At 62, the cardigan that makes my plainest outfit look finished
At 62, the cardigan that makes my plainest outfit look finished
Six things the Mandy gets right that ordinary 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. What I have done is spend a good many mornings standing at the wardrobe in a plain top and trousers, knowing something was missing and not having the first idea what. A necklace I would take off by lunch. A scarf that would not sit right. So this is not a review. It is a woman who found the missing piece, saying so.
The cardigan I am writing about is called the Mandy, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I chose mine in a deep wine, 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 big oversized cardigan with a proper collar and five great gold buttons down the front. At 62. Read on.
Here is what I had got wrong. I thought looking put together meant more effort, more pieces and more fuss, and my cardigans came in two piles. The sensible pile, thin plain ones that did the job and nothing else, so the outfit underneath still looked like it was waiting for something. And the smart pile, fitted little jackets that pinched under the arms and got saved for best.
Plain and forgettable, or smart and uncomfortable. I had never found a cardigan that finished an outfit and still felt easy to wear.
The Mandy is the first one I have owned that does both, and having worn it to Sunday lunch, to the garden centre and round the house on a grey morning, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it came. The buttons were the first thing I noticed, and the second, and the third.
The buttons do the work
Five big round gold buttons run down the front, and they do the job a necklace, a brooch and a good deal of fuss used to do. Over a plain top and trousers they turn an ordinary outfit into one that looks finished, without me adding a single other thing. I have stopped reaching for jewellery on a weekday altogether.
The buttons up close. They do all the work, so I do not have to.
I put it on over a plain top and my husband asked where we were going. Those buttons make it. I have not worn a necklace with it once.
Gillian R., EastwoodA proper collar that frames your face
It has a neat knitted collar that folds over like a shirt collar, so there is a clean line up by your face instead of a neckline that droops. It looks polished buttoned right up and it sits nicely open over a round-neck top too. My daughter said it made me look like I was off somewhere nice. I was going to the supermarket.
I love the collar. It looks so much smarter than an ordinary cardigan and it is lovely up by the face. I feel tidy in it without trying.
Pamela J., RavensheadRoomy without swallowing you
It is cut oversized with dropped shoulders, so there is room to move and room for a blouse or a thin jumper underneath, and it skims over the middle rather than clinging. But the collar, the buttons and that shaped hem keep it looking deliberate, so it never tips over into shapeless.
At the kitchen table with a cup of tea. Room to move, and still tidy.
Lovely relaxed fit that skims my tummy without looking like a sack. I sized as normal and there is plenty of room for a top underneath.
Denise K., StaplefordThose full sleeves
The sleeves are wide and full through the arm and gather into a deep ribbed cuff at the wrist. So nothing clings to the tops of my arms, and the cuffs keep the sleeves where they should be instead of trailing in my tea. It gives the whole cardigan a lovely soft shape.
The sleeves are gorgeous and so forgiving on the upper arms, which is exactly where I am self-conscious. The cuffs keep them neat.
Maureen T., CarltonA wavy hem that flatters
The hem is not a straight line. It curves into soft waves along the bottom and sits at the hip, so it covers the seat of my trousers and finishes the outfit with a pretty edge rather than cutting me in half. It is a small detail, and it is the one people comment on from behind.
On my way out of the door. That wavy hem is the bit people notice.
It goes with everything you already own
It goes over trousers, skirts and dresses, jeans on a Saturday and a smart skirt on a Sunday. It comes in the wine I chose and a deep navy, in honest sizes from UK 8/10 right up to UK 18/20, cut roomy so it flatters whatever your shape. I have not needed to buy a single thing to go with it.
Wear it with everything, trousers, my denim skirt, even over a dress to church. Went back and bought the navy too.
Hazel B., Burton JoyceThis, against the plain cardigan you have been reaching for
You can buy a plain cardigan anywhere, and most of us own several. I know, because I counted mine. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Thin and forgettable
Needs a necklace or scarf to look finished
A neckline that droops
A straight hem that cuts you in half
Sleeves that cling or dangle
Five gold buttons that finish the outfit
A neat collar that frames your face
A roomy fit that skims, never shapeless
A wavy hip-length hem that flatters
Full sleeves gathered into ribbed cuffs
About the price
The Mandy is £39.95 at the moment. It was £80.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that with the autumn sale on, the middle sizes go first, and once they have gone it can be a wait for them 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 cardigan this smart and this easy, I have not found 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.
On the wardrobe door the night before Sunday lunch. The outfit underneath is as plain as they come.
If your plain tops and trousers never quite look finished, and you are tired of fiddling with scarves and necklaces to fix them, this is the cardigan I would point you to myself, while your size is still there. Go and have a look.
Caroline
MANDY | Oversized Collared Cardigan
- Five statement gold-tone buttons
- A neat structured collar
- Relaxed oversized fit, easy to layer
- Full sleeves gathered into ribbed cuffs
- Wavy curved hem, hip length
- Wine or navy, UK 8/10 (S) to UK 18/20 (3XL)
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The autumn sale is on now, half price. The middle sizes go first.