An Elegant Outfit, Put Together For You

A soft, airy top and wide-leg printed trousers made as one outfit — cool, comfortable, and elegant in a single reach.

Most mornings, putting together something that looked genuinely pulled-together took more effort — and more of an eye — than I had. I'd stand at the closet trying to make a top and bottoms work, build a little pile on the bed, and give up, back to the same tired combination I always default to.

And even when I got it right, it was a compromise: the comfortable things looked like I'd given up, and the elegant things were stiff and too warm. I wanted to look like I'd made an effort — without the effort, and without the discomfort.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to try a set from a small family boutique here in South Carolina — one she said she just put on and looked put-together, every time. Before I tell you what it did for my mornings, 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 set is called the Liora, 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.

1A whole outfit, put together for you

The top and the trousers are made as one outfit, so you are not the one who has to make them work together — they already do. You put the two pieces on and you look like you planned it for a week: soft, airy, elegant, and entirely pulled-together. No assembling, no second-guessing in the mirror, no pile on the bed.

2Cool and airy through the hottest days

The fabric is light and airy, and the sleeveless top and loose wide-leg trousers let the air move right through instead of trapping the heat against you. On the warmest afternoon it stays cool and away from the skin — a set you can actually enjoy the summer in, and look lovely doing it.

3An elastic waist you can't see

The wide-leg trousers sit on a soft, high elastic waist, so nothing digs in when you sit down and nothing cuts after a meal — but the layered top falls over it, and the whole cut is elegant enough that it simply reads as tailored, not as a comfort compromise. Ease you can feel, and nobody else can see.

4Skims everything, never clings

The layered top falls loose over the middle and the wide-leg trousers hang wide and easy, so nothing clings where you would rather it skimmed — and because there is room in it, it sits just as comfortably at the end of the day as the start, on the days your body decides to change its mind. Relaxed, but elegant with it.

5Elegant enough to turn heads, easy enough to live in

Together it reads as one considered, expensive-looking outfit — the airy layered top, the botanical print, the easy wide leg — the sort of thing people notice and ask you about. But it feels like nothing at all to wear. Elegant and effortless, both at once, which is the rarest thing to find.

6Wear it as a set or as separates, in a size for you, from S to 3XL

Together it is one elegant outfit; apart, the top goes with your own trousers and the printed wide-legs go with a plain top you already own — one set that quietly turns into several. And it comes in six colours and runs from S to 3XL, cut relaxed so it fits a real range of bodies. A set made to fit the woman, not to make the woman fit the set.

The Liora, against the outfits you've been assembling

	Assembling your own outfit	The Liora
Getting dressed	Making a top and bottoms work, then the same default	Two pieces that already go together — done
In the heat	Heavy, or clings the moment it's warm	Light and airy — the heat moves right through
The waist	Buttons and bands that dig in after a meal	A soft elastic waist you'd never know was there
The fit	Clings to the middle, or a shapeless sack	Layered top and wide leg that skim — comfy all day
The look	Comfortable or elegant, never both	Elegant, expensive-looking, and easy to wear

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Liora at $179.95 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 set is going out for a little over a third of that.

Mine arrived folded in tissue with a little handwritten note on top. I put it on that same afternoon and felt, for once, like the elegant woman I'd always envied.

I don't usually write things like this. But the Liora gave me back the easy, elegant look I'd quietly decided wasn't mine anymore — pulled-together in one reach, cool and comfortable all day, and lovely enough that people ask me about it. If getting dressed has become a chore, or elegant has come to mean uncomfortable, this is the one I'd tell you to try, while the sale is still on.

— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC

See the Liora — $64.95 →

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