A Letter from a Reader Ruffled Jackets
The little jacket that finally made my jeans look like an outfit
A soft washed print, a ruffle down the front and at the cuff, and twenty-five of them to choose from.
I am 63, and I had a coat for the cold and a cardigan for the house and absolutely nothing for the ten degrees in between. Which is most of the year here. So I went out in jeans and a plain top, over and over, and felt like a woman on her way to run an errand even when I was not.
I had started to feel a little invisible in my own clothes.
It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who said what I was missing was not another sweater, it was one layer with a bit of character in it. 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. What she sent me was their ruffled jackets: twenty-five designs, all cut the same way, 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.
1Prints that look faded by the sun, not by the wash
We print these the soft way. The paisley on the sky blue looks like it has been out on a line for ten summers, and the leopard fades down into plain tan as it travels toward the hem. Nothing is sharp, nothing is glossy, nothing shouts. It is the difference between a jacket that looks bought and one that looks kept.
2The layer for the ten degrees in between
Not a coat, not a cardigan. We made these for the mornings that start cool and end warm — light enough to keep on indoors, substantial enough for the porch at seven and the parking lot at nine. It is the thing you take off the hook on your way out without having to think about the weather at all.
3The ruffle is the whole point
A ruffle runs down both front edges, around the hem and at the end of each sleeve. It is small and soft, not a flounce, and it does something a plain jacket cannot: it breaks the straight line at your hip, so the eye follows the curve instead of stopping there. That is why this works over jeans when a denim jacket does not.
4Buttons all the way up, or none at all
We finished the front with a row of large buttons and a proper pointed collar. Worn open it hangs in two soft lines with the ruffle showing, which is how most women wear it. Done up on a windy morning it becomes a light jacket with a collar you can turn up. Two garments for the price of one, really.
5Twenty-five designs, cut exactly the same
There are twenty-five in this collection and they are all built on the same pattern, so once you know your size you can choose on the print alone. The washed paisley if you want soft and quiet, the leopard fading into tan if you want a little more. Most women pick one, wear it for a fortnight, and quietly come back for a second.
6It fits the body you have
We make these from a size S all the way to 3XL, and every size is cut on the same lines — the larger ones are not simply stretched out, and the print is scaled so it stays in proportion. It sits easy through the body and falls just past the hip, so it covers the waistband rather than stopping at it. Order the size you usually wear.
These, against the jackets you've been buying
| The usual denim jacket | The Clarke ruffled jackets | |
|---|---|---|
| The shape | Stops square at the waist | A ruffled hem that falls past the hip |
| The weight | Stiff, and too warm indoors | Light enough to keep on all day |
| The look | Plain blue, like everybody else's | Softly washed prints, twenty-five of them |
| How you wear it | One way, open | Open, or buttoned with the collar up |
| The sizes | S to XL, then good luck | S to 3XL, print scaled to every size |
- Stops square at the waist
- Stiff, and too warm indoors
- Plain blue, like everybody else's
- One way, open
- S to XL, then good luck
- A ruffled hem that falls past the hip
- Light enough to keep on all day
- Softly washed prints, twenty-five of them
- Open, or buttoned with the collar up
- S to 3XL, print scaled to every size
Why they're clearing it now
They priced these at $199.95 when the collection launched, and they 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 jacket is going out at less than a third of that.
Mine came in a kraft box on a Tuesday, folded in white tissue. I put it on over the same jeans and plain top I had worn all week, and it was a different outfit entirely.
The Clarke Ruffled Jackets
- Twenty-five designs, all cut the same way
- A soft ruffle down the front, hem and cuffs
- Softly washed prints — paisley, leopard and more
- Wear it open, or buttoned with the collar up
- Sizes S to 3XL · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
The ruffled jackets · from $64.95 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 years going out in the same jeans and plain top feeling like I was on my way to run an errand — and one small jacket with a ruffle on it quietly fixed that. If that sounds like you, go and look at the designs before the sizes go.
— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC
See the ruffled jackets — from $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.