A letter from a reader

At 62, the cosy cardigan I am actually happy to be seen out in

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 in my life. What I have done is spend years pulling on the same bobbly old cardigans when it turns cold, the sort I only wear about the house because I would not want to be caught out in them.

Here is what a drawer full of cardigans taught me. When the cold comes we tend to have two things to reach for. The frumpy pile, the shapeless bobbly cardigans that are warm enough but make you look like you have given up. And the smart pile, the coats and jackets that look nice but are not cosy and are a faff to get on and off indoors.

A bobbly old cardigan I would not wear out, or a smart jacket that was not the least bit cosy. Those were my two piles, and neither one would do.

So I gave up on the idea of one thing that was warm, cosy and smart all at once, and carried on with the two piles.

Then I saw it on a woman at the farmers' market

It was a cold morning and she had it on over a plain top, and it looked so smart that I asked her outright. A cardigan, I thought. I can hear you, because I said the same to my friend Sue. A cardigan means shapeless and dowdy, a nana in a rocking chair. Then I saw the neat little collar and the check and how smart it looked on her, and I changed my mind. It is called the Vienna, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I ordered mine that evening.

Six things the Vienna gets right that everyday cardigans get wrong

One. It is a cardigan, but it looks smart, not saggy. The frumpy-cardigan worry I will deal with first, because it was my objection too. What changes it is the detailing. It has a neat little knitted collar and proper buttons up the front, so it holds its shape and looks considered, more like a soft jacket than a droopy old cardigan. I put it on and I look tidy and pulled together, which is not a word I have ever been able to use about a cardigan before.

Two. The knit is soft, cosy and genuinely warm. For all that it looks smart, it is properly cosy. The knit is soft and brushed and warm against the skin, so on a cold morning it does the job of a jumper and keeps the chill off beautifully. It is the loveliest thing to put on, without a scrap of the itch or the bulk you sometimes get.

Three. Wear it open or buttoned, it is two looks. Because it buttons all the way up, it does two jobs. Left open over a top it is a relaxed, easy layer. Buttoned right up it becomes a neat little top all on its own, no blouse needed underneath. So it earns its keep twice over.

Four. The check looks considered, not dowdy. This is not a plain beige nana cardigan. It comes in a proper check, mine a warm blue and orange, that looks thought-out and a little bit expensive, the sort of pattern you would see on something far dearer. It gives a plain outfit a lift and a bit of cheer on a grey day, and I have had more compliments on it than on anything I have bought in a long while.

Five. It is a relaxed, flattering shape. It is cut with an easy, relaxed shape that skims rather than clings, with room to slip a top or a thin jumper underneath when it is really cold. It is comfortable to wear all day and it does not pull or bind anywhere, and yet it still has a shape to it, so it flatters instead of swamping you.

Six. Eight colours, and honest sizes. The sizing runs honestly all the way up to a 5XL, which is not something you can say of every pretty cardigan, and it holds its shape wash after wash with no bobbling. It comes in eight colours, from my blue and orange to a red, a pink, a purple, a green and more, so there is a check to suit everyone. I am already eyeing the green for later in the winter.

About the price

You can find a cardigan for twenty-odd pounds almost anywhere. I know, because my drawer is full of them, most of them bobbly and shapeless.

The Vienna is £39.95. It was £80.00.

Half price is usually where I start asking what is wrong with a thing, and I have found nothing wrong with this one. I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that the popular colours and the middle sizes are the first to go, and once a size in a colour has gone it can be a wait for it to come back. Their words, not mine.

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. One had written, "The collar and buttons make all the difference. It looks like a smart little jacket, not the frumpy cardigans I usually wear." The same six things I have just walked you through come up over and over, in other women's words.

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.

If your cardigan drawer is all bobbly, shapeless things you would not wear out, and you would like one that is warm, cosy and smart enough for the shops, this is the one I would put on your shoulders myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.

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