A Letter From Vivian: The Rhealyn
A letter from the founder
The jacket you wear most is the one you thought about least — and it is the one people picture when they picture you.
On the six things that made me choose the Rhealyn, how it compares to the jacket hanging by your door, and why it is $64.95 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.
The place I watch that break down is not the good dress, and it is not the winter coat. It is the layer she actually puts on — the one that hangs by the door and goes out to the car forty times a week.
There are two of those and you own both. There is the zip-up gone soft and brownish at the cuffs, which is warm and comfortable and looks like nothing at all, so she wears it to the grocery store and takes it off in the parking lot if she sees somebody she knows. And there is the good one, which is stiff through the shoulders and cold at the neck and carries a dry-clean-only label she read once and has ignored for four years. It stays on its hanger, waiting for an occasion that keeps not arriving.
They have been hanging four feet apart for years. Every morning she does the arithmetic and takes the soft one, because at least the soft one does not punish her. And then she is comfortable, and invisible, and a little annoyed about it.
Which would matter less if it were not the thing she wears most. But it is. So it is also the thing people picture when they picture her.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Rhealyn is my answer. It is a quilted jacket with a sunburst running the whole width of the front, in oranges, purples and greens, and it closes properly, top to bottom. There were six things I would not do without.
It zips, so the decision stays with you at the door
A pullover asks you to know, at seven in the morning, how warm you will want to be at two in the afternoon. It makes that decision for you in the closet. This one leaves it with you at the door, and then leaves it with you again at every door after that — open in the car, closed in the car park, open again once you are inside. And when the wind comes up you are not holding it shut with one hand, because the other hand already has the bag in it.
“So glad this has a zipper. I can leave it open in the car and zip it up when I get out. Much more convenient for me than a pullover.”
Darlene H., TacomaA picture across the front, not a pattern repeated
The sun sits up on one shoulder and the rays run all the way down and across, so this is a picture rather than a repeat, and it carries on over the sleeves instead of stopping at the side seam. The panels are pieced and quilt-stitched, which is the part that does not survive being faked: print a photograph of a quilt onto flat cloth and from six feet away it passes, but up close it never does. And here is the thing I did not expect when I first put one on the rail — it is the loudest garment in the store and the easiest one to place over what you already own. Those two facts turn out to be the same fact.
“The orange and purple together caught my eye right away. I wear a lot of plain tops, and this makes them a little more interesting. Especially pretty with dark jeans.”
Yvonne M., Columbus“That mix of green, purple, and orange is lovely. I put it over a plain cream top and didn't need to think about the outfit any further.”
Lorna C., EugeneCotton-modal, quilted through
This is the part nobody thinks to ask about and the reason it does not read as sloppy. Modal is what makes cotton fall against a woman instead of standing away from her, and it is what keeps a quilted piece from feeling like a coat she is carrying around. Quilted through, it keeps just enough structure to hold a line at the shoulder. Soft and shapeless are not the same thing, and almost every casual jacket on the market confuses them.
“Soft fabric with a bit of shape to it. Doesn't feel sloppy on me, which is sometimes my complaint with casual hoodies.”
Cheryl B., LincolnA lined hood, and two pockets set into the side
Most hoods on a jacket like this are a flat flap left unlined, and you find that out on the first cold morning. This one is lined, which makes it worth putting up — on a breezy walk that started out calmer than it finished, and on the days you did not do much with your hair and would rather not discuss it. And the pockets are set into the side and are real. A jacket with real pockets is the one that gets taken on the short walk, and the short walk is most of what a jacket is actually for.
“Bought this for the mornings when I want an extra layer while taking the dog out. The lined hood is a nice touch when it's breezy. It's also pretty enough that I've been wearing it for errands afterward. I appreciate clothes that fit into an ordinary day like that.”
Miriam S., Asheville“I wore the Rhealyn to a little outdoor craft fair last weekend. The sunburst pattern felt very much at home there! Comfortable to walk around in, and I used the side pockets for my keys. My friend asked for the name before we'd even finished our coffee.”
Suzanne P., ChattanoogaHip length, with room through the middle even zipped
Two decisions that have to be right together. It stops at the hip, so it covers without turning into a long coat — which is what you want from the thing you put on over a simple shirt to go out for an hour. And it is cut with genuine room through the middle, so it closes all the way without gripping, and you can sit down in it zipped. A jacket that only works open is a jacket that works on half the days.
“The hip length works well for me. I wanted something to wear over a simple shirt that wouldn't feel like a long coat. There's room through the middle, even zipped, and I can sit comfortably in it. Very happy with that.”
Joann R., PittsburghNine 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, which means the only thing left to decide is whether you want it. I have never understood a shop that stops at large and then wonders why half the town buys elsewhere. And I would rather tell you the care here than let you find it on a label: it goes in the machine on a cool wash, it never goes to the dry cleaner, and then it wants to be hung up rather than tumbled. Quilting and a tumble dryer are not friends. That is the arrangement that keeps a jacket at the front of the closet instead of being quietly retired to around-the-house wear by November.
The Rhealyn, against the jacket by your door
| The usual everyday jacket | The Rhealyn | |
|---|---|---|
| The front | Plain, so it disappears | A sunburst the whole width of it |
| When you wear it | Saved for an occasion | An ordinary Tuesday |
| Closing | Held shut with one hand, or left open | A full zip — open or closed, your call |
| Fabric | Fleece, or a stiff shell | Cotton-modal, quilted through |
| Pockets | Shallow, so you carry a bag | Two, set into the side |
| Sizing | Stops at XL, if you are lucky | XS through 5XL, one price |
I refuse to sell a woman something that asks her to look tired in order to be comfortable. That is the whole reason the Rhealyn is in the store.
Why we’re clearing it now
The Rhealyn hangs at $329.95 on the rail. Piecing and quilting a whole garment panel by panel takes as long as it takes and there is no clever way round 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 in 2006 I would not have dared to plan on. We wanted to mark it by handing something back to the women who kept our door open, so the Rhealyn 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 ends up on the hook by the door and goes out to the car forty times a week. If it turns out to be that, then $64.95 was never the point.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,524+ reviews
$329.95$64.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 80%
- A pieced sunburst in oranges, purples and greens, the whole width of the front
- A full-length zip — worn open or closed
- Cotton-modal, quilted through
- A lined hood
- Two pockets set into the side
- Hip length, with room through the middle even zipped
- Machine wash cool · never dry clean · 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 the everyday jacket is the one purchase I can predict. A woman holds it up, looks at all that colour, and tells me she is not sure she could carry it off.
She is not deciding whether she likes it. She settled that from the other side of the room.
She is deciding whether she is still allowed to.
Then she puts it on over the plain top she walked in wearing, and she stops asking me — because she has already stopped looking at the jacket and started looking at herself in it.
You are allowed. Go and find your size.
— Vivian · Vivian & Pearl Newport
SEE THE RHEALYN — $64.95 →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.