A Letter From Vivian: The Sunshine 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 store, how they compare to what you have been buying, and why every piece on the rail is 80% off 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 twenty-four pieces built on one refusal — that comfortable has to mean invisible. There were six things I looked for.
Patchwork that holds up to a close look
This is the first thing I check, because it is the first thing that gives a cheap piece away. From six feet off almost any bright pattern passes; up close most of them go flat. On the quilted pieces here — the Rhealyn, the Audrey, the Arlene, the Amelia among them — the stitching follows the panels and rings the sun, so the surface sits in low relief instead of lying flat. Where a piece is printed rather than quilted, like the Aurora or the Ava, the picture runs edge to edge, over the hood and down the sleeves, so it never stops at a seam. Either way, they survive being looked at closely.
“My Mira has become my Saturday morning favorite. Coffee, a little reading, then usually errands. Comfortable enough to keep on through all of it, and I enjoy the patchwork colors.”
Annette W., MadisonSoft, cozy and warm
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. If it is scratchy or thin, she has it off by lunch, and it goes back on the hook for good. So the question I asked of these was a simple one: would she want to keep it on? The hoodies and sweaters are soft against the skin and cozy the way a favorite blanket is, with long sleeves to the wrist and a hood to pull up when the wind gets in. The Rhealyn is soft cotton-modal, quilted through. And the Amanda, the Mira and the Amara are the warm ones, the pieces for a cold morning, the kind you put on first thing and are still wearing at dinner without having given it a thought.
“The Amanda is soft and comfortably loose around my middle. Wore it all Sunday and didn't change when we decided to go out for an early dinner. That's my kind of clothing.”
Christine D., BoiseTwenty-four 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, zip-up hoods, a half-zip, V-neck and henley sweaters, cardigans that button and cardigans that hang open, jackets, tunics and two ponchos. Same argument, different collars. She picks the one that suits how she actually spends a day.
“Bought Amanda and Rhealyn. I like a pullover for around the house, but having the zip-up option is handy when I'm going in and out. Both get worn with the same two pairs of jeans.”
Laura M., Rochester“Four pieces over two orders now: Amanda, Rhealyn, Alexandra and Alyssa. The Alyssa cardigan was for my sister, so technically only three are mine! We picked that one together over the phone. She's usually hard to buy for, so I was glad to have her choose.”
Gwen T., KnoxvilleCut 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. And every one of the twenty-four runs XS through 5XL, the jackets and ponchos included, so nobody falls in love with a piece and then finds it stops two sizes short at the size picker.
“Ordered Amara for myself and Amanda for my daughter. We tried them on together when she came over, and she wanted to trade. Told her she'd chosen hers and I was keeping mine! The relaxed fit on Amara is just what I wanted.”
Sheila R., 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.
“Really like the sunburst design on Rhealyn. I wear it unzipped over a plain navy shirt. The pockets are a welcome bonus.”
Leslie B., Fort WayneIt goes in the machine
I will not stock a piece a woman has to protect. These wash at home — in the machine at a low temperature, no dry cleaner, and left to air dry rather than tumbled. 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 started with Mira, then ordered Amara and the Alexandra cardigan a few weeks later. Three things for myself, which I haven't done in a while. I'm slowly replacing clothes I've been keeping just because they're there. Nice to open the closet and actually look forward to choosing something.”
Joanne K., RichmondThese, against what you have been buying
| The usual cheerful layer | These | |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern | A print that stops at the seams | Stitched on the quilted pieces, edge to edge on the prints |
| Feel | Thin, or scratchy by lunch | Soft, cozy and warm |
| Neck | A hood whether you wanted one or not | Hoods, zips, buttons, V-necks, open fronts |
| Care | Dry clean only, on a label she ignores | Machine washable, air dry |
| Sizes | Runs to XL, if you are lucky | XS to 5XL on every piece |
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 store.
Why we’re clearing them now
These hang between $299.95 and $549.95 on the rail, depending on the piece, which is what pieces finished this way go for: patchwork running across the whole body and down both sleeves, real stitching on the quilted pieces, and every one of them cut from XS through 5XL. I am not going to stand here and tell you that is a small amount of money. 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 piece on the rail is going out at a fifth of that.
And I would rather they went now than in December. This is the weight of layer that fall is for, and a piece bought in September gets a whole season of ordinary Tuesdays out of it instead of being discovered in the new year.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$299.95–$549.95From $59.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 80% on every piece
- Stitched on the quilted pieces, printed edge to edge on the rest
- Soft, cozy and warm
- Hoods, zips, buttons, V-necks, open fronts and ponchos
- Cut relaxed — XS to 5XL on every piece
- Machine washable · air dry, no tumble dryer, no dry cleaning
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every piece 80% off · 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 have a look at the rail, and pick the one you keep going back to.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE SUNSHINE COLLECTION — FROM $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.