Real stories · The jumper that argues with January

Every winter my wardrobe turns grey by accident — this pale blue jumper is my quiet protest

The jumper that argues with January — that's what this one is. I'm 67, and every winter my wardrobe goes grey by accident. Nobody decides it; you just buy sensible colours one at a time, and by February you open the drawer and it looks like a filing cabinet. And here's the thing nobody tells you: grey next to a winter face doesn't help the face.

What I wanted was one properly cheering colour I could wear on an ordinary Tuesday.

Then I found the Elvessa from a British label called York Boutique — a soft half-zip jumper, and I chose the light blue with the tonal leaf embroidery across the front, which is the exact colour of a sky we won't see again until April.

The colour does the first job: that soft blue sits right up by the face, which is why it lifts a winter complexion the way grey never has — and the tonal leaves keep it interesting without shouting. The half-zip does the second job: it's a thermostat you wear. Zipped up with the collar standing for the cold walk with Winnie, zipped down the moment the kitchen warms up — no dragging a jumper over your head and undoing your hair four times a day. The ring pull is big enough for cold or fiddly fingers, and the ribbed cuffs keep the draughts out at the wrists.

The soft blue and the tonal leaves sit right up by the face, doing for a winter complexion what grey has never once done — and the half-zip is a thermostat you wear.

It's sweatshirt-soft rather than scratchy-wool, machine-friendly, and you can send it back within a fortnight with free delivery — so I ordered it on a grey Tuesday as an act of defiance.

It has since done every dog walk, two coffee mornings and a school pickup, and the checkout lady at the garden centre called it 'a lovely bit of colour', which in Yorkshire in winter is a standing ovation. It was £34.95 in the sale, half the usual £70.

If your drawer has also gone filing-cabinet grey, do have a look. The Elvessa is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 220 women, it comes in light blue, light purple, blushing pink and yellow, in sizes S all the way to 5XL — and at half price the cheerful colours go first.