A letter from a reader

At 62, I finally found a bit of colour that goes with everything I already own

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

Here is my trouble, and I suspect it might be yours. Every so often I get fed up with the navy and the black, and I buy something cheerful to lift it all. I get it home, hold it up against what is already in the wardrobe, and it goes with none of it. So it hangs there with the tag on, and I go back to the same old things I have worn for years.

I thought I had to choose between a wardrobe that was sensible and a wardrobe that had a bit of life in it. So I chose sensible, and the cheerful things stayed on the hanger.

So I gave up on colour, and told myself navy was practical.

Then I saw it on a friend at the coffee morning

My friend Margaret had it on over a plain navy top, and the week before I had seen her wearing it with jeans, and both times it looked right. That was what made me ask. She told me it was the Penny, 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 coffee morning

I wore it on Saturday with my navy top and my old jeans. Three different women asked me where it was from before the second pot of tea, and my friend Sue told me I looked like I had made an effort, which I have decided to take as a compliment.

What I noticed is that I did not have to think about it. I put it on over what I was already wearing and walked out of the door, and that has not happened with anything colourful I have bought in years.

Three things I have learned since

One. The colours do the work. There is grey in it, and camel, and cream, and a warm rust, and the bands fade into one another rather than sitting in hard stripes. That means it sits happily over navy, black, denim or cream, which is most of what I own.

Two. It is two cardigans. It has a proper collar and buttons all the way up, so I button it when it turns cold and let it hang open when it does not. Buttoned up it looks like a smart little knitted shirt, and open it is just an easy layer.

Three. The shape is relaxed but not shapeless. It is cut easy through the body with room to put a top or a thin jumper underneath, and the ribbed cuffs and the ribbed band at the hem keep it looking neat rather than droopy.

About the price

When I saw the price I was suspicious. A knitted cardigan with a pattern like this, I assumed, would either cost a fortune or arrive looking nothing like the picture.

The Penny is £39.95. It was £80.

There is no catch. They have their autumn sale on, delivery is free, and it turned up looking exactly as it did in the photographs.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered. 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 it with everything I own and it has gone with all of it. That has never happened to me before." 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.

If your wardrobe has gone all navy and black, do not buy another bright thing that matches nothing. Buy the one that has your own colours running through it, and you will actually wear it.

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