A Letter From Vivian: The Geometric & Patchwork Art Coats
A letter from the founder
“I’m not really a pattern person,” she tells me — standing there in a checked shirt.
On the six things I looked for before this rail came into the store, why geometry is the one pattern every woman already wears, and why every coat here is $109.95 for our twentieth year.
I hear that sentence more than any other in this shop, and it is almost never true.
Check. Plaid. Stripe. Houndstooth. Gingham. Argyle on a good jumper. Every one of those is a pattern, every one of them is geometry, and I would put money on there being three of them hanging in your wardrobe right now.
You have simply never called them pattern.
Somewhere along the line we decided that squares and triangles are structure — sensible, tailored, the sort of thing a serious woman wears to a meeting — and that flowers and birds and paisley are decoration, which is a different thing altogether and requires a certain amount of nerve.
It is a completely arbitrary distinction. But it is a very useful one, because it means there is one kind of pattern a woman already trusts entirely.
So this rail is all geometry. Squares, triangles, diamonds, checks, harlequins, prisms, the half-square triangles a quilter would recognise at thirty feet. Forty-eight coats, and the shapes on every one of them are shapes you have been wearing since you were twenty-five.
The only thing that is new is the colour.
There were six things I would not do without.
The shapes are ones you already own
Go and look at what is actually on the rail: a brown and cream check that would not frighten anybody, an orange and grey plaid, and then quilt blocks in coral and teal and gold laid out the way a quilter lays them out — squares, triangles, the odd diamond, set on the diagonal across the body and down the sleeves.
That first coat and that third coat are the same geometry. One of them has been given colour and the other has not, and that is the whole of the difference between a coat a woman calls sensible and a coat she calls brave. I think that is worth knowing before you choose, because it means you are not being asked to become a different sort of person. You are being asked to pick a palette.
"The patchwork is even more interesting in person. It turns jeans and a plain sweater into an outfit without any extra effort."
Valerie S., Lancaster"The colors make this much more fun than my usual winter coat. I've had strangers stop and ask me where I found it."
Yvonne D., PortlandFleece all the way through, not just across the back
The whole inside is soft sherpa fleece in a deep slate blue, and it runs collar to hem and on down through both sleeves. That last part is the bit I check first, because it is the bit that gets skipped — lining a sleeve is fiddly and costs money and almost nobody turns a coat inside out in a shop.
The arithmetic is simple. A coat lined the whole way through is as warm as a thick one at about half the burden on the shoulders. And there is a difference between those two that has nothing to do with temperature: a coat that is warm because it is thick comes off the moment you are indoors, and a coat that is warm because it is lined stays on through a whole lunch.
"The fleece lining is what won me over. It keeps me warm without making the coat feel heavy on my shoulders."
Brenda K., BurlingtonA hood that is lined and roomy, with a drawstring
Three separate decisions here, and most makers skip at least two of them. It is lined in the same sherpa as the body, so it is warm rather than merely windproof. It is cut roomy, so it goes over hair that has just been done instead of flattening it. And it has a drawstring, so on a morning that bites you pull it close instead of holding it shut with one hand while you find your keys with the other.
A hood that fails any one of those is a hood a woman never actually puts up, and then she has spent the winter carrying it around on the back of her neck for nothing.
"The lined hood makes a real difference on cold, windy mornings. I pull the drawstring in and my neck stays much warmer."
Cecilia W., PortsmouthTwo pockets deep enough to leave the purse at home
Set into the front at hip height, and deep — a phone, a set of keys and a pair of gloves at the same time. Which means the walk to the post office needs no bag, no strap to shift when you sit down, and nothing to leave behind on the back of a chair in a café.
I have never understood makers who treat a pocket as a decorative detail. A pocket is the difference between a coat you put on and a coat you have to pack for.
"Those pockets are actually deep enough to be useful. I can carry my phone, keys, and gloves without bringing a handbag."
Peggy R., MadisonLong enough to cover, and it never grips at the middle
It falls past the hip, which is where a coat stops being a jacket, and it hangs straight down the front with nothing drawn in anywhere. Nothing grips at the middle, nothing needs arranging after you have sat down in it, and it goes on over whatever you already had on at eight in the morning.
And it zips the whole way, top to hem — so closed on a cold walk, open when you want the slate lining showing against all that colour, and that is your decision each morning rather than the designer's.
"I like that it falls past my hips and doesn't pull across my middle. There's plenty of room to move comfortably."
Connie M., ProvidenceForty-eight coats, S through 4XL, and every one the same price
True to size and cut generous on purpose — to fit the woman rather than asking the woman to fit the coat. If you like a thick sweater underneath, take one size up and it will sit exactly as it should.
And every coat on this rail is the same price, in every size. I will say plainly why that matters more than it sounds: the moment one coat costs more than another, the dearer one quietly becomes the good one, and the good one is always the safe one. That is how a woman carries the check to the counter while still thinking about the coral. Take the difference away and there is nothing left to be sensible about.
"I sized up so I could wear a thicker sweater underneath, and that worked beautifully. It still hangs nicely instead of looking bulky."
Joyce T., SyracuseThese, against the coat in your hall closet
| The usual winter coat | These | |
|---|---|---|
| The pattern | Check or plaid, and you never call it pattern | The same shapes, with the colour left in |
| Warmth | Warm because it is thick | Sherpa collar to hem and through the sleeves |
| Weight | You can feel it by four o’clock | Half the burden on the shoulders |
| The hood | None, or thin and unlined | Roomy, sherpa-lined, drawstring |
| Pockets | Shallow, so you carry a bag | Two deep, set in at the hip |
| Choosing | One coat, and six winters of it | Forty-eight, every one the same price |
A woman will wear a check shirt for thirty years and call it neutral. All I have done is put the colour back in and keep the shapes exactly where they were.
Why we’re clearing them now
These hang at $549.95 on the rail, which is what a coat finished this way goes for: the pattern carried front and back, sherpa run from the collar to the hem and down through both sleeves, and the hood lined in that same sherpa. I am not going to stand here and tell you that is a small amount of money.
But the store turns twenty this year, and Pearl is at the counter beside me now, in the spot where she used to sit and do her homework after school. We wanted to mark it by handing something back to the women who have kept our door open since 2006 — so the whole rail goes out at $109.95. A fifth of what it was, every coat, every size the same.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$549.95$109.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 80%
- Forty-eight geometric designs — checks, plaids, diamonds, harlequins, quilt blocks
- Carried front and back, and down both sleeves
- Soft slate sherpa lining, collar to hem and through the sleeves
- A roomy sherpa-lined hood with a drawstring
- A full-length zipper, top to hem
- Two deep front pockets at the hip
- Falls past the hip, and never grips at the middle
- True to size · S through 4XL · every coat, one price
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every coat the same price · while sizes last
One last thing, and then I will let you go and look.
When a woman tells me she is not a pattern person, I have stopped correcting her. I used to point at whatever she had on, and it never once helped — nobody enjoys being told they are wrong about themselves, even cheerfully, even by somebody holding a coat.
What I do now is hand her the check one. She puts it on, and it is a perfectly ordinary brown and cream check, and she can see straight away that it suits her, because of course it does.
And then she looks back at the rail at the coral one. Which is the same coat. The same shapes, the same squares and triangles in the same places. Somebody simply left the colour in.
You have been a pattern person since about 1974. The only thing anybody ever took off you was the colour.
Go and have it back.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE GEOMETRIC & PATCHWORK ART COATS — $109.95 →This is a personal letter from the founder of Vivian & Pearl Newport. Customer reviews are quoted as written. · US family brand since 2006 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.