what makes people assume it was dear.
Three people at the wedding asked if it was designer. I just smiled. The tweed genuinely looks like it cost hundreds.
Christine B., West BridgfordIT COMES ALREADY PUT TOGETHER FOR YOU
This is the part I did not expect to love as much as I do. The jacket and the trousers are made to match, so getting dressed is one decision instead of six. There is no standing there holding things up against each other, no wondering if the colours fight. You put on the two pieces and you are done, and you look as though you gave it real thought. On the morning of an occasion, that is worth more than I can say.
I used to dread getting ready. Now I put on the two pieces and I am done, and I look like I made an effort.
Margaret E., SouthwellIT IS TAILORED, BUT IT IS FORGIVING
The jacket is a proper cropped shape with a bit of structure to the shoulder, so it holds its line and looks smart, but it skims rather than grips, and the high waist on the trousers sits comfortably and does not dig. It flatters where you want flattering and forgives where you want forgiving, which is not a sentence I have ever been able to write about an occasion outfit before.
Structured enough to look tailored, but nothing pulls or digs. It skims right over the middle and I felt lovely all day.
Dorothy S., BeestonTHE WIDE-LEG TROUSERS ARE COMFORTABLE AND COVERING
I had rather given up on trousers for a nice do, but these changed my mind. They are a wide, flowing leg, so they cover everything and skim the leg instead of clinging, and there is room to sit down to your lunch and go back for pudding in comfort. And there are proper pockets, which I did not expect and now would not be without. Elegant and comfortable at once, which I had stopped believing was allowed.
The wide-leg trousers, with real pockets. Elegant, and you can actually sit and eat.
The wide leg is so comfortable and covers everything, and they have pockets. I could sit through the whole lunch in comfort.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT IS REALLY SEVERAL OUTFITS
Here is the thrifty bit that pleased me most. You do not have to wear the two pieces together. The jacket goes beautifully over a plain dress or with my ordinary trousers, and the wide-leg trousers dress down with a simple jumper for something smarter than usual. So it is not one outfit for one occasion. It is a jacket, a pair of trousers, and the full set, all from the one buy.
The two pieces, ready to go together or apart.
I wear the jacket with jeans as much as I wear the whole set. It has turned into about four outfits in my wardrobe.
Eileen T., NewarkHONEST SIZES, AND THREE COLOURS
The sizing runs honestly, all the way from a 6/8 up to a 22/24, which is not something you can say of every pretty thing, and it comes in three colours, the black and white tweed like mine, a soft grey and a blue. Dress it up with a heel for a wedding, or down with a flat for a lunch. I have the black and white. I am rather tempted by the blue for the spring.
It goes up to my size, which so little does, and it is every bit as lovely on. I have ordered the grey as well.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Melize, against the occasion outfits you have been buying
You can spend a hundred pounds and more on a dress for one wedding, then never wear it again. I know, because my wardrobe is a graveyard of them. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Dowdy and safe, or fussy and worn once
A whole morning spent putting it together
Fitted and clinging, or shapeless
One outfit, for one occasion
Often stops at the smaller sizes
Looks designer, wears again and again
Already coordinated, dressed in one decision
Tailored but forgiving, skims and flatters
Several outfits from the one set
Honest sizes, a 6/8 up to a 22/24
About the price
The Melize 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 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 whole two-piece that looks like this, I have found nothing wrong with it at all.
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 occasion that catches me out.
If you have a wedding or a lunch or a Christmas do coming up, and the same old panic in front of the wardrobe waiting for you, this is the outfit I would put in your hands myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
MELIZE | SOPHISTICATED & VERSATILE SET
- Cropped tweed jacket and matching wide-leg trousers
- Black-and-white tweed that looks far dearer than it is
- Already coordinated, dressed in one decision
- Tailored but forgiving, skims and flatters
- Wide-leg trousers with real pockets
- Wear the pieces together or separately
- Three colours, honest sizes UK 6/8 to 22/24
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
Middle sizes and popular colours go first.