A Letter From Vivian: The Clara
A letter from the founder
Almost everything in your closet was bought for a life with no free Tuesdays in it.
On the six things that made me choose the Clara, 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.
Look along the rail in your own closet and you can date every decision on it.
The good clothes were bought for work, or for other people's occasions. They are structured and they are slightly uncomfortable and they were never meant for a whole day. The comfortable clothes were bought for the house, for the hours nobody was going to see, and they look it.
Between those two is a gap, and for most of your life there was nothing in it, because there was nothing to put in it. The day was spoken for. Work, or the children, or somebody who needed looking after, and the calendar decided what you wore before you got to it.
And then, somewhere in the last few years, a Tuesday came along with nothing written on it. You and your husband looked at each other over breakfast and drove an hour to go and see something, and then had lunch, and came home when you felt like it.
That day is new. Nothing you own was bought for it.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Clara is my answer, and I will tell you the truth about the design straight away: there is a van on the front of it, on a road, with the sun going down behind the pines. That was not an accident. There were six things I would not do without.
There is a van on it, and it is going somewhere
Most colourful clothing is decoration — a pattern, a repeat, something pretty with nothing behind it. This is a picture of a day out. A van on a road, pines either side, and a great sun quilted in rings going down behind them. Every line of it is stitched rather than printed, so the swirls in the sky and the curls in the road stand up off the surface and you can run a thumb across them. I did not choose a scene like this by accident and I am not going to pretend I did. It is a picture of going somewhere, for women who have finally got the time to go.
“Wore this to my pottery class with jeans. Comfortable to move around in, and the patchwork print feels very much like something I'd pick. I've always liked a little color.”
Gwen L., AshevilleThe pattern does the work, so nothing else has to
This is the practical reason a garment like this earns its hook by the door. There is so much going on in it that everything else can stop trying: plain trousers, whatever shoes are nearest, and if you want them, a pair of small earrings. That is the whole outfit and it took no time at all. A quiet top asks you to build something around it. This one has already decided, and on a morning when you would rather be thinking about where you are going than what you are wearing, that turns out to be worth a great deal.
“The pattern does most of the work. I just add plain pants and small earrings. Really pleased with it.”
Doreen M., LancasterCut for sitting in a car, and then walking about afterwards
Those are two different jobs and most clothes only do one. An hour in a passenger seat asks for room through the middle and no waistband opinion whatsoever. The walk around afterwards asks for something that still looks like you made a choice this morning. The Clara is cut relaxed and falls from the shoulder rather than sitting on the body, so nothing pulls when you sit and nothing has to be tugged back into place when you stand up out of the car.
“My husband and I take little day trips now that we're both retired. I wore the Clara on our last one and was comfortable sitting in the car and walking around afterward. Nothing pulling across my middle. It was nice to feel casually dressed but still look like I'd made an effort.”
Annette R., SalemA pouch for both hands, and a hood for when the air changes
One pouch across the front rather than two separate slits at the hip, so both hands go in together — which is warmer, and is where your hands want to be when you have stopped walking and are standing still looking at something. And the hood has a drawstring and enough room to actually go up. The use for it is not the storm. It is the twenty minutes at the end of an afternoon when the air turns and you would otherwise have to go inside.
“Took my book out to the patio yesterday and ended up putting the hood up when the air got chilly. Stayed out for another chapter. A cozy little addition to my closet.”
Ruth B., CharlottesvilleSoft, warm, and generously cut — all three, which is rarer than it sounds
Warm usually means thick, and thick means you feel it on your shoulders by four in the afternoon. Quilting gets round that, because it is the air held between the layers that keeps you warm rather than the bulk of the cloth. So it is a warm garment that you forget you are carrying. And it is cut with genuine room in it — not a fitted shape with a little ease added as an apology, but properly generous, which is what makes it the one you keep on all day rather than the one you admire and then take off.
“Soft, warm, and generously cut. Just what I wanted for slow mornings around the house.”
Phyllis K., DaytonNine sizes, and the only test that actually matters
It runs XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL — nine sizes, every one of them at the same price. I have never been able to explain why so many shops stop at large and then wonder aloud who stopped coming in. But sizing is not the test. The test is the one a customer put better than I ever have, and it is the only number I actually care about: not whether a thing is liked, but whether it gets worn.
“I tend to buy things that look nice and then wear the same comfortable tops anyway. This one actually gets worn. The fabric feels soft, and I like having a bit of extra room instead of a fitted shape.”
Cindy W., Tulsa“Bought one for myself, then ordered another for my sister's birthday. We have similar taste, and she noticed mine during a video call. The colorful patchwork is what appealed to both of us. I'll have to remember to ask what she's wearing before our next family get-together!”
Jill S., Cedar RapidsThe Clara, against the one you reach for now
| The usual comfortable top | The Clara | |
|---|---|---|
| The front | A logo, or nothing at all | A van, a road, and the sun going down |
| Warmth | Warm because it is thick | Quilting that holds air, so you forget it |
| Sitting down | Pulls across the middle | Falls from the shoulder, room where you need it |
| Pockets | None, or two slits, one hand each | A pouch that takes both together |
| Getting dressed | You build an outfit around it | It has already decided |
| 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 Clara is in the store.
Why we’re clearing it now
The Clara hangs at $299.95 on the rail. Quilting a whole garment this way is slow work and there is no clever way around it, which is what the number is paying for. 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 Clara is going out at a fifth of that.
I will give you the honest reasoning too. This is not the piece you wear to the one wedding. It is the one that goes on for the drive, and is still on at the café, and is still on in the car coming home in the dark. If it turns out to be that, then $59.95 was never the point.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$299.95$59.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 80%
- A quilted scene — a van on a road, pines, and the sun going down
- Stitched rather than printed, so the lines stand off the surface
- Warm because the quilting holds air, not because it is thick
- A drawstring hood with room to actually put up
- A front pouch that takes both hands together
- Relaxed and generously cut, falling from the shoulder
- 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 have stopped asking a woman whether she likes something. Everybody likes it in the store. The store is warm, the light is kind, and nobody in here has anywhere to be.
The only question worth anything is what happens on a Tuesday in November, when nothing at all is written down, and she is standing in front of the closet at eight in the morning deciding what sort of day it is going to be.
That is the reach I am trying to win. Not the purchase. The reach.
Go find your size.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE CLARA — $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.