Real stories · Room for the jumper underneath

Every jacket I own declares war on my thickest jumper — this one has room to spare

My coat and my thickest jumper finally get along — and it only took forty years. I'm 67, and every winter my wardrobe stages the same standoff: the big cosy jumper OR the jacket, never both, because together they turn me into an overstuffed sofa with arms that won't lower.

What I wanted was a jacket that expected a jumper underneath.

Then I found the Loravielle from a British label called York Boutique — a deep-plush oversized jacket in soft taupe with a wide collar and pockets, cut generously on purpose. I chose the taupe-coffee; there's a paler beige as well.

The room is the whole point. It's sized for layering, so my chunkiest jumper disappears underneath with space to spare — which is why the deepest-winter combination finally works: arms that move, no wrestling at the shoulders, no sausage effect. And for all that plush, it's genuinely light — insulating without the weight — with a wide collar that stands in for a scarf on the school run.

Cut generously on purpose, so the thickest jumper in the house fits underneath with room to spare — and light enough that the whole arrangement never feels like armour.

I'll be honest: £64.95 is serious money, even at half the usual £130. Then I did the layering arithmetic — it replaces the too-small jacket AND the coat I bought a size up to fit jumpers under, and it will work every cold day from now to March. I checked the fortnight-and-free-delivery business anyway. Academic.

It has since done a week of school runs, two frosty market mornings and one long walk along the river wearing my thickest jumper underneath throughout — a sentence I have never before been able to write. Malcolm patted my arm and said I felt 'like a very expensive bear'. I'm having it on a cushion.

If your coat and your jumpers are also at war, do have a look. The Loravielle is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 180 women, it comes in taupe-coffee and beige, in UK sizes 8/10 to 14/16 — and at half price it goes quickly.