Real stories · The suit with the drawstring secret

A proper suit that's secretly as comfortable as joggers — the drawstring waist changed everything

The suit with the drawstring secret — that's what I call this one, quietly, to myself. I'm 67, and 'smart' has always come at a cost: proper trousers with proper waistbands that dig in by the main course, jackets that need everything else to behave. So for years I've done what most of us do — saved smart for when it's compulsory, and lived slightly scruffier than I'd like.

What I wanted was to look properly put-together — without paying for it at the waistband all day.

Then I found the Auralithen from a British label called York Boutique — a two-piece women's suit, and I chose the soft blue, which is smart without being severe.

The secret is in the trousers. The blazer does all the tailoring where people can see — a proper lapel, a clean line, everything a jacket should do — while the matching trousers have a soft elasticated waist with a drawstring, which is why I can sit through a three-course lunch, a long drive or an entire afternoon without a waistband digging in once. And because it's two pieces, it's really four outfits: the suit together for occasions, the blazer over jeans, the trousers with a jumper. It's lightweight, comfortable all day, and nobody suspects a thing.

The blazer does all the tailoring where people can see — while under it the trousers have a soft drawstring waist, which is why you can sit through a three-course lunch without a waistband digging in once.

I'll be honest — I paused at the price for a day. Then I counted the outfits it replaces and ordered it, having checked I could send it back if the trousers looked like joggers in real life, which you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free. They don't, for the record. They look like the smart half of a suit.

It has since done a lunch with my daughter, a parish council meeting and one long drive to the coast, and at the lunch my friend Sandra leaned in and asked, in a whisper, whether it was 'terribly expensive'. It was £44.95 in the sale — half the usual £90 — but I let the question hang a moment first, which I feel I'd earned.

If your 'smart' also comes at a waistband cost, do treat yourself to a look. The Auralithen is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 250 women, it comes in seven colours and sizes S to 3XL, it's £44.95 in the sale instead of £90 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.