A Letter From Vivian: The Sunflower Collection
A letter from the founder
Nobody dresses for an ordinary Tuesday. And most of a life is ordinary Tuesdays.
On the six things I looked for before these came into the shop, how they compare to what you have been buying, and why every hoodie and sweater on the rail is $59.95 for our twentieth year.
A customer wrote to me this spring and said something I have not been able to put down since. She is retired. She does not need dressy clothes very often anymore. But she still likes having something pretty to put on for an ordinary day.
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. What she was describing is the exact place that idea usually gets quietly abandoned.
Because by a certain age there are two wardrobes in most closets. There is the good half — kept for occasions, worn four times a year, some of it still in the dry cleaner’s plastic. And there is the everything-else half, which is what she actually lives in: soft, gray, unremarkable, chosen on the understanding that nobody is looking.
Then the occasions get rarer and the everything-else half gets bigger, and one day a woman notices she has spent years dressing for an audience that stopped turning up, while all the ordinary Tuesdays went by in a fleece.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
This is a rail of twelve pieces built on one refusal — that comfortable has to mean invisible. There were six things I looked for.
The quilting is stitched. It is not a picture of a quilt.
This is the first thing I check, because it is the first thing anybody fakes. Print a photograph of a quilt onto flat cloth and from six feet away it passes; up close it never does. Here the stitching is structural — rings sewn into the sun, long channels running out along each ray, and a surface that puckers and sits in low relief instead of lying flat. It is why these read as made things rather than as loud patterns, and it is why they survive being looked at closely.
“Wore my Mira yesterday for errands and then kept it on at home. Comfortable enough for both, and I really like the patchwork print. My daughter asked where I found it.”
Elaine B., MadisonCotton, quilted through
The quilted pieces are cotton, quilted the whole way through rather than face-only. I asked for cotton because a layer worn over everything is a layer that touches a woman all day — at the wrist, at the back of the neck, at the collarbone. Cotton takes a body’s warmth and gives it back without the static and the faint plastic feel a poly fleece has by the second hour, and quilting it through is what gives the thing loft and body so it holds a shape instead of clinging to whatever is underneath.
“The Amanda is soft and roomy through the middle, which I appreciate. Pretty colors, too. Very happy with this one.”
Janice R., KnoxvilleTwelve pieces, one idea — so she is not stuck with a hood
This was the part I was most careful about. A hood is wonderful in a wind and a nuisance under a seatbelt, and a woman who likes the artwork should not have to accept the hood to get it. So the rail runs across the whole idea: pullover hoods, one that zips top to bottom, knit sweaters with no hood at all, and a pair of turtlenecks for when the neck is the cold part. Same argument, different collars. She picks the one that suits how she actually spends a day.
“My first order was the Amanda hoodie. A week later I went back for the Mireille sweater because I wanted something without a hood as well. I’ve already worn both several times. I’m retired now and don’t need dressy clothes very often, but I still like having something pretty to put on for an ordinary day.”
Marilyn T., Fort CollinsCut relaxed on purpose, and sized properly
A relaxed cut is not a shortcut — it is a decision to fit the woman rather than ask the woman to fit it. These hang easy through the middle and give room without hanging off anybody like something borrowed. The quilted hoodies run XS through 5XL. The knit sweaters and turtlenecks stop a little sooner, most of them at 3XL or 4XL, and I would rather tell you that here than let you find it at the size picker.
“I wasn’t sure the Amanda would be too colorful for me. Most of my closet is navy or gray. Wore it to lunch with a friend and felt perfectly comfortable in it, not overdressed or like I was trying too hard. The relaxed fit helps. I’m glad I tried something different.”
Beverly S., LancasterEnough color that it goes with what is already in the closet
This sounds backwards, so let me explain it. A garment in one strong color has to be matched. A garment carrying orange, purple, green, blue and gold at once has already made its peace with everything — it sits over navy, over black, over khaki, over the same jeans she has worn all week. It is the loudest thing in the closet and the easiest to place, and those two facts are the same fact. That is also why a woman who has told herself she is not a color person tends to be fine in one of these the moment it is on.
“The autumn colors in the Mireille sweater are right up my alley. Just add jeans and I’m ready to go.”
Denise H., AshevilleIt goes in the machine
I will not stock a piece a woman has to protect. These wash at home — a gentle cycle in the machine, no dry cleaner, and hung to dry rather than tumbled, which is all quilting asks of anybody. The color holds, the quilting keeps its loft, and it takes no more thought than the fleece it is replacing. That is what keeps a thing at the front of the closet instead of quietly retired to around-the-house wear by November.
“I went back and forth between Amanda and Mira and finally ordered both. Apparently my closet needed a little color! I’ve been wearing them with the same jeans I always wear, but getting dressed feels a little less boring now.”
Deborah W., Grand RapidsThese, against what you have been buying
| The usual cheerful layer | These | |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern | A print laid flat on the cloth | Quilting sewn in, sitting in relief |
| Fabric | Poly fleece, static by hour two | Cotton, quilted through |
| Neck | A hood whether you wanted one or not | Hoods, a zip, plain knits, turtlenecks |
| Care | Dry clean only, on a label she ignores | Machine on gentle, hung to dry |
| Sizes | Runs to XL, if you are lucky | To 5XL on the quilted hoodies |
I refuse to sell a woman something that asks her to look tired in order to be comfortable. That is the whole reason this rail is in the shop.
Why we’re clearing them now
These came in between $164.95 and $199.95, depending on the piece, which is what quilted cotton made this way costs to make properly. But the boutique turns twenty this year, and my daughter Pearl works beside me now — which is not a thing I let myself expect when I started. We wanted to hand something back to the women who have kept our doors open since 2006, so every hoodie and sweater on the rail is going out at $59.95.
And I would rather they went now than in December. This is the weight of layer that fall is for, and there are only so many of each size in each piece. When they go they are gone, and I would rather they went onto women than back into the stockroom.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$164.95–$199.95$59.95
20th Anniversary Sale — every hoodie and sweater, $59.95
- Quilting that is stitched, not printed on
- Cotton, quilted the whole way through
- Hoods, a full zip, plain knits and turtlenecks
- Cut relaxed — to 5XL on the quilted hoodies
- Machine wash on gentle, hung to dry · no dry cleaning
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every hoodie and sweater the same price · while sizes last
I think often about that customer and her ordinary day. She was not asking for an occasion. She was asking for permission to bother, on a morning when nobody was coming over and nothing in particular was happening.
She did not need it from me. But if she did, she has it.
Go and have a look at the rail, and pick the one you keep going back to.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE SUNFLOWER COLLECTION — $59.95 →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.