A Letter From Tracy: The Rosalie
A letter from a customer
I have said “I love it, but I would never wear it enough” about four different coats. Then I found one that turns inside out.
What I noticed about the Rosalie after a month of wearing it, how it compares to the dark coats I kept replacing, and the one thing I would want to know before ordering.
I own four black coats. Not on purpose — nobody sets out to own four black coats. They accumulate, one every few winters, each one bought after I picked up something better and put it back.
And I know exactly why I put them back, because I have said the sentence out loud in a shop more than once. I love it, but I would never wear it enough.
Which was never really about the coat. It was that I did not want to be the woman in the pink coat on a wet Tuesday in February, going to the pharmacy, on four hours of sleep. Some mornings I would like to be looked at. Most mornings I would rather just get where I am going.
So I bought the dark one. Again. And the dark one is perfectly fine, and it is also the fourth, and not once in twenty years has anybody said anything to me about a coat.
The advice you get is to buy two, one bright and one plain, which is easy to say if you have eight hundred dollars sitting around for a mood.
The Rosalie turns inside out. Confetti on one side, gray fleece on the other, one zipper, one coat. I decide at the door and I am allowed to change my mind tomorrow. Here are the six things I noticed once I had worn it a while.
It is two coats, and you pick on the doorstep
Worn one way it is hand-drawn confetti — neon dots scattered across hot pink, and it does not apologize for itself. Turn it inside out and it is a plain gray fleece jacket, and nobody would guess the other side is in there. I thought that would be a novelty I used twice. It is not. It is the reason I stopped having the argument with myself in the hallway, because I am no longer deciding in a shop in September who I am going to be until March. I decide on the step, with my hand on the door.
“I bought this for the pink side, but I’ve been wearing the gray side quite a bit too. Nice to have a quieter option without needing another jacket. The little colorful dots still make me smile, though.”
Darla M., Columbus“Took this on a weekend visit to my daughter’s. Wore the colorful side for an afternoon out, then reversed it to gray the next morning with a patterned top. I hadn’t expected to use both sides on the same trip, but it was handy.”
Bernadette W., TulsaThe quilting runs up and down, so it does not go round
This is the thing I would not have known to look for, and it is why most quilted jackets went straight back on the hanger for me. Quilt a coat in squares and it puffs out in every direction — you put it on, look in the mirror, and see a barrel. This one is quilted in straight vertical channels. The same warmth, because the filling is doing the same work, but the lines run up and down and so does the eye. It holds a shape instead of inflating into one, which at my age is most of what I am asking of a winter coat.
“I like the straight quilting lines. It gives the jacket some shape without that round, puffy look I was trying to avoid. Looks nice with my plain black pants.”
Carole H., MadisonThe armholes are cut for a sweater, not just the body
Two different measurements, and I have been caught by the second one plenty of times. A coat is roomy enough through the middle, so you buy it, and then the first cold morning you put a thick sweater on underneath and it grips under the arms and pulls across your back every time you reach for the seatbelt. This one is cut relaxed across the shoulders and generous under the arm. The sweater goes on first and the coat still closes over it, which is the entire job of a winter coat and a surprising number of them cannot do it.
“Room for a sweater without feeling tight under my arms. That’s what I was hoping for. Very happy with this one.”
Joelle K., SpokaneThe hood has room in it, and the same fleece inside
Three things, and I have owned coats that got one of them right. It is lined in the same gray fleece as the reverse side, so putting it up is actually warm rather than just out of the wind. It is cut roomy, so it goes over hair I have already done instead of flattening it, which is not vanity when you have paid for a set on a Thursday. And there is a drawstring, so when the evening turns I pull it closer with one hand instead of holding it shut the whole way down the street.
“The gray fleece side feels cozy, and the hood has plenty of room. I’ve been wearing mine on our evening walks and pulling the drawstring a little closer when it gets breezy.”
Alma S., EugeneDeep pockets, and a zipper pull you can actually grab
The pockets are set into the sides and they are properly deep — my phone, my keys and my reading glasses at the same time, which is everything I take on a short errand. And the zipper has a big chunky pull on it. That sounds like nothing until it is February and your hands are cold and you are standing on the porch trying to pinch a tab the size of a postage stamp. I have given up and walked to the car holding a coat shut more times than I want to admit, and it was always that one small piece of hardware.
“The zipper pull is a good size. I don’t have to hunt around for a tiny tab when I’m heading out the door. Between that and the deep pockets, this is a pretty practical jacket underneath all that pink.”
Mavis R., LancasterThere are four of them, and the pink is brighter than it looks on a screen
Here is the one thing I would want somebody to tell me, so I am telling you: the confetti is bright. Brighter in the hallway than it looked on my laptop. I happen to want that and it is the whole reason I bought it, but do not order it expecting dusty rose. And if that is not you, it is not the only one — there is Midnight Gold, which is navy with fine gold lines, Mystic Eyes, and Tribal Ember. All four reverse to the same gray fleece. Eight sizes, XS through 4XL, every colorway the same price, and it goes in the washing machine, which for a coat I wear all winter mattered more than I expected.
“I turned 65 this year and decided I was finished buying only dark coats. Ordered the hot pink confetti one and wore it to breakfast with friends. One of them said she spotted me through the window before I even came inside. I’ll take that!”
Nadine B., AshevilleThe Rosalie, against the dark coats I kept replacing
| The dark coats I kept buying | The Rosalie | |
|---|---|---|
| The front | Black, navy, or a darker black | Confetti on hot pink — or gray, turned round |
| Sides | One, and you live with it | Two, and you pick on the doorstep |
| Shape | Quilted in squares, so it goes round | Vertical channels that hold a line |
| Layering | Roomy body, tight armhole | Relaxed shoulders, generous armholes |
| Hood | None, or thin and unlined | Roomy, fleece-lined, drawstring |
| The zipper | A tab you cannot find with cold hands | A chunky pull |
| Sizing | Stops at XL, if you are lucky | XS through 4XL, one price |
I am finished buying a coat that makes me decide in September who I am going to be until March. That turned out to be the whole thing I was looking for.
Who makes it, and why it is this price
It comes from a boutique in Newport called Vivian & Pearl. Vivian opened it twenty years ago on one idea — that a woman should not have to choose between comfortable and beautiful — and her daughter Pearl is at the counter beside her now. A card comes by hand with every order, which I did not expect and which I have kept.
The list price on it is $399.95, and I can see why — a reversible coat is two finished outsides rather than one and a lining, so it is genuinely two garments’ worth of sewing. I still would not have paid it. I paid $99.95, because the store turns twenty this year and they are marking it by handing something back. That is the only reason I own this coat, and I am glad I happened to be looking when I was.
What I would say is this. A coat is the one thing you wear over everything else you own, so it is the piece people actually see, and you keep it for years. Mine has already outlasted two of the black ones in the hall closet, and I have not worn either of them since October.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$399.95$99.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 75%
- Fully reversible — hand-drawn confetti print one way, soft gray fleece the other
- Vertical channel quilting, for warmth without the barrel shape
- Relaxed shoulders and generous armholes, cut to go over a sweater
- A roomy hood lined in the same fleece, with a drawstring
- A full-length zipper with a chunky pull
- Deep side pockets — phone, keys and reading glasses at once
- Four colorways · XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL · every one the same price
- Machine washable
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every colorway and size the same price · while sizes last
I wore the gray side to the dentist last week, which is exactly the sort of morning I bought it for.
And then on Saturday I turned it round for lunch with my sister, and she spotted me crossing the parking lot before I had got anywhere near the door. Same coat. Same zipper. I had just changed my mind on the way out of the house, which is a thing I never used to be allowed to do.
If you have been putting the bright one back for years, go and pick which side you want first.
— Tracy
SEE THE ROSALIE — $99.95 →This is a personal account from a Vivian & Pearl Newport customer. Other customer reviews are quoted as written. · US family brand since 2006 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.