A Letter From Michelle: The Amanda
A Letter From Michelle
Every warm thing she owns is gray. Not because she likes gray — because that is all anyone offered her.
On the six things that made me choose the Amanda, how it compares to what you have been buying, and why it is $59.95 for our twentieth year.
I am Michelle, and my husband and I opened this shop twenty years ago with one idea: that a woman should not have to choose between comfortable and beautiful.
The place that idea breaks down hardest is the cold morning. Forty degrees, you are going out for an hour, and you reach for something warm.
There are two kinds waiting for you and you already know both. There is the one built for comfort, and it looks it — gray, shapeless, fine for the yard and not fine for anywhere else. And there is the one that looks right, which is stiff through the shoulders and heavy on the arms, and which you are carrying over one elbow by two in the afternoon because you cannot sit down in it.
So every October a woman does the arithmetic and takes the gray one, because at least the gray one does not punish her. And then she is warm, and invisible, and a little annoyed about it.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Amanda is my answer. It is a cheerful patchwork-look print that brings every color to life, and it is cut as something you pull over your head at seven in the morning. There were six things I would not do without.
A patchwork-look print that brings every color to life
This is the thing I looked at first. A great many colorful layers carry a print that goes muddy the moment you look closely. Here the patchwork-look print is crisp and clear — you can follow the bands of color running out from the sun at the shoulder, every one of them easy to pick out. That is the reason the Amanda looks cheerful rather than busy.
The pattern carries all the way round to the back
Most patterned clothing spends its whole budget on the front, on the theory that nobody is looking at you as you leave. Turn this one around and the design keeps going: a second sun worked into the hood, with the rays fanning down across the shoulders and out to the hem. It matters more than it sounds. You are walking away from people at least half the time you are wearing it.
“The colors are even better in person. I wore it with plain jeans and had three people ask me about it that afternoon.”
Marilyn C., AshevilleA real hood, drawn with cords cut from the same cloth
A hood is either a piece of shaped, lined cloth that actually keeps the wind off your ears, or it is a flat flap sewn on so the garment can be called a hoodie. This one is the first kind, printed like the rest of it and lined in plain cream. And the drawstrings are cut from the patterned fabric rather than being the white cord everyone else buys by the yard — which is a small thing, and small things are how you tell.
“The hood is what makes this so useful on windy mornings. I can pull it up and skip carrying an extra scarf.”
Janice T., RaleighSleeves that go all the way to the wrist
I will not stock a warm layer with a three-quarter sleeve. The forearms are exactly where a woman feels the cold first and exactly where she would rather not be looked at, and a sleeve that stops short fails on both counts at once. These run the full length and gather at the cuff, so they stay put when you push them back to wash a dish.
“The sleeves give me the coverage I want, and the loose shape feels comfortable over a tee or lightweight sweater.”
Susan H., NewportCut relaxed on purpose — XS through 5XL, one price
A relaxed cut is not a shortcut. It is a decision to fit the woman rather than ask the woman to fit it. The Amanda hangs easy through the middle and pulls on over a tee or a light sweater without pulling anywhere, and it runs XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL — nine sizes, every one of them the same price. I have never understood boutiques that stop at large and then wonder where everybody went.
“I really appreciate the relaxed fit through the middle. It gives me room to move without looking shapeless.”
Donna R., CharlestonCheerful is not the same as costume
This was the one I thought hardest about. Color this bright can tip over into fancy dress, and a woman who has spent fifteen years in neutrals can smell that coming a mile off. What holds it on the right side of the line is that the shapes are patchwork shapes — strips and squares and a bright sun, the vocabulary of something folded at the end of a bed. It reads as a patchwork rather than as a novelty, and a patchwork is allowed to be joyful without anybody calling it young.
“The sunburst patchwork makes me smile every time I put it on. It feels cheerful without looking childish or overly bright.”
Barbara L., GreenvilleThe Amanda, against what you have been buying
| The usual warm layer | The Amanda | |
|---|---|---|
| Warmth | Warm only because it is bulky | Easy to wear, never bulky |
| Color | Gray, navy, or a small logo | A patchwork-look sunburst print, front and back |
| Hood | A flat hood flap, unlined | A printed, lined hood with patterned cords |
| Sleeves | Sleeves short, or loose at the wrist | Sleeves full length, gathered at the cuff |
| Sizing | Sizing runs to XL, if you are lucky | XS through 5XL, one price |
I refuse to sell a woman something that asks her to be invisible in order to be warm. That is the whole reason the Amanda is in the shop.
Why we are clearing it now
The Amanda came in at $299.95, which is what a piece of this kind costs to make properly. But this year the shop turns twenty, and my daughters Julie and Amy are both at the counter most days now — which is not something I let myself expect when we started. We wanted to give something back to the women who have kept our doors open since 2006, so it is going out at a fifth of what it was.
This is the weight of layer the fall is for — the morning has turned and the afternoon has not, and a coat is still far too much. If twenty years of running this little shop has taught me anything, it is that the woman who buys her first bright thing in a decade comes back within the month for the second. That is the quiet bet I am placing in writing to you at $59.95.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,369+ reviews
$299.95$59.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 80%
- Easy to wear — never bulky
- A sunburst patchwork print, front and back
- A printed, lined hood with patterned drawstrings
- Full-length sleeves, gathered at the cuff
- Relaxed through the middle — XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every size the same price
I have watched a good many women walk past this one and then come back to it. She goes by, she gets four steps down the rail, and something makes her turn around.
What she is deciding is not whether she likes it. She likes it. She is deciding whether she is still allowed to.
You are. Go and pick your size.
— Michelle · The Hayes Family Hamptons
SEE THE AMANDA — $59.95 →This is a personal letter from Michelle Hayes, co-founder of The Hayes Family Hamptons. Customer reviews are quoted as written. · US family brand since 2006 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.