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I spent fifteen years hiding my neck under turtlenecks and scarves. This is a letter about the sweater that made me stop
Six things this soft shawl-collar V-neck gets right that a drawer full of turtlenecks never did, from a woman who had decided, somewhere around fifty, that her neck was something to be covered up.
Catharine Laurent · Dallas · 5 min read
I am 64, and I can tell you the exact day I started hiding my neck. I was 49, at my niece's wedding, and somebody showed me a photograph of myself laughing. I did not look at my face. I looked at my neck, and I thought, when did that happen? From that day on I bought turtlenecks. Black ones, cream ones, a gray one with a cable down the front. I wore a scarf in July. I turned down a lovely dress for my fortieth wedding anniversary because it was “a bit open at the top.” So this is not a review. It is a woman who finally stopped covering up, saying why.
The sweater I am writing about is the Antonia, a V-neck sweater with a soft draped shawl collar, from Novira Dallas, a small American shop that dresses women our age. Mine is the green. I saw it on a lady at the next table in a coffee shop on Lower Greenville, and what struck me was not the sweater, it was that she looked so at ease. Not tugging, not adjusting, just sitting there in it like it was nothing. When Novira later asked if they could share my letter, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
Here is what fifteen years of turtlenecks taught me. They do not hide anything. They just make you hot, and they make you fiddle. I spent a decade and a half pulling at my collar in warm stores and church halls, and every photograph from that time shows a woman who looks slightly as if she is being gently strangled by her own clothes. Which, to be fair, she was.
I thought the turtlenecks were hiding my neck. All they were really hiding was the fact that I was uncomfortable.
This is the first sweater I have bought with an open neckline since my forties, and having worn it for a month, to lunches, to the stores, round the house and to a christening, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The collar drapes. It does not cut
This is the clever part, and it is why I kept it. A plain V-neck draws a sharp line across you, and at my age a sharp line is not your friend. The Antonia has a soft shawl collar that drapes in gentle folds around the V, so it frames your face rather than drawing a line under it. It is open, but it is not exposed, if that makes sense. It felt like the halfway house I had been looking for for fifteen years.
Caught myself in the hall mirror and did not reach for a scarf. Small thing. First time in fifteen years.
The V does what a turtleneck never could
A V-neck makes you look longer through the neck and shoulders, which is the exact opposite of what a turtleneck does, and I had it all backwards for a decade and a half. It also means that when the inevitable hot moment comes, and at 64 it comes about every hour, there is somewhere for the heat to go. No more standing in Macy’s flapping a collar.
Jean, who has seen me in a turtleneck every winter since 2011, said “you look taller.” I am not taller. I am just not hiding.
A fine, smooth knit that is soft on the skin
The knit is fine and smooth, and soft against the skin, which matters a great deal when the neckline is open and there is nothing in between you and it. I have always found wool sweaters itchy at the neck, which is half the reason I lived in an undershirt beneath everything. This one I wear with just a light top underneath, and I do not notice it at all, which is the highest compliment I can pay a sweater.
Wore it all day, garden center to evening TV. Did not scratch once. That has never happened with a sweater.
Relaxed and hip length, without the box
It is a relaxed, generous fit and falls to the hip, so it skims rather than clings, but it drapes properly rather than hanging off you like a box. It looks just as right with my good pants for a lunch as it does with jeans on a Tuesday. I wore it out for Jean’s birthday and to the vet with Biscuit in the same week, and it suited both.
Lunch, then the grocery store, then a walk with Biscuit. Same sweater all day. Looked right in all three.
Ribbed cuffs and hem that hold their shape
The cuffs and the hem are ribbed, and they hold their shape. I push my sleeves up to do the dishes, to do the dog's dinner, to deadhead the pots, and they stay put and then come back down looking as they should. My old sweaters all had cuffs that went baggy within a month and hung over my hands like a schoolboy's.
Sleeves up and down a dozen times today. Cuffs still neat by dinner.
Seven colors, and sizes up to 4XL
It comes in seven colors: cream, white, pink, red, green, purple and blue. I went for the green, which is a lovely color near the face, and I have my eye on the red for Christmas. It runs from S all the way to 4XL, at the same price in every size, and because the fit is relaxed, I simply ordered my usual size and it fit.
Red one ordered for Christmas Day. Jean has ordered the purple. We are going to look like a box of crayons, and I do not care.
This sweater, against the turtleneck
Most of us did not choose the turtleneck. We chose to stop being looked at, and the turtleneck was the nearest thing to hand. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Tight at the throat all day long
Nowhere for the heat to go
Itchy wool right against the neck
Cuffs that go baggy in a month
Chosen to hide, worn for fifteen years
Soft shawl collar that drapes and frames
An open V that keeps you cool
Fine, smooth knit that is soft on the skin
Ribbed cuffs and hem that hold their shape
Chosen so I could stop hiding
About the price
The Antonia is $54.95 at the moment, in every color and every size. The website says that is down from $135.00. I will not pretend I know what a sweater like this ought to cost, but I can tell you I have paid more than that for a turtleneck I resented every time I put it on.
I will pass on what Novira told me, which is that they are a small shop selling directly, and the sale is on to make room for the winter stock. Their words, not mine. They also take a bit more off if you buy more than one, up to 20%, which is how the red one ended up in my cart for Christmas.
Delivery was free and tracked, it was packed within a couple of days and reached me inside two weeks, and there is a thirty-day money-back guarantee if it is not right. That is what got me to press the button, because I honestly thought I would be sending it back.
S to 4XL
guarantee
US delivery
If you also have a drawer of turtlenecks you bought to hide behind, this is the one I would hand you myself, while your color and size are still there. Your neck is fine. Mine was too. It just needed the right collar.
Catharine
Antonia · V-Neck Sweater
Every color $54.95 · bundle and save up to 20%
- Soft draped shawl collar with a V-neckline
- Fine, smooth knit that is soft against the skin
- Relaxed, generous fit that drapes, never boxy
- Hip length, for pants, jeans or slacks
- Ribbed cuffs and hem that hold their shape
- 7 colors · sizes S to 4XL, same price in every size
- FREE tracked US delivery & 30-day money-back guarantee
Sale on now, making room for the winter stock.
About the writer. Catharine Laurent is 64 and lives in Dallas with her husband Geoff and a spaniel called Biscuit. She taught elementary school for thirty-one years and still cannot walk past a library.
This page is an advertisement for Novira Dallas. Individual experiences may vary. Novira Dallas · FREE tracked US delivery · 30-day money-back guarantee.