Real stories · The hoodie that went to finishing school

I thought hoodies were for teenagers — then I found one with raised flowers and a scalloped hem that reads as 'pretty', not 'borrowed'

A top as comfortable as a hoodie that doesn't look like I borrowed it from a grandson — that's the discovery I didn't see coming. I'm 67, and I'd quietly written hoodies off as teenager-wear: wonderfully comfortable, completely wrong on me. Meanwhile my 'presentable' tops all involve some small discomfort — a waistband, a fitted seam, an ironing board.

What I wanted, without knowing it existed, was hoodie comfort that had made an effort.

Then I found the Melvarine from a British label called York Boutique — a floral hoodie, and I chose the soft lilac, which is a properly pretty colour rather than a sporty one.

The details are what change everything. The front and sleeves carry delicate raised flowers — soft, textured, clearly 'made' rather than flat — and the hem finishes in a scalloped edge like a nice blouse, so the whole thing reads as a pretty top that happens to have a hood. The fit is relaxed but shaped, the fabric is soft and breathable, and it goes on over anything: jeans for the café, leggings for the sofa, and the hood is there for the garden when the wind picks up.

Hoodie-soft and hoodie-easy, but the raised flowers and the scalloped hem make it read as a pretty top that happens to have a hood — comfortable enough for the sofa, lovely enough for the café.

It has become the top I wear most: breakfast in it, the school run in it, coffee with the girls in it — and nobody has once looked at me as though I'd raided a teenager's wardrobe. Barbara inspected the flowers at close range and asked if it was 'from a boutique'. It was, I said. Mine.

It was £29.95 in the sale, half the usual £60. I'd checked before ordering that I could send it back if the fit was off — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — so there was nothing lost by trying. It comes in five colours and in sizes UK 8/10 all the way to 22/24.

If you also secretly envy the comfort of a hoodie but refuse the look of one, do treat yourself to a look. The Melvarine is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 240 women, it's £29.95 in the sale instead of £60 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.