A letter from a reader

At 62, I had given up on finding a top that was both comfortable and long enough.

I almost did not write this down, because it is only a top and I am not the sort of woman who gets excited about clothes any more. But three different people stopped to ask me about it when I popped into town on Saturday, and when that happens at 62 you start to think there might be something in it.

The trouble I have always had is this. The comfortable tops are never long enough, so I spend the whole day tugging the hem down over my leggings and turning my back to no one in particular. And the tops that are long enough are usually stiff, or fussy, or the sort of thing you cannot relax in. So I ended up living in the same few things and tying a cardigan round my middle to cover what the top would not.

I had decided that comfortable, long enough, and nice to look at were three things that never turned up in the same top.

So I kept tugging, kept covering up, and stopped expecting any better.

Then I saw it on a friend

A friend of mine had one on at a coffee morning and looked so comfortable and so tidy at the same time that I had to ask. It is from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years, and they had their summer sale on. Mine is the Kelly, a soft blue one, and it comes in six colours. I ordered it that same evening before I could talk myself out of it.

What happened in town

I wore it into town the next weekend, having done nothing more than pull it on over a pair of trousers. Instead of spending the day tugging at it as usual, I forgot about it entirely, and three separate women came over to ask me where it was from. Three. My friend Sue said I looked nice and comfortable, and asked where I had got it, which for a top I had all but thrown on felt like quite the compliment.

That was the moment it clicked for me. I had spent years believing comfortable meant scruffy, and here was a top that quietly did away with the choice.

Three things I have learned since

One. The length is the whole point. It is cut longer, and dips a little lower at the back, so it actually covers my bottom and my hips over leggings and jeans. No more tugging, no more cardigan tied round the middle.

Two. It is genuinely soft. The fabric has a soft ribbed feel that is cosy without being heavy, so it is comfortable from morning to night and easy to wash and wear.

Three. The little buttons do the work. The small wooden buttons at the neck lift it well above a plain old jumper, so it looks like something I chose rather than something I gave up and reached for.

About the price

I will be honest, when I saw it in the sale I was a bit suspicious. A top this soft and well made usually costs a good deal more, and it turns out it usually does.

The Kelly is £27.95. It was £56.00.

There was no catch. It arrived quickly, it washes and wears beautifully, and it looked exactly like the picture, which we all know is not always the way.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered a second one in the red. 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, "First top in years that is long enough at the back and soft enough to wear all day." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sat in the garden and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you spend your days quietly tugging your top down over your leggings, or tying a cardigan round your middle to cover what it will not, not because you want to but because nothing you own does the job, then it is worth ten minutes of your evening to go and have a look.

Not because a top will change your life. It will not. But there is something in getting dressed and not having to think about it all day, in feeling covered and comfortable and tidy, that I had quietly given up on, and I would rather you did not give up on it too.

Two practical things. The sale is on at the moment, and the middle sizes go first, which I found out because the one I wanted had sold out by the time I went back for a second colour. And once the stock has sold through, that is it until next year.

I have not tugged a hem down since.

Caroline