At 62, the Cardigan in a Proper Colour
At 62, the cardigan in a proper colour that lifts my whole face
Six things the Riah gets right that everyday cardigans 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 cardigan in my life. What I have done is fill a drawer with cardigans in every shade of porridge, beige and grey and oatmeal, the sort that add nothing and quietly wash me out. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally found a cardigan in a proper colour that does something for her, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Riah, 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 coffee morning, in a rich wine-red, 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 cardigan. I can hear you, because I said the same to my friend Sue. A cardigan is a beige, droopy thing that ages you, I thought. Then I saw hers in that lovely burgundy, with the neat collar and the smart buttons, and how it lifted her whole face. Read on.
Here is what a drawer full of beige taught me. When we reach for a cardigan we tend to end up with two sorts. The safe sort, the porridgey beiges and greys, that are inoffensive but drain the colour from your face and add years. And the frumpy sort, the shapeless droopy ones that we would only wear about the house. I have owned plenty of both and never once had a cardigan that actually did something for me.
Every shade of porridge, or shapeless and droopy. Those were my cardigans, and not one of them did me a single favour.
The Riah is the first cardigan I have owned that is neither, and having worn mine to bits, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. A proper rich colour, with a neat collar and lovely buttons.
THE COLLAR AND BUTTONS MAKE IT LOOK POLISHED
The droopy-cardigan worry I will deal with first, because it was my objection too. What lifts it is the finish. It has a neat little knitted collar and proper contrast buttons up the front, so it reads as a smart fine-knit rather than a saggy old cardigan. Buttoned up it could almost pass for a polo top. I put it on and I look tidy and considered, which is not a thing I have ever been able to say about a cardigan.
The knitted collar and the tobacco buttons. That is what makes it look polished.
The collar and those lovely buttons make it look far smarter than a cardigan has any right to. It looks expensive.
Christine B., West BridgfordTHE KNIT IS FINE AND SMOOTH, NOT BULKY
This is not a thick, itchy, bulky thing. It is a fine, smooth, soft knit that sits close and neat, light enough to wear under a coat without feeling like a duvet, and comfortable from morning to night. Because it is fine rather than chunky, I wear it right through the year, over a blouse in spring and autumn and over a summer top when the evenings turn cool.
Lovely and fine and soft, not bulky at all. It fits under my coat and I wear it nearly all year round.
Margaret E., SouthwellTHE COLOUR IS RICH, AND IT LIFTS YOUR FACE
This is the part that won me over. After years of beige, a proper rich colour like this wine-red does something lovely, it brings a bit of warmth back to the face and makes you look brighter and better rested. I have had more compliments in a fortnight than in a year of oatmeal jumpers. And if burgundy is not your colour, there are six others to choose from.
The colour is gorgeous and it really does lift my face. My daughter said I looked well, and it was the cardigan.
Dorothy S., BeestonWEAR IT OPEN OR BUTTONED, IT IS TWO LOOKS
Because it buttons all the way up, it does two jobs. Left open over a top it is a relaxed, easy layer. Buttoned up with the little collar showing, it becomes a neat top all on its own, no blouse needed. So it earns its keep twice over, and you can adjust it to the day without a second thought.
Open over a blouse or buttoned up on its own, it is really two outfits. I get so much wear out of the one cardigan.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT IS A RELAXED, FLATTERING SHAPE
It is cut with an easy, relaxed shape that skims rather than clings, with just enough room to slip a top underneath, and yet it still has a shape to it, so it flatters instead of hanging off you. Comfortable to wear all day, but never a shapeless sack. It is the rare cardigan that is both easy and tidy at once.
Fine, soft and neat, with a shape that flatters. Room for a top underneath.
It skims nicely and still has a shape, so it does not swamp me the way baggy cardigans do. So comfortable too.
Eileen T., NewarkSEVEN COLOURS, AND HONEST SIZES
The sizing runs honestly all the way up to a 5XL, which is not something you can say of every pretty cardigan, and it holds its shape wash after wash with no bobbling. It comes in seven proper colours, my wine-red and an orange, a pink, an army green, a blue and more, so there is a shade to lift everyone. I have the wine-red. I am already tempted by the green for the spring.
On the wardrobe door, ready to lift a plain outfit in a moment.
It goes up to my size and still looks neat and smart, and it washes beautifully. I have ordered a second colour.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Riah, against the cardigans you have been reaching for
You can find a cardigan for twenty-odd pounds almost anywhere. I know, because my drawer is full of them, most of them beige and shapeless. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Beige and porridgey, drains your face
Shapeless and droopy, worn only at home
Thick and bulky, or thin and cheap
Plain, with nothing to lift it
Often stops at the smaller sizes
A rich colour that lifts your face
Neat collar and buttons that look polished
Fine, smooth knit, light and year-round
Relaxed shape that flatters, never swamps
Honest sizes, all the way to a 5XL
About the price
The Riah is £34.95 at the moment. It was £70.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that the popular colours and the middle sizes are the first to go, and once a size in a colour 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 a plain outfit the moment I need it.
If your cardigan drawer is all beige and porridge and does nothing for you, and you would like one in a proper colour that looks polished and lifts your face, 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
RIAH | BUTTON-UP CARDIGAN
- Fine, smooth soft knit, light and not bulky
- Neat knitted collar and smart contrast buttons
- A rich colour that lifts the face
- Wear it open or buttoned, two looks
- Relaxed, flattering shape with room to layer
- Seven colours, honest sizes S to 5XL
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
Popular colours and middle sizes go first.