A Letter From Vivian: The Laurel
A letter from the founder
There is a hoodie in your house that you would not answer the door in.
On the six things that made me choose the Laurel, how it compares to the one on the back of your chair, and why it is $64.95 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.
The hoodie is where that choice is at its plainest, and where most women have quietly stopped arguing about it. Nearly every woman I know owns one. It is the most comfortable thing in her house. And it is the one garment she will take off before she opens the front door.
Ask her where it came from and she can tell you: her husband's drawer, a charity walk in 2014, the college her daughter went to. It has a logo on it, or a year, or the name of a town. It lives on the back of a chair and it has never once left the house in daylight.
She does not wear it out, and it is not because it is not warm enough. It is because of what it announces when it walks into a room, which is that the day is over and she has stopped expecting anybody.
So she keeps two wardrobes going. The comfortable one, which nobody sees, and the presentable one, which is not comfortable. And she changes between them, at the door, several times a day.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Laurel is my answer: the comfort of the one on the chair, in something you would open the door in. There were six things I would not do without.
A print big enough to be the whole point
Dahlias, drawn large and drawn properly, the way a good wallpaper is drawn rather than the way a slogan is printed. This is the decision everything else rests on. A hoodie is read as sportswear because of what is on the front of it: a logo, a number, a college. Put a painting there instead, at the size of a real flower rather than a badge, and the eye stops filing it under gym. It is the same garment doing an entirely different job.
“The big dahlia print is what caught my eye. I wore it with plain jeans to our garden club meeting, and it felt very much like me. Pretty without needing to dress up.”
Daphne M., AshevilleA knit, not fleece, and that is deliberate
This is the part I would have argued hardest for, and it is the part nobody thinks to ask about. Fleece is the other reason a hoodie looks like a hoodie. It has a nap that catches the light and puffs at the shoulder, and no amount of pattern rescues it. The Laurel is a medium-weight knit instead. It hangs rather than puffs, it holds a line where the shoulder is, and it has enough weight in it for a cool morning. It reads as a top, because that is what it is.
“I wasn't sure what to expect from a knit hoodie, but I really like the feel. Soft, with enough weight to be comfortable on a cool morning. There's room through the middle without my feeling lost in it.”
Robyn K., LancasterIt still covers the waistband when you reach up
Length is the least discussed measurement in women's clothing and very often the one that decides whether a thing gets worn at all. Reach for the top shelf in a short top and it rides, and then you spend the rest of the day putting it back down with one hand. The Laurel is cut long enough that the reach does not cost you anything. It is a small mercy and you notice it about four times before lunch.
“Good length on this one. It covers my waistband even when I reach into the kitchen cabinets. I appreciate not having to keep pulling it down.”
Janell R., ColumbusA hood you would actually put up, with a drawstring
Most hoods on a woman's top are decoration. They lie flat, they hold no shape, and the first cold morning tells you so. This one has room in it and a drawstring, which means it does the job it is named for: the step outside with a cup of coffee, the walk to the end of the drive, the ten minutes in the garden before the sun gets going. You pull it a little closer and carry on.
“The hood is handy when I step outside with my coffee. I like being able to pull it a little closer around my neck. Nice everyday top.”
Kristine H., Grand RapidsRoomy on purpose, and still shaped
Here is why most women's hoodies cannot leave the house even when the print is good: they are a man's pattern made smaller, room everywhere and shape nowhere, and the body disappears into them. The Laurel is cut with genuine room through the middle, so nothing grips and nothing has to be arranged, and it is still shaped enough to look like something you chose. That is the whole difference between a garment you are wearing and one you have given up inside.
“Such a pretty flower pattern. I put this on with simple pants and feel like I've made an effort, even when I haven't.”
Paige S., Richmond“Packed my Laurel for a few days visiting an old friend. We spent one afternoon browsing bookstores and then stopped for an early dinner. I was comfortable in it the whole time and didn't feel underdressed at the restaurant. It earned its place in my suitcase.”
Melinda B., SpokaneThree prints, eight sizes, and it goes in the machine
Three prints — Golden Fern, Midnight Mosaic and Royal Indigo — the same cut and the same price in every one. Eight sizes, S through 5XL, and very few makers go that far without changing the price at the top of the range. And it goes in the washing machine, which matters more than it sounds: a garment you have to be careful with is a garment you save, and a garment you save is a garment you do not wear.
“I tend to buy plain clothes, so this was a bit of a departure for me. The large flowers won me over. I've worn it twice this week already, once for errands and once when my niece came over. She said I should wear prints more often. I think she's right.”
Ellen J., Fort CollinsThe Laurel, against the one on the back of your chair
| The hoodie you already own | The Laurel | |
|---|---|---|
| The front | A logo, a college, or a walk in 2014 | Dahlias drawn at the size of real flowers |
| Fabric | Fleece, which puffs and reads as gym | Medium-weight knit, which hangs and reads as a top |
| Length | Rides up the moment you reach | Still covers the waistband |
| The cut | A man's pattern, made smaller | Roomy through the middle, and shaped |
| The hood | Flat, and there for the look of it | Room in it, and a drawstring |
| Sizing | Stops at XL, if you are lucky | S through 5XL, one price |
I refuse to sell a woman the most comfortable thing she owns and then have her hide in it. That is the whole reason the Laurel is in the store.
Why we’re clearing it now
The Laurel hangs at $324.95 on the rail, which is what a piece finished this way goes for: a print worked at that scale across the body and both sleeves, a proper knit rather than fleece, and the length and the cut done deliberately instead of borrowed from a men's block. But the store 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, so the Laurel is going out at a fifth of that.
I will give you the honest reasoning too. This is not a coat you buy once and consider for a fortnight. It is the thing you put on at seven in the morning and are still wearing when somebody rings the bell at four. If it turns out to be that, then $64.95 was never the point.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$324.95$64.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 80%
- A bold artistic dahlia print, in three colorways
- Soft medium-weight knit — not fleece
- A drawstring hood with room in it
- Cut roomy on purpose, and still shaped
- Long enough to cover the waistband when you reach
- Machine washable
- S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL · every size the same price
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every size the same price · while sizes last
Twenty years behind this counter, and the test I use has nothing to do with the mirror. A woman puts something on, and then the bell goes, or a car pulls into the drive. Watch what she does with her hands.
If she reaches for the hem, or starts undoing it, the garment has told her the truth about itself and she has believed it.
Nobody does that in the Laurel. She opens the door.
Go find your size.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE LAUREL — $64.95 →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.