A Letter From Vivian: The Kaia
A letter from the founder
The difference between a jacket covered in flowers and a bedspread with sleeves is about half an inch of binding.
On the six things that made me choose the Kaia, why every jacket on that rail was chosen against the same six, and why they are $69.95 for our twentieth year.
I am Vivian, and I opened this boutique twenty years ago with one idea: that a woman should not have to choose between comfortable and beautiful.
September is when I watch a woman get this wrong, and it is not her fault. The mornings have turned, and she wants something over her shoulders that is not a coat and is not a cardigan. So she looks at a quilted jacket with flowers on it, and she wants it — and then she puts it back. Because she has seen the ones that go wrong, and the ones that go wrong look like a bedspread with sleeves.
So she takes one of the other two instead. The plain quilted jacket, navy or black, which is safe and which she already owns in some form. Or the printed one that is cheerful and shapeless and reads as a housecoat within about four seconds of putting it on.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Kaia is my answer, and the thing that rescues it is not the print at all. It is the half inch of dark navy binding that runs around every single edge of it. There were six things I would not do without — and every jacket on that rail was chosen against the same six.
Every edge is bound in dark navy
This is the decision that makes the whole garment work, and it is the one nobody notices until you point at it. The collar, the front opening, the cuffs, the hem and the pockets are all bound in a narrow dark navy tape. That line gives the print an edge to stop at, so a wash of watercolor flowers reads as a tailored jacket instead of as soft furnishing. Take the binding away and you have a quilt with sleeves. It is half an inch of cloth and it is the entire difference.
“The floral print has a lovely vintage feel without looking old-fashioned. I’ve worn mine to lunch, errands, and an evening out.”
Helen C., GreenvilleQuilted for warmth, not for bulk
A quilted jacket goes wrong the same way a quilted coat does: the channels get deep, the whole thing inflates, and a woman ends up somewhere inside a silhouette that is not hers. The quilting here is worked close and fine, so it holds air across the shoulders and the arms without adding a shape of its own. Warm on a cool morning, and nothing sitting on your shoulders by the middle of the day.
“The quilting gives me just enough warmth for cool mornings without making the jacket feel bulky on my shoulders.”
Frances R., SavannahIt has shape through the body
Almost every jacket of this kind is cut as a rectangle, because a rectangle is cheaper to make and fits nobody in particular. This one is drawn in slightly through the body and released again below, so it follows you rather than hanging off you. That is the difference between feminine and fitted, and a woman past fifty is usually looking for exactly the first of those and being offered only the second.
“I like that it has shape through the body instead of hanging straight down. It feels feminine without being fitted too closely.”
Martha T., RaleighThe working parts — snaps and two welt pockets
Gold-toned snaps run up a concealed placket, so the front closes cleanly with no row of buttons cutting across the print, and you fasten it one-handed with a car key in the other. And there are two welt pockets set into the front at hip height, piped in the same navy so they belong to the design rather than being cut into it afterward. Neither of these is a thing a woman goes looking for. Both are things she would miss every single day.
Light enough to keep with you all day
This is the test for a September jacket, and it is a harder one than it sounds. It has to be warm at eight in the morning and it has to be no trouble at all at two in the afternoon, when the sun has come round and you are carrying it. The Kaia is light enough to stay over an arm without becoming a burden, and breathable enough that you can keep it on indoors rather than hunting for somewhere to put it down.
“I wore this on a weekend trip and ended up reaching for it every morning. It was light enough to keep with me all day.”
Jeanette B., Asheville“It gives me the warmth of a quilted layer but still feels breathable when I’m indoors. That makes it very practical for changing weather.”
Rose G., NewportIt goes with more than you would think
Here is the objection I hear at the counter, and it is always the same one: that is beautiful, but what would I wear it with? The answer turns out to be almost everything, and for a reason that sounds backward. A garment with one strong color makes a demand. A garment with thirty of them stops asking — the pink is in there, and the orange, and the blue, so whatever plain thing you already own is already spoken for. The busiest jacket on the rail is the easiest one to get dressed around.
“The mix of pinks, oranges, and blues goes with far more than I expected. Even my basic navy pants work beautifully with it.”
Louise H., Richmond“The flowers are even prettier in person. I can wear a plain top and jeans underneath and still feel completely put together.”
Evelyn M., CharlestonThe Kaia, against the one you put back on the rail
| The usual printed quilted jacket | The Kaia | |
|---|---|---|
| Edges | Print running off in all directions | Bound in dark navy, every edge |
| Shape | A rectangle with sleeves | Drawn in through the body |
| Quilting | Deep channels that inflate | Close and fine, warm without bulk |
| Front | Buttons cutting across the print | Snaps on a concealed placket |
| Pockets | None, or patched on after | Two welt pockets, piped to match |
| Sizing | Stops at L, if you are lucky | S through 3XL, one price |
I refuse to sell a woman a beautiful print with nothing holding it together. That is the whole reason the Kaia is in the shop.
Now the part that matters
I have written all of this about the Kaia because it is the one I would put in your hands first. But look at the photograph above and you will see the point I am actually making: it is the same jacket underneath. The same binding at every edge, the same close quilting, the same shape through the body, the same snaps and the same two welt pockets.
There are sixteen of them. Every one is $69.95, and every one runs S through 3XL — two of them further still, all the way to 5XL. I did not choose sixteen jackets. I chose one, and then I chose sixteen things to put on it.
So the only thing left to decide is which. There are watercolor meadows, a pink one, retro circles, black and white abstracts. And I will be honest with you, because you will see them in a moment anyway: one of them has cats on it and one of them has dogs. I stock those because a woman came in and asked, and then another one did.
Go and look at the rail, and find the one that is yours.
Why we’re clearing them now
The Kaia came in at $199.95, and so did every other jacket on that rail. Binding an edge properly is slow work, and slow work is what the original number was paying for. But the shop turns twenty this year, and my daughter Pearl is beside me at the counter most days now, which is not something I let myself count on in 2006. We wanted to mark it by handing something back to the women who kept our door open.
And I would rather do it in September than in November. This is a jacket for the weeks we are in right now — cool at eight, warm by two, cool again by supper. Buy it in six weeks and you have missed the season it was made for.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$199.95$69.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 65%
- Dark navy binding at every edge
- Close, fine quilting — warm without the bulk
- Shaped through the body, not cut as a rectangle
- Gold-toned snaps on a concealed placket
- Two welt pockets, piped to match
- Sixteen prints · S through 3XL · one price
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every print and size the same price · while sizes last
A woman walks a rail like this differently than she walks any other. She does not go along it deciding whether she likes them. She goes along it waiting to be stopped.
And she is not choosing a jacket, whatever she tells herself at the counter. She is deciding whether she is still the sort of woman who wears the one with the flowers on it.
You are. Go and find yours.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE ALL SIXTEEN JACKETS — $69.95 →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.