A letter from a reader

At 62, a blazer that does not feel like going back to work

I have never written to a shop before, and I did not expect my first letter to be about a blazer of all things.

Here is the truth of it. I wore a blazer nearly every working day for thirty years. Navy, grey, stiff at the shoulder, always with something underneath that had to be ironed. When I finished work I put every one of them in a bag for the charity shop and I did not miss them for a second. But somewhere along the way I stopped looking smart at all. Jeans and a jumper, jeans and a jumper, and a coat over the top if we were going anywhere.

I thought smart meant work, and comfortable meant giving up. So I gave up, and wore the same jumper to everything.

So I left the blazers in the past, and told myself that part of my life was over.

Then I saw it on a friend at a birthday lunch

My friend Pauline came in wearing a deep burgundy blazer, open, over a plain white top and jeans. It was not stiff and it was not navy, and she did not look like she had come from an office. She looked like herself, tidied up. I asked her where it was from before we had even ordered. She told me it was the Stacy, 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 a fortnight later, open over my white top with dark jeans, and I did not think about it again all afternoon. Three different women asked me where it was from before the puddings came, 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 was that I felt like myself in it. Not like somebody on the way to a meeting, and not like somebody who had stopped bothering. Just a woman having lunch, in something that suited her.

Three things I have learned since

One. One button changes everything. There is nothing to fasten and nothing to fuss with. It hangs open, the lapels roll back, and it never feels like it is holding me in.

Two. The colour does the work. A deep burgundy looks considered in a way that navy never did on me, and it goes with black, white, denim and grey.

Three. It goes over what I already wear. A white top and jeans for lunch, or over a dress if we are out for dinner. I have not had to buy a thing to go with it.

About the price

When I saw the price I was suspicious. A blazer that hangs this nicely, I assumed, would either cost a small fortune or look cheap the moment it came out of the bag.

The Stacy 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, "I had not worn a blazer since I retired because they all felt like uniform. This one feels like a cardigan and looks like a blazer." 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.

You did not stop deserving to look smart the day you stopped working. Find the one that feels soft on, put it on over your jeans, and go and have your lunch.

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