A letter from a reader

At 62, I finally found a pretty blouse that covers my arms

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

Here is the truth of it. Somewhere in my fifties I stopped wearing pretty tops. Every one I tried either clung where I did not want it to, or stopped short at the elbow and left my arms on show. So I would take it off, put the sensible cardigan back on over something plain, and go out looking exactly like I did the week before.

I thought I had to choose between a top that was pretty and a top that covered me. So I chose covered, and the cardigan came everywhere with me.

So I gave up on pretty, and told myself nobody was looking anyway.

Then I saw it on a friend at a birthday lunch

My friend Margaret came in wearing a loose deep teal blouse with big painted poppies falling down one side, coral and pink and green, over a plain black top. She had it open, sleeves pushed up once, and she looked lovely and completely comfortable. I asked her where it was from before we had even sat down. She told me it was the Sophie, 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 next lunch

I wore it the following Saturday, open over my black top with dark jeans, and I left the cardigan at home for the first time in years. 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.

What I noticed most was that I did not spend the afternoon tugging at anything or wondering who was looking at my arms. I simply forgot about it, and I cannot remember the last time a pretty top let me do that.

Three things I have learned since

One. It covers you without swamping you. It is loose through the body and comes down to the hip with a gently curved hem, and the sleeves are long, so I can turn them up once at the cuff and still feel covered. It skims rather than clings.

Two. The painting does the work. The poppies are placed down one side only, so it looks like somebody painted it rather than a busy pattern all over. Thrown open over a plain black top, it is the whole outfit.

Three. It has pockets. Two of them, at the hip. It sounds a small thing, but a pretty blouse with somewhere to put your hands is rarer than it should be.

About the price

When I saw the price I was suspicious. Something that looks hand-painted like this, I assumed, would either cost a small fortune or look cheap the moment it arrived.

The Sophie is £32.95. It was £66.

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, "Finally a pretty top I can wear without a cardigan over it. Loose, long sleeves, and people keep asking where it is from." 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.

Leave the cardigan on the chair for once. You do not have to choose between covered and pretty any more, and you have earned something that makes you smile when you catch sight of yourself.

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