A Whole Outfit, Sorted In One Easy Set

A matching linen blouson top and wide-leg trousers, made to go together — comfortable, cool, and pulled-together the moment you put both pieces on.

Getting dressed had quietly become the hardest part of my day. I'd stand at the closet trying to make a top and a pair of trousers agree with each other, building a pile on the bed, and half the time I'd give up and default to the same tired combination, feeling thrown-together all day.

What I really wanted was to stop assembling outfits altogether — one thing I could put on and simply look pulled-together, comfortable, and cool in the heat, with no matching to do. But the comfortable things looked like I'd given up, and the smart things dug in and stifled me. Nothing was all three.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to stop struggling every morning and try a set from a small family boutique here in South Carolina — a matching linen two-piece she thought would take the whole decision off my hands. 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 set is called the Natalia, 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, sorted in one

We made the Natalia as a matching linen top and wide-leg trousers, cut to go together perfectly — because they're made to. You put the two pieces on and you're dressed and pulled-together, with no matching to puzzle over and no pile on the bed. One set, and the whole outfit is done before you've had your coffee.

2Trousers that never dig in

The wide-leg trousers have a soft elastic drawstring waist — no hard button, no zip pressing in — so they sit gently at the middle and move with you, while the blouson top blouses softly over the top. It looks tailored and smart, but feels like your softest loungewear. You can sit through a whole lunch and forget you've a waistband at all.

3A wide, forgiving leg that flatters

The legs fall straight and loose from the waist, skimming right over the hips and the thighs instead of gripping them — so you look long and elegant, and nothing clings anywhere. Forgiving and flattering at once: you feel taller and slimmer, and completely comfortable with it.

4Cool, light linen for the warmest days

It's made of a light, airy linen — top and trousers both — that lets the breeze pass right through instead of trapping the heat against you. So you stay cool through the hottest afternoon while looking completely put-together, not shapeless. Cool as anything, but a proper outfit.

5Wear it as a set, or split it into two

Worn together, it's a matching linen set; but split it up and the top goes beautifully with your jeans, and the wide-leg trousers with a plain tee — so one purchase quietly becomes three or four outfits. A set that keeps earning its place in your closet, worn a dozen different ways.

6Four colours, and a size for you, to 5XL

It comes in four easy shades — a soft blue, a fresh green, a warm cream and a classic black — and it runs all the way from S to 5XL, cut generous and easy to flatter a real range of bodies. A set made to fit the woman, not to make the woman fit the set.

The Natalia, against the outfits you've been assembling

	Assembling an outfit	The Natalia
Getting dressed	Matching a top to trousers, then giving up	Two pieces on — a whole outfit, done
The waist	Hard bands and zips digging in	A soft drawstring waist that never digs in
The fit	Clings to the hips and thighs	Wide legs that skim and flatter
In the heat	Stifling, or shapeless	Cool, light linen — still a proper outfit
Value	One look, then it sits in the closet	Wear it as a set, or split into three or four

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Natalia at $264.95 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 under a third of that.

Mine arrived folded in tissue with a little handwritten note on top. I put both pieces on that same morning, and for the first time in an age I was dressed and out the door without a single thing left on the bed.

I don't usually write things like this. But the Natalia has taken the hardest decision of my morning clean off my hands — one set, and I'm dressed, comfortable, cool, and pulled-together, without a thing left on the bed. If getting dressed has become a struggle the way it had for me, this is the one I'd tell you to try, while the sale is still on.

— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC

See the Natalia — $79.95 →

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.