A letter from a reader Liora S
At 63, I found my dress of many colors
A quilt of color from the shoulder down, long sleeves that cover your arms, and not one thing about it that pulls or clings.
I am 63, and my closet had turned the color of a rainy afternoon. Navy, charcoal, that safe olive green. I told myself it was practical, and it was, and it also meant I could walk through the whole grocery store without a single person's eye landing on me. After enough years of that, you start to believe it is simply what happens now.
I had started to feel a little invisible in my own clothes.
It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who said I had been dressing to disappear. Then she sent me a link one evening with three words: just read it.
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 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 dress of many colors, and no two panels the same
The Liora is drawn like a quilt. Strips of color fan out from the shoulder down through the skirt — saffron and coral at the top, then green, turquoise, violet and rose, each panel with its own small pattern inside it. It is the kind of thing a woman would spend a winter piecing together by hand, and it wears like a piece of art.
2Nothing about it is tight
We cut the Liora to fall over the body instead of following it. There is no zipper, no waistband and nothing gripping at the middle — it drapes from the shoulder and moves when you move. You can eat a full lunch in it, sit through a long afternoon in it, and never once perform that small adjustment under the table.
3Long sleeves that cover your arms
The sleeve runs the full length of the arm, soft and easy, with nothing gripping at the upper arm. That is the request we hear more than any other, and it is why so many women tell us this is the first bright dress they have worn without a cardigan over the top. Push them up in the heat and they stay.
4A soft V that puts the color near your face
The neckline is an open, unfussy V — deep enough to lengthen the line of your neck, never so deep that you are pinning anything. And the warm end of the quilt sits right at the top, so the saffron and coral fall near your face. That is the whole trick of it. Color where it does you good.
5Light enough for a warm day, long enough to cover
We make the Liora in a light, breathable cloth and run it down past the calf with a soft uneven hem, so it moves around your legs instead of sticking to them. It covers what you want covered and still lets the air through on a warm afternoon, which is a harder thing to get right than it sounds.
6It fits the body you have
We make the Liora from a size XS all the way to 4XL, and every size is cut on the same easy lines — the larger ones are not simply stretched out, and the quilt is scaled so the panels stay in proportion. Because it falls from the shoulder rather than the waist, it forgives a great deal. Order the size you usually wear.
The Liora, against the dresses you've been buying
| The usual dress | The Liora | |
|---|---|---|
| The arms | Sleeveless, so you carry a cardigan | Long sleeves, covered to the wrist |
| The fit | A zipper and a waistband that digs in | Falls from the shoulder, tight nowhere |
| The look | Navy, charcoal, safe olive green | A quilt of color, no two panels alike |
| The weight | Heavy fabric that sticks to your legs | Light and breathable, and it moves |
| The sizes | S to XL, then good luck | XS to 4XL, pattern scaled to every size |
- Sleeveless, so you carry a cardigan
- A zipper and a waistband that digs in
- Navy, charcoal, safe olive green
- Heavy fabric that sticks to your legs
- S to XL, then good luck
- Long sleeves, covered to the wrist
- Falls from the shoulder, tight nowhere
- A quilt of color, no two panels alike
- Light and breathable, and it moves
- XS to 4XL, pattern scaled to every size
Why they're clearing it now
They priced the Liora at $189.95 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 less than a third of that.
Mine came in a kraft box on a Tuesday, folded in white tissue. I tried it on in the bedroom and wore it to lunch the next day.
The Liora Dress of Many Colors
- A quilt of color, no two panels the same
- Long sleeves that cover the arms
- No zipper, no waistband, tight nowhere
- Light, breathable, and long past the calf
- Sizes XS to 4XL · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
The Liora · $59.99 while sizes last
Buy 2 get 10%, buy 3 get 15%, buy 4 get an extra 20% off. When it's gone, it's gone.
I do not usually write things like this. But I spent too many years dressing to disappear — and then I found my dress of many colors, and people started looking up again. If that sounds like you, I hope you find your size before it clears.
— Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, SC
See the Liora — $59.99 →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.