At 62, the cropped jacket that finishes an outfit without drowning me
At 62, the cropped jacket that finishes an outfit without drowning me
Six things the Rowena gets right that coats 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 jacket in my life. What I had done was quietly give up on them, because the long coats swamped me and hung down past my hips and made me look shorter and wider, and the smart ones sat stiff and heavy on my shoulders. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally found the jacket that flatters her instead of drowning her, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Rowena, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. It is a soft cropped jacket, short and neat, in the loveliest brushed wool that feels like a cardigan. 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 soft dark green one. I put it on expecting to look swamped as usual, and instead it stopped neatly at my waist and showed a bit of shape. That was the moment it won me over. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of coats taught me. When you are not tall, or not as slim as you were, a long coat can wear you rather than the other way round. It hangs from the shoulders in one long line, hides whatever waist you have, cuts your legs off halfway down and leaves you looking shorter and wider than you are. For years I owned plenty of them and quietly stopped wearing anything but a cardigan, because at least a cardigan did not drown me.
The long coats swamped me and made me look shorter and wider. So I gave up, and kept reaching for the same old cardigan.
The Rowena is the first jacket I have owned that keeps me warm and flatters me at the same time, and having barely taken mine off since, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. It looked far dearer than I had paid, and softer than I expected.
THE CROPPED SHAPE IS SO FLATTERING
This is the whole thing, really. Because it is cropped and finishes right at my waist, it lands at the slimmest part of me instead of hanging past my hips. It shows a bit of shape, and it makes my legs look longer rather than cutting me in half the way a long coat does. The first time I put it on I stood a little taller in the mirror, which I had not done in a jacket in years.
The neat band neck, the little buttons and the soft brushed wool.
Finally a jacket that does not swallow me up. It stops right at the waist and I look taller and slimmer in it.
Christine B., West BridgfordSOFT AS A CARDIGAN, LOOKS LIKE A JACKET
Here is the clever part. It is made of the softest brushed wool, so it feels like your favourite cardigan, cosy and light with a bit of fuzz to it. But with the neat little buttons and the tidy shape, it looks like a proper jacket, so the moment I throw it on I look like I have made an effort. Soft to wear, smart to look at, the best of both.
It is as soft and cosy as a cardigan but it looks like a proper jacket. I feel dressed the second I put it on.
Margaret E., SouthwellIT THROWS OVER ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING
One little jacket, and it does the lot. Over jeans and a top for the shops, over trousers for a lunch, over a dress for something nicer. Because it is short and neat it sits well over everything without adding length or bulk, and it finishes an outfit in a way a cardigan never quite does. It has quietly become the thing I reach for on the way out of the door.
Cropped to sit neatly at the waist, over whatever I have on.
It goes over everything, jeans, a dress, my work trousers. It finishes the outfit off every time.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT IS WARM WITHOUT THE WEIGHT
For all that it is soft and light, it is properly warm, the brushed wool keeping the chill off beautifully on a cool day, with none of that heavy, dragging weight you get from a proper coat. There is nothing pulling on my shoulders, nothing to lug about. It is the easiest thing in the world to wear, and just right for a fresh autumn day.
Lovely and warm but so light, no heavy weight on my shoulders at all. Perfect for autumn mornings.
Dorothy S., BeestonWEAR IT OPEN OR BUTTONED
It is a lovely easy thing to wear either way. Left open it hangs in a soft neat line down the front and shows off whatever I have on underneath. Done up with its little buttons, the tidy band neck sits neatly and it looks smarter still. Two looks from one jacket, and both of them flatter, which is more than I can say for most things in my wardrobe.
By the door, ready to throw on open or buttoned.
Open or buttoned it looks lovely, and the little band neck sits so neatly. Two looks from the one jacket.
Eileen T., NewarkSIX COLOURS, AND HONEST SIZES
The sizing runs honestly all the way from a small up to a 5XL, so it fits properly and flatters, and it holds its shape rather than going baggy. It comes in six lovely colours, my dark green and a khaki, a grey, a black, a red and a blue, so there is a shade to suit everyone. I have the green for the autumn. I am rather tempted by the grey for something a little more neutral.
It goes up to my size and still looks smart and neat, not a sack. So pleased I have ordered the black too.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Rowena, against the coats you have been reaching for
You can spend well over a hundred pounds on a coat and still feel swamped and weighed down in it. I know, because I have a peg full of them. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Long, hangs past the hips
Swamps you, adds width
Cuts your legs off halfway
Stiff and heavy on the shoulders
Often stops at the smaller sizes
Cropped, sits neatly at the waist
Flatters and shows a bit of shape
Makes your legs look longer
Soft as a cardigan, warm without the weight
Honest sizes, all the way to a 5XL
About the price
The Rowena is £43.95 at the moment. It was £88.00.
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 with the cool weather coming they are going quickly, so 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 jacket this soft and flattering, I have found nothing wrong with it.
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 cool morning that calls for a soft little jacket.
If long coats swamp you and you are tired of reaching for the same old cardigan, this is the jacket I would put on your shoulders myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
ROWENA | CROPPED SOFT JACKET
- Cropped, sits neatly at the waist, does not swamp you
- Soft as a cardigan, looks like a proper jacket
- Soft brushed wool, warm without the weight
- Throws over jeans, trousers or a dress
- Wear it open or buttoned, neat band neck
- Six colours, honest sizes S to 5XL
- Holds its shape
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The cool weather is coming. Middle sizes and popular colours go first.