A letter from a reader
I stood in the hallway in my coat, nearly texted Carol to say I couldn't make it. Then I tried this instead.
What changed my mind about a lightweight quilted jacket I was sure would look like exactly what it cost, written by a customer, not the shop.
Carol turns seventy this month, and we have known each other since our children were small enough to still hold hands crossing the road. I had the lunch in my diary for weeks. On the morning itself I stood in the hallway in my good coat, the heavy wool one, far too warm for a mild October day and far too formal for a pub lunch with an old friend, and I very nearly texted to say I wasn't feeling up to it. That wasn't true. What was true is that I looked in the hall mirror and didn't quite recognise the slightly tired woman looking back.
My cardigans are too thin for the walk there. My coat is too much for the warmth once you're inside. It turns out I own almost nothing for the bit in between, and on that particular morning the bit in between mattered more than I expected it to.
My daughter had sent me a link to the Margot a fortnight earlier, which I looked at for about four seconds and closed. A quilted jacket, under forty pounds, I assumed I knew exactly what that would look like. I was wrong about enough of it that I'm now writing this.
The quilting didn't look like forty pounds
I have bought a cheap quilted jacket before, the kind that goes shiny and slightly crinkled within a month, with stitching that wanders. I looked closely at the Margot before I ever put it on, because I didn't want a repeat. The diamond quilting is even, properly finished, and it sits flat rather than puffing up in odd places. It doesn't look like what it cost. I will say that plainly, because I was fully prepared for it to.
"I was sceptical at this price too. It doesn't look it at all: the stitching is neat and it sits beautifully."
It went over my thickest jumper without a fight
Most of my jackets are cut for a blouse underneath, not a proper winter jumper. The Margot isn't. I tried it over my heaviest cable knit, fully expecting to get stuck halfway into a sleeve, and it simply allowed for it. Nothing pulled across the shoulders, nothing strained at the buttons. That's a small thing until you've stood in a hallway fighting with a sleeve, in which case it isn't small at all.
Carol said I looked well before she'd even said hello. From her, at her own seventieth, with her own family fussing over her, that meant rather more than it should have.
Warm at half eight, light enough to carry by lunchtime
October mornings in Harrogate want a proper layer, and by the time you're walking back to the car at half past one the same coat is too much. I left the house at half eight warm enough, and by lunchtime, sitting in a warm pub with the jacket over the back of my chair, I was glad it was light enough to simply carry rather than something I was peeling off and wondering where to put.
See The Margot Jacket60% off ยท Free UK delivery ยท 30 day returns"Perfect for October: warm enough on the walk there, never stifling once I'm actually inside somewhere."
The collar I almost didn't need, until I did
Walking back to the car the wind picked up rather suddenly, the way it does here without warning. I did up the top button and turned the collar up, and it did exactly what a collar is meant to do, which is rather more than I can say for some of the coats I've owned that simply flap about at the neck regardless.
It arrived looking exactly like the photograph
I have ordered enough things online to have learned to expect a slightly sadder version of the picture. The Margot didn't do that. Same khaki, same quilting, same shape, straight out of the box. Free UK delivery, and thirty days to send it back if it hadn't been, though I've had no reason to.
"Arrived two days after ordering, exactly as pictured. Already thinking about the navy for my sister."
A friend from my book group has since asked where it was from, twice. I've started simply telling people before they ask.
Khaki
Blue Navy
Black
Beige
The Margot, against what was already in my hallway
I'm aware that writing a proper letter about a jacket is a particular thing to do. The honest reason is that the hallway mirror moment felt significant before I solved it, and I solved it with something that also got me a compliment from a woman having her own seventieth birthday. That seems worth a few paragraphs.
What I already owned
- A heavy wool coat, too warm indoors, too formal for lunch
- Cardigans too thin for the walk there
- Nothing for the bit in between
- A collar that flaps rather than closes
The Margot
- Light enough to carry, warm enough to need
- Goes over a proper winter jumper without a fight
- Even, considered quilting that doesn't look cheap
- A stand collar that actually does its job
- 60% off, six colours, free UK delivery
About the price, honestly
When something is sixty percent off, my first thought is always that the original price was invented somewhere along the way. I can't tell you that isn't the case, because I don't work at Abbey Lane. What I can tell you is that ยฃ39.95 feels like a fair price for what arrived, and that I'd pay it again without hesitating. The offer is why I finally clicked the link my daughter sent. The jacket itself is why I'm telling you about it now.
Anne Whitaker
Margot Lightweight Quilted Jacket
60% OFF- Diamond lattice quilting, buttoned stand collar
- Lightly padded, hip length, easy layering shape
- Six colours: Khaki, Beige, Red, Blue Navy, Black, Light Blue
- UK 8 to UK 22
- ยฃ39.95, down from ยฃ100.00
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
About the writer. Anne Whitaker is a customer from Harrogate, West Yorkshire. This page is an advertisement for Abbey Lane ยท Free UK delivery ยท 30 day returns.