A Letter From Vivian: The Lily
A letter from the founder
Look at the coats in your closet. Most of them are black, and I do not think you ever decided that.
On the six things that made me choose the Lily, how it compares to the jacket you keep by the door, and why it is $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.
Go and look at your coats. I will guess most of them are black, and that you never once sat down and decided that. It happened a purchase at a time, over years, because black was always the one that felt safe.
And there are only two kinds hanging there. There is the warm one, which is enormous — genuinely toasty, and it makes you look like a piece of furniture, so it gets worn to the driveway and the dog and nowhere else. And there is the good one, which looks right and is too heavy to keep on indoors, too formal for the grocery store, and no use at all the moment the sky turns.
The jacket a woman actually needs is the one nobody sells her. Light. Warm. Dry when it rains. Quiet enough for errands. And not black.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Lily is my answer. It weighs close to nothing, it is quilted near the body instead of away from it, and it comes in colors that nobody thinks to offer a woman our age. There were six things I would not do without.
A hood that is shaped, not sewn on flat
There are two kinds of hood in this world. There is the flat panel sewn onto the back of a coat so the label can say hooded, which sits between your shoulders like a folded napkin and blows straight off. And there is a hood with shape built into it, lined, finished with a bound edge so it holds its form when it is up. This is the second kind. It is the difference between a hood you use and a hood you own.
“The hood is what made this one for me. It keeps the wind off my neck without making the jacket feel heavy or bulky.”
Carol M., NewportLight enough to keep on indoors
Here is the test I apply to a jacket, and almost nothing passes it: can a woman walk into a store, do her errands, and walk out again without taking it off? Nearly every warm coat fails, because warmth has been achieved by mass. You come through the door, the heat hits you, and within four minutes you are carrying the thing. The Lily is light enough that you leave it on and forget about it, which means it is a jacket you wear rather than a jacket you manage.
“I like that I can keep this on while running errands without getting overheated. It really is noticeably lighter than my other quilted jackets.”
Janet C., RichmondQuilted close to the body
This was the thing I would not bend on. A quilted jacket goes wrong when the channels are deep and wide, because then the jacket has a silhouette of its own and you are simply somewhere inside it. The quilting here runs in fine horizontal lines that sit near the body, so it follows your shape instead of replacing it. You can be warm without agreeing to look like a marshmallow, and I do not know why so few coats accept that.
“The quilting gives me warmth without that marshmallow look some puffers have. It sits much closer to the body than I expected.”
Linda T., SavannahWindproof and waterproof — which almost nothing this light is
This is the one I did not expect to get, and the one I would not give up once I had it. A jacket this light is normally a fair-weather jacket: the first real gust goes straight through it and the first real rain soaks it. The Lily’s shell is windproof and waterproof. Not water-resistant — which is the word the trade uses when it means the rain will get in eventually — but waterproof. So the jacket you keep on for errands is also the jacket you can be caught out in, and you stop checking the sky before you decide what to wear.
“I got caught in a light shower while wearing mine and stayed comfortable. Now I reach for it whenever the weather looks uncertain.”
Patricia H., RaleighColors a woman is not usually offered
Somewhere along the line the industry decided that past a certain age a woman wants outerwear in black, charcoal or navy, and it has been offering her nothing else for about thirty years. I disagree, and the Lily is where I put that disagreement. Khaki if you want the one that goes with everything. Burgundy for the everyday. And a blue and a pink that are, frankly, cheerful, and which I have watched women pick up and put down twice before they let themselves have one.
“The bright blue is such a nice change from all the black coats in my closet. I wear it mostly with jeans and sneakers.”
Susan B., Asheville“I started with the taupe because it goes with everything, then ordered the pink for something cheerful. Both are incredibly easy to wear.”
Barbara L., GreenvilleHood or stand-up collar, and every size the same price
One thing worth knowing before you choose, because it is not obvious on the page. The Lily comes two ways: with the hood you have been looking at, in nine colors, or with a neat stand-up collar instead, in seven. The collar version is for the woman who wears a scarf anyway, or who has long hair and has spent her life fighting a hood. Both run S through 3XL, and every size is the same price as every other one.
“I bought the burgundy and it has become my everyday fall jacket. Warm enough for chilly mornings, but still easy to move in.”
Diane R., CharlestonThe Lily, against the jacket by your door
| The usual warm jacket | The Lily | |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | Warm because it is heavy | Light enough to keep on indoors |
| Shape | Deep channels, its own silhouette | Fine quilting, close to the body |
| Hood | A flat panel, or none at all | Lined and shaped, with a bound edge |
| Weather | Wind goes through, rain soaks in | Windproof and waterproof shell |
| Color | Black, charcoal or navy | Sixteen ways, including the cheerful ones |
| Sizing | Priced up in the larger sizes | S through 3XL, one price |
I refuse to sell a woman warmth on the condition that she disappears into it. That is the whole reason the Lily is in the shop.
Why we’re clearing it now
The Lily came in at $169.95, which is what a jacket costs when the shell, the fill and the finishing are all done properly rather than one of the three. But this year the boutique turns twenty, and my daughter Pearl now works beside me — which is not something I let myself expect when I started. We wanted to give something back to the women who have kept our doors open since 2006.
If twenty years in this shop has taught me anything, it is that a woman who finally buys the blue one does not go back to the black one. That is the quiet bet I am placing in writing to you at $69.95.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$169.95$69.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 59%
- A lined, shaped hood — on nine of the colors
- A windproof and waterproof shell
- Light enough to keep on indoors
- Fine quilting that sits close to the body
- Zip front, with pockets at the hip
- Sixteen ways to have it — hood or stand-up collar
- Sizes S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL · one price throughout
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every color and size the same price · while sizes last
I have stood beside this rail more times than I can count and watched the same thing happen. She goes to the black one first. Her hand is already on it before she has thought about it.
Then she looks along the rail at the blue, and there is a pause, and in that pause she is deciding whether a woman of her age is allowed to want it.
She is. Go and pick your color.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE LILY — $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.