At 63 I bought a dress in orange, and I have not stopped hearing about it.

On the knit dress that comes in five colors nobody my age is supposed to wear — buttons up to the throat or falls open, and needs nothing over it.

By Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Posted August 2026 · 6 min read

I am 63, and at some point I had quietly agreed to a rule nobody ever said out loud. Navy, gray, black, and beige if I was feeling adventurous. Anything with actual color in it was for younger women, or for people who wanted to be looked at, and I had decided I was neither.

The result was a closet you could photograph in black and white and lose nothing.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to stop settling and look at a knit dress from a small family boutique here in South Carolina. She sent me the orange one on purpose. Before I tell you what it did, I think you should read the Clarke family's letter first.

The Clarke family runs a small boutique here in South Carolina, family-run since 1986 — three generations, mother to daughter. The dress is called the Evelyn, and their letter walks through the handful of things they refused to compromise on. I am going to let their words carry it, because they say it better than I could.

1The collar gives you two dresses

The collar is knitted to stand on its own, with a short placket and three buttons at the front. Done up, it closes to the throat and covers the neck like a sweater would. Left open, it falls into a soft V that draws the eye up towards your face. Same dress, two entirely different necklines, and the only decision you have to make in the morning.

2Knitted heavy enough to need nothing over it

Most knit dresses are cut thin, which means a cardigan goes over the top and you are dressing in pieces again. We knitted the Evelyn at a proper weight so it stands on its own indoors, and a coat goes straight over it when you go out. One garment, warm from the first minute, and nothing to keep taking off and losing.

3Deep ribbing, where knitwear usually gives up

The cuffs and the hem are finished with a deep rib rather than the shallow band most knitwear uses. A shallow rib stretches out within a season and then the sleeves hang open at the wrist and the hem flares where it should not. This one holds its shape wash after wash, which is the difference between two winters and five.

4It ends just below the knee, on purpose

The hem sits just below the knee, which covers the knee itself and leaves room for a boot without the two fighting each other. Shorter and you are making a decision about your legs every morning. Longer and it needs a heel to look right. This length works with a flat boot, and that is the whole point of it.

5Nothing at the waist to draw a line

There is no seam at the waist, no belt and no elastic. The Evelyn falls straight from the shoulder and skims past the middle without touching it. That is the reason a heavy knit works at all on a fuller figure — the weight of the cloth carries it down in one clean line instead of settling anywhere.

6Five colors, and a size for you — XS to 3XL

The Evelyn comes in orange, red, black, beige and yellow. We know exactly which two of those most women reach for first, and we made the other three anyway, because a good knit dress is the safest possible place to wear a real color — the shape is quiet, so the color does not have to be. Sizes run XS through 3XL. If you are between sizes, take the smaller one.

The Evelyn, against the knit dresses you've been buying

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Evelyn at $164.95 when it launched, and it sold at that price all season. But for America's 250th, the Clarke family wanted to give something back to the women who have kept their doors open since 1986 — so every dress is going out at well below half of what it was.

Mine arrived a few days later in a kraft parcel with a short handwritten note tucked in beside it. I held the orange up to the window for a good while before I was brave enough to put it on.

I do not usually write things like this. But I had spent about a decade quietly agreeing that color was for other people, and it took one dress to work out that nobody had ever actually said so. If your closet has gone the same way mine had, I hope you find your size before it clears.

— Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, SC

This is a personal account from a Clarke Family customer. Sandra was not paid to write it. · The Clarke Family · Family Fashion · South Carolina, since 1986 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.