A Letter From Vivian: The Amara
A letter from the founder
The hardest morning to get dressed for is the one with nothing in it.
On the six things that made me choose the Amara, how it compares to the one you reach for now, and why it is $59.95 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.
You would think the hard morning is the one with the lunch in it, or the appointment, or the daughter-in-law coming at four. It is not. Those mornings decide themselves.
The hard one is the Tuesday with nothing in it at all. Nobody is coming. Nowhere is expecting you. And on that morning a woman opens her closet and takes down whatever is nearest, because there is no reason not to — and over enough Tuesdays, something goes quietly out of her.
It is not vanity that is missing. It is the small daily pleasure of putting something on that she is glad to see in her hands, and there is no occasion coming along to supply it.
What is offered instead is a choice between two things. The comfortable one, which is grey and shapeless and has a logo on it. And the good one, which stays on its hanger waiting for a day that mostly never arrives.
Nobody makes the third thing: something as easy as the sweatshirt and worth looking at.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Amara is my answer. It is a quilt made into a hoodie — a sun coming up over hills with a field of flowers along the bottom — and the stitching in it is real. There were six things I would not do without.
The quilting is sewn, not printed on
This is the first thing I check and the thing most often faked. A great many cheerful sweatshirts are a flat photograph of a quilt printed onto fleece, and you know within a second of touching one. Here the stitching does the work. Channels are sewn along each band of colour, the sun is quilted in rings that stand proud of the surface, and every stitched line follows the shape it belongs to rather than running straight across the whole garment. That is also where the warmth comes from, because quilting holds air — which is how a thing can be warm without being thick.
“The patchwork is what caught my eye, but the softness is why I keep reaching for it.”
Celia R., OlympiaIt is one picture, not a pattern repeated
Almost all printed clothing is a tile: one motif repeated until it fills the shape, and it does not matter in the least where on the garment any part of it lands. The Amara is composed. The sun sits at the centre of the chest, the rays open outward across the shoulders and down the arms, the hills roll across the body beneath it, and the flowers gather along the hem and the cuffs, which is where a border belongs. There is a horizon in it. Somebody decided where everything goes, and that is a different object entirely from a repeat.
“I picked the Amara because of the patchwork design. Most of my casual clothes are solid colors, so this was a little departure for me. Turns out I really enjoy putting on something colorful, even if I'm only going to the grocery store.”
Bonnie C., RaleighWarm because it holds air, not because it is thick
This is the practical consequence of the quilting and it is worth saying on its own. Air trapped between the layers is what keeps you warm, so the Amara does its job at a weight you forget you are carrying. It is the right thing for the houses that are always a little cold — somebody else's sitting room in November, the church hall, the car before the heater catches up. You keep it on, which is the whole test.
“Brought this to our regular card game because my friend's house is always chilly. Stayed comfortable all afternoon and ended up leaving it on when I got home. The fabric feels nice, and there's nothing fussy about wearing it. That's pretty much what I want these days.”
Pauline S., AkronIt falls from the shoulder rather than sitting on the body
Cut relaxed on purpose. It hangs from the shoulder instead of resting on the middle, so there is room where a woman wants room and nothing to keep pulling away from herself. It goes on over a tee or a light sweater without dragging anywhere. I would rather a thing skim than cling, and at our age that is not modesty — it is simply more comfortable, and it looks better besides.
“Very comfortable through the middle. I like a loose pullover, and this gives me room without feeling like I have to keep pulling it away from my stomach.”
Wanda J., OmahaIt asks nothing else of you
There is nothing to fasten. It goes over your head and you are dressed — no zip to line up in the cold, no buttons, no decisions. And the hood is deep with a drawstring, so it is simply there on the morning the wind gets up rather than being something you had to plan for. All the interest is in the garment, so nothing underneath has to try: jeans and whatever shoes are by the door.
“This is my kind of casual top. Soft, roomy, and cheerful without needing much else. I wear it with jeans and my old sneakers.”
Gloria N., Indianapolis“Had coffee outside with my husband yesterday and put the hood up when it got breezy. Cozy and easy to wear. He even noticed the colors, which is saying something!”
Sharon V., RochesterNine sizes, and the one thing to know about washing it
It runs XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL — nine sizes, every one of them the same price. I have never been able to explain, to myself or to anybody else, why so many shops stop at large and then act puzzled about who stopped coming in. And I would rather tell you the care here than have you find it on a label: it goes in the machine on a cool wash, and then it wants to be hung up. Quilting and a tumble dryer are not friends. Air-dry it and it will look like this for years, which is the only reason I am making a point of it.
“I'm retired, but I still like getting dressed in the morning even when I have nowhere particular to go. This hoodie has been a nice addition to my everyday clothes. Easy to pull on, comfortably roomy, and the pattern makes it feel a bit more special.”
Anita L., LouisvilleThe Amara, against the one you reach for now
| The usual cold-morning sweatshirt | The Amara | |
|---|---|---|
| The front | A logo, or nothing at all | A sun over hills, composed as one picture |
| Warmth | Flat fleece, warm because it is thick | Sewn quilting that holds air |
| Shape | Boxy, or clinging at the middle | Falls from the shoulder, easy across |
| The hood | Shallow, and there for the look of it | Deep, with a drawstring |
| Putting it on | Two seconds, and no pleasure in it | Two seconds, and some |
| Sizing | Stops at XL, if you are lucky | XS through 5XL, one price |
I refuse to accept that the comfortable thing in a woman's closet has to be the dull one. That is the whole reason the Amara is in the store.
Why we’re clearing it now
The Amara hangs at $299.95 on the rail, and quilting a whole garment this way is slow work — that is what the number is. I am not going to stand here and pretend otherwise. 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 Amara is going out at a fifth of that.
I will give you the honest reasoning too. A woman who buys one cheerful thing after fifteen years of navy does not stop at one. She comes back in March for the next one. That is the bet, and I am glad to make it at $59.95.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$299.95$59.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 80%
- Sewn quilting — a sun over hills, composed as one picture
- Warm because it holds air, not because it is thick
- A deep hood with a drawstring
- Pulls straight on, with nothing to fasten
- Relaxed through the middle, falling from the shoulder
- Machine wash cool · do not tumble dry · air dry
- XS, 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 I will tell you which customer I think about most. She is not the one buying something for the wedding. She is the one who comes in on a wet Tuesday with nothing at all in her week.
She is not dressing for anybody. There is nobody to impress and nothing to be on time for.
Which is exactly why what she puts on that morning is the one decision all week she makes entirely for herself.
Go find your size.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE AMARA — $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.