At 62, the Coat That Feels Like a Cardigan
At 62, the coat that looks like an expensive wool one but feels like a cardigan
Six things the Veronica gets right that winter 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 coat in my life. What I have done is spend every winter stuck between a heavy old coat I can barely lift my arms in and a thin jacket that lets the cold straight through, with nothing in between that is both warm and nice to look at. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally found the coat that is both, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Veronica, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I first saw it on a woman at the garden centre on a cool morning, elegant and warm at once, 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 soft dusty-pink coat. I took one look and assumed it had cost her a small fortune, the way a good wool coat does. Then she told me it was soft and light as a cardigan, and the price, which was nothing like what I had guessed. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of winters taught me. When the cold comes we tend to have two coats and neither is right. The heavy one, a proper winter coat that keeps you warm but is stiff and boxy and such a weight that you can barely move in it. And the thin one, a light jacket that looks tidy but lets the wind straight through and leaves you frozen. I have owned plenty of both and never once had one that was warm, comfortable and elegant all at the same time.
A heavy coat I could barely move in, or a thin jacket that let the cold through. Those were my winters, and neither one was both warm and nice.
The Veronica is the first coat I have owned that is all three, and having worn mine every cool day 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.
IT LOOKS LIKE AN EXPENSIVE WOOL COAT
The price I will deal with first, because it was my whole objection. Everything about it looks dear. It has a proper notched lapel collar, neat buttons down the front and a lovely long line, so it reads as a smart, considered wool coat, the sort you would see in a good window with a price to match. Nobody has ever guessed what I paid, and I confess I have not always rushed to tell them.
The lapel collar and the buttons. This is what makes it look like a dear wool coat.
Two people asked if it was designer. It genuinely looks like a wool coat that cost three times what I paid.
Christine B., West BridgfordBUT IT FEELS LIKE A CARDIGAN
Here is the clever part. For all that it looks like a proper wool coat, it is actually a soft knit, so it feels like your favourite cardigan, cosy and light and easy to move in. There is none of that stiff, boxy, heavy feeling you get from a real winter coat, no weight dragging on your shoulders. It is the loveliest thing to put on, smart to look at and soft to wear.
It looks like a smart wool coat but it is as soft and light as a cardigan. I can actually move in it, no heavy weight at all.
Margaret E., SouthwellTHE LONG SHAPE IS SO FLATTERING
It comes down past the hips in a lovely long line, and that vertical line does wonders, it lengthens you and slims you and skims over everything you would rather it skimmed. Worn open it draws a long clean line down the front, and buttoned it has a neat, tidy shape. It is the most flattering coat I have owned, and I had quite forgotten a coat could do that.
The long, flattering line, with a proper pocket. It lengthens and slims, open or buttoned.
The long shape is so flattering, it makes me look taller and slimmer. It skims right over the middle.
Dorothy S., BeestonIT IS WARM AND COSY, AND LAYERS OVER A JUMPER
For all that it is soft and light, it is properly warm, the knit keeping the chill off beautifully on a cool day. And it is cut with just enough room to go easily over a jumper or a cardigan, so as the weather gets colder you simply add a layer underneath and the Veronica still sits nicely on top. It carries me from a fresh autumn morning right through the cold months.
Lovely and warm, and it goes right over my thick jumper with no pulling. It has seen me through the coldest mornings.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT GOES OVER ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING
One coat, and it does the lot. Over jeans and a jumper for the shops, over trousers for a lunch, over a dress for something nicer. It dresses up and it dresses down without a moment's thought, and the soft dusty pink goes with every single thing in my wardrobe. It has quietly become the coat I reach for on every cool day, whatever I have on underneath.
By the door, ready to go over whatever I am wearing.
It goes over everything, jeans, trousers, a dress. I reach for it on every cool day now, it just works.
Eileen T., NewarkEIGHT COLOURS, AND HONEST SIZES
The sizing runs honestly all the way from a small up to a 5XL, so it fits properly with room for a layer underneath, and it holds its shape beautifully. It comes in eight colours, my soft dusty pink and a grey, a black, a camel, a blue and more, so there is a shade to suit everyone. I have the dusty pink. I am rather tempted by the grey for something a little more neutral.
It goes up to my size and still looks smart and elegant, not a sack. I have ordered the camel as well.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Veronica, against the coats you have been reaching for
You can spend well over a hundred pounds on a winter coat, and still be either frozen or weighed down. I know, because I have a peg full of them. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Heavy and stiff, can barely move in it
Or thin, and lets the cold straight through
Boxy and shapeless, adds bulk
Formal, saved for best
Often stops at the smaller sizes
Looks like a dear wool coat
Feels soft and light as a cardigan
Long, flattering line that skims and slims
Warm, and layers over a jumper
Honest sizes, all the way to a 5XL
About the price
The Veronica is £32.95 at the moment. It was £66.00.
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 cold 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 coat that looks like this, 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 proper coat.
If you are stuck between a heavy old coat and a thin jacket, with nothing warm that looks nice, this is the coat I would put on your shoulders myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
VERONICA | LAPEL COLLAR BUTTON-FRONT COAT
- Soft knit longline coat, looks like an expensive wool one
- Feels like a cardigan, cosy and light, not stiff or heavy
- Notched lapel collar and button front
- Long, flattering line that lengthens and slims
- Warm, and layers easily over a jumper
- Goes over jeans, trousers or a dress
- Eight colours, honest sizes S to 5XL
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The cold is coming. Middle sizes and popular colours go first.