At 62, the soft corduroy jacket I now grab every single day
At 62, the soft corduroy jacket I now grab every single day
Six things the Veronika gets right that everyday jackets 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 jacket in my life. What I had was a tired old everyday jacket, the one I grabbed for the dog walk and the shops and standing about in the cold at the school gates, that I was faintly embarrassed by but kept reaching for because it was comfortable and it had pockets. So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally found the comfy everyday jacket that also happens to look lovely, saying why.
The one I am writing about is called the Veronika, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. It is a soft corduroy jacket that zips right up, with a hood and proper pockets. 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 blue one. I pulled it on for the dog walk expecting the usual, and it was so cosy and easy I have barely taken it off since. That was the moment it won me over. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of everyday jackets taught me. There is always one you actually live in, the one by the door you grab without thinking, and it is almost never the nice one. The nice one stays on its hanger for best, and the one you truly wear is tired and shapeless and does not deserve you, but it is comfortable and it has pockets, so on it goes, day after day. I had made my peace with that, and then the Veronika came along and was both.
The jacket you actually live in is almost never the nice one. This is the first time mine has been both comfortable and lovely.
The Veronika is the first everyday jacket I have owned that I reach for every day and am pleased to be seen in, and having barely taken mine off 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.
THE SOFTEST, COSIEST CORDUROY
The first thing you notice is how lovely it is to put on. It is a proper soft corduroy, that gentle ribbed cord that feels warm and comforting the moment it is on your shoulders, nothing stiff or scratchy about it. It is the sort of jacket you are almost glad of a cold morning for, just to have a reason to pull it on.
The soft ribbed corduroy, the zip and the hood. Cosy the moment it is on.
The corduroy is so soft and cosy. It feels lovely and warm the second I put it on, I could live in it.
Christine B., West BridgfordIT ZIPS RIGHT UP, AND HAS A HOOD
This is what makes it so easy for every day. It zips right up the front, so you can pull it snug against a cold wind, and it has a proper hood for when the morning turns to drizzle, as it so often does. No fumbling with buttons, no getting caught out by the weather. You just zip up, put the hood up if you need it, and off you go.
The zip and the hood are a godsend. I zip it up against the wind and pop the hood up when it rains, so handy.
Margaret E., SouthwellPROPER DEEP POCKETS FOR YOUR BITS
I cannot be doing with a jacket that has no pockets, or those useless shallow ones. The Veronika has proper deep pockets, and a handy one on the chest too, so my phone and my keys and the endless tissues all have a home, and my hands have somewhere warm to go on a cold morning. It is such a small thing, and it makes all the difference to a jacket you live in.
Proper pockets, including a handy one on the chest. Somewhere for your bits and your hands.
Proper deep pockets at last, and a little chest one too. My phone, keys and tissues all have a home now.
Pauline H., ArnoldWARM WITHOUT THE WEIGHT
For all that it is cosy, it is light and easy to move about in, none of that heavy, bulky, dragging feeling you get from a big winter coat. I can carry the shopping, get down to the grandchildren, potter in the garden, all without feeling weighed down or bundled up. It is warm enough for most of the autumn and easy enough to wear all day long.
Lovely and warm but so light and easy, not a heavy coat at all. I can actually get on with things in it.
Dorothy S., BeestonYOU WILL GRAB IT EVERY SINGLE DAY
This has quietly become the jacket by my door. The dog walk, the shops, standing about at the school gates, pottering in the garden, popping out for a pint of milk, it does the lot, and it goes over jeans and whatever I have on underneath without a thought. It is the one I reach for without looking, and for the first time in years, that is also the nice one.
On its peg by the door, ready to grab for whatever the day holds.
It has become my everyday jacket for everything. Dog walk, shops, garden, it just lives by the back door now.
Eileen T., NewarkFIVE COLOURS, AND IT WASHES BEAUTIFULLY
The sizing runs honestly from a small up to a 2XL, so it fits properly with room to layer a jumper underneath, and it washes and wears beautifully rather than going tired and bobbly. It comes in five lovely colours, my blue and a green, a pink, a black and a soft cream, so there is a shade to suit everyone. I have the blue. I am rather tempted by the green for the autumn.
It washes and comes up like new every time, no bobbling. So pleased with it that I have ordered the green as well.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Veronika, against the tired old jacket by your door
Most of us have one everyday jacket we truly live in, and it is almost never the one we would choose to be seen in. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Tired and shapeless, a bit embarrassing
Stiff, or heavy and bulky
No pockets, or useless shallow ones
Kept on because it is comfortable
Nothing you would choose to be seen in
Soft, cosy corduroy that looks lovely
Light and easy, warm without the weight
Proper deep pockets and a chest pocket
Zips up snug, with a hood for the drizzle
The one you grab, and are pleased to wear
About the price
The Veronika is £37.95 at the moment. It was £76.00.
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 cool 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 jacket this cosy and useful, 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, the dog walk, the school run, whatever the day holds.
If your everyday jacket has become a tired old thing you are faintly embarrassed by, this is the one I would put by your door myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
VERONIKA | CORDUROY JACKET
- Soft, cosy ribbed corduroy, lovely to put on
- Zips right up, with a hood for the drizzle
- Proper deep pockets and a handy chest pocket
- Light and easy, warm without the weight
- The everyday jacket you grab without thinking
- Five colours, honest sizes S to 2XL
- Washes and wears beautifully
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The cool weather is coming. Middle sizes and popular colours go first.