Real stories · The end of the pyjama trap

By four o'clock I still wasn't dressed — this set ended that

A set that makes getting dressed as comfortable as not getting dressed — that's what this turned out to be, and it ended a small winter shame of mine. I'm 67, and on the grey stay-at-home days the same thing kept happening: no reason to dress properly, so I didn't — and at four o'clock the doorbell would find me in the cardigan-over-pyjamas limbo, apologising on my own doorstep.

What I wanted was something as easy as pyjamas that counted, indisputably, as dressed.

Then I found the Overselle from a British label called York Boutique — an oversized two-piece: a relaxed collared shirt and matching wide trousers, soft and breathable. Mine is the navy; there are nine colours, and the sizes run from UK 8/10 all the way to 36/38.

The trick is that the two pieces match. Because they're cut as a set, the relaxed fit drapes and reads as an OUTFIT — which is why answering the door now takes no apology and no dash upstairs — while the oversized cut asks precisely nothing of me: nothing gripping, nothing riding up, soft enough for the sofa, decent enough for the shop on the corner.

Two soft pieces cut to match, so comfort reads as an outfit — which is why four o'clock now finds me dressed, and the doorbell has lost its power.

It was £34.95, half the usual £70 — about what the takeaway costs when a pyjama day swallows the cooking hours, and this earns its keep daily. I did check I could send it back if it didn't suit — a fortnight, free delivery — which settled it.

It has since done three weeks of ordinary winter days — sofa, shop, one surprise visit from the vicar's wife, who was received without a single apology — and when my daughter caught me in it on a video call she stopped mid-sentence: 'you look nice. Are you going somewhere?' No. That's the point.

If your grey days also end in the pyjama trap, do have a look. The Overselle is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 240 women, it comes in nine colours, in UK sizes 8/10 all the way to 36/38 — and at half price the navy goes first.