Real stories · Soft as a shirt, smart as a jacket

It can't quite decide whether it's a shirt or a jacket — which turns out to be exactly what my wardrobe was missing

Soft as a shirt, smart as a jacket — I didn't know that was the thing I'd been looking for until it arrived. I'm 67, and my jackets fall into two camps: the proper ones that are stiff at the shoulders and feel like being sent to a meeting, and the comfy ones that are basically cardigans and look it. Neither is what you want for the everyday in-between: the market, the school run, coffee, the garden centre.

What I wanted was one easy layer I could throw on over anything without thinking, that still read as 'dressed'.

Then I found the Lorvianne from a British label called York Boutique — an everyday shirt-jacket, and I chose the soft sky blue, which goes with practically everything I own.

The trick is that it's cut like a jacket but behaves like a shirt. The fabric is a soft, breathable blend with none of the stiffness of a proper coat, which is why my shoulders forget it's there by mid-morning — but the button front, the two chest pockets and the neat collar make it read as deliberate rather than thrown-on. The relaxed cut goes over a t-shirt, a blouse or a whole jumper without pulling, and the softly frayed hem keeps it casual in the way my granddaughter approvingly calls 'current'. Light enough for now, roomy enough for layers when the weather turns.

Soft enough to forget I'm wearing it, structured enough to count as dressed — over a t-shirt it's an outfit, over a jumper it's a jacket, and it has been on my shoulders every single day since it arrived.

It went straight onto the most-used hook by the door and hasn't really left my shoulders since: the market on Saturday, two dog walks a day with Winnie, coffee with the girls where Sandra asked to try it on and then wouldn't take it off. It comes in fifteen colours — fifteen! — and I'm already eyeing the sage green.

I'll be honest: at £39.95 I paused. Then Malcolm pointed out I'd worn it every single day since it arrived, which rather ended the discussion. It's half the usual £80, and I'd checked before ordering that I could send it back if it didn't suit — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free. Sizes run UK 8/10 to 16/18.

If your jackets also split into 'stiff' and 'shapeless', do treat yourself to a look. The Lorvianne is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 380 women, it's £39.95 in the sale instead of £80 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.