Real stories · The jumper that counts as making an effort

Comfortable always looked like I'd given up — then I found the jumper that counts as 'dressed up'

The jumper that counts as making an effort — that's what I'd been missing without quite realising it. I'm 67, and for years 'making an effort' has meant some quiet discomfort: the blouse that needs ironing, the dress that needs tights, the waistband that needs sitting carefully. My comfortable clothes, meanwhile, all whisper 'she's given up'. Nothing in my wardrobe was both.

What I wanted was one thing I could pull on in ten seconds that would still read as dressed-up at a lunch.

Then I found the Selviannea from a British label called York Boutique — a floral jumper in cream with big blue flowers, and it does something my plain jumpers have never managed.

The dressing-up is knitted straight in. The flowers aren't printed on — they're worked into the knit, big and painterly across the front — and the sleeves are a lacy open knit, like fine crochet, which is why the whole thing reads as 'she chose this' rather than 'she was cold'. Underneath all that it's still just a soft, light jumper: the V-neck sits gently, the relaxed shape doesn't cling, and it's the light sort of warm that works from September right through spring.

The big woven flowers and the lacy open-knit sleeves do all the dressing up for me — it's still just a soft jumper, but nobody treats it like one.

Its first proper outing was a ladies' lunch for a friend's birthday — the kind where I'd normally be quietly managing a waistband — and I was comfortable the entire afternoon. Two of the girls asked about it at the table; one wanted the sleeves 'checked at close range' to see if they were crocheted by hand. I did check before ordering that I could send it back if it didn't suit — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — which made trying it painless.

I'll be honest, at £39.95 I paused. Then the lunch happened, and the two questions at the table happened, and I stopped pausing — it's doing the job of my 'occasion' clothes at a fraction of the fuss. It's half the usual £80, it comes in four colourways, and in sizes UK 8/10 to 14/16.

If your wardrobe also splits into 'comfortable' and 'presentable' with nothing in between, do treat yourself to a look. The Selviannea is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 250 women, it's £39.95 in the sale instead of £80 — half price — and with sizes only up to 14/16 it sells through quickly.