A letter from a reader

At 58, I had quietly stopped expecting to feel like myself in what I wore.

Karen Jennings
Hobart, Tasmania · September 2026

I have never written one of these before. I would not know where to start, and I am not a writer. I wrote this for the small boutique after something happened that I keep thinking about, and they asked if they could share it. So here I am, having a go.

It is about a jumpsuit. Of all the things.

The choice I stopped noticing I had made

For years, the choice I was making without realising it was this: comfortable, or feeling like myself. Practical, or pretty. I never sat down and picked one. It just happened, the way it does at my age. The washing pile gets bigger, the mornings get shorter, and somewhere along the way you stop bothering.

You tell yourself it is fine. You have other things to think about.

I had quietly accepted that I could be comfortable, or I could feel like myself, and that was just the way it was.

How it actually came home with me

It was my sister. She turned up to Sunday lunch in something that suited her in a way I could not stop looking at. Relaxed, not tight, and she looked like herself in it. I asked where it was from and she laughed and said a small boutique in Tasmania called Bruny Boutique, and that they do dozens of designs, not just the one. I had a look that night with a cup of tea.

The piece I landed on was the Mabli Relaxed Everyday Jumpsuit. It is cut in a soft olive with an easy, relaxed line through the body, and the straps adjust so it sits where you want it. That mattered to me, because I am not a standard shape and I am tired of pretending I am. I ordered the olive.

The lunch where I had not expected anything to happen

We were at my niece's place, in her garden, the long table out the back with tea and lemonade on it. Casual family lunch, the kind where the dogs keep wandering underfoot. I had the Mabli on with sandals and a straw bag, nothing clever, and within about ten minutes three people had asked about it. My friend Janet, who never notices anything, said she liked the colour. Janet does not say that. So I sat there a bit pleased with myself, which is not a feeling I have often had about clothes.

Three things I will say about it, plainly

One. The pockets are proper pockets. They are front pockets, the kind you can actually put your phone in, and that sounds small until you are wearing it. I have never owned a relaxed piece with pockets that were not a suggestion.

Two. It skims rather than clings. The line through the body is relaxed, and with the adjustable straps I could set it where it sat right on me rather than where the pattern thought it should. It moved when I moved and I forgot I was wearing it, which is the highest thing I can say about clothes.

Three. It earns its place in an ordinary week. The boutique describes it for slow weekend mornings, casual lunches, travel days and market mornings, and that has been my week with it. I have not dressed it up. I have just worn it, and it has turned up for me each time.

The bit I was braced for

I almost did not check the price. I was ready for the wince.

It was $74.95, marked down from $149.95, and I sat with that for a minute before I added it to the cart. It felt like too much for what I had built up in my head about boutique clothing.

There was no catch I could find. Bruny Boutique is a small place selling direct, no middleman, and the sale is their 22 year anniversary, which is a proper reason to mark things down. Returns within 30 days if it is not right, which took the last bit of risk off the table for me.

Before I bought it I read the reviews, because I am like that. 4.8 stars across 728 reviews. Not a suspiciously perfect five, which made me trust it more, if I am honest.

What I would say to you over a cup of tea

I would tell you to go and have a look while the sale is on. That is all. Have a look at the Mabli, have a look at the other designs they do, and see for yourself whether it is your kind of thing.

It is the first piece in a long time that has made me feel a bit like myself and a bit comfortable at the same time, and I had stopped believing those two things could live in the same outfit.

The anniversary sale is on now, while it lasts.

It is the first time in years I have looked in the mirror on an ordinary morning and not wanted to change out of what I was wearing.

Karen

Mabli | Relaxed Everyday Jumpsuit

★★★★★ 4.8 out of 5 from 728 reviews

$149.95 $74.95

• Easy, relaxed line through the body in a soft olive
• Adjustable straps so it sits where you want it
• Front pockets you can actually use
• Layers neatly under a fitted tee in cooler months
• Wears on its own with sandals and a straw bag when it is warm

Have a look at the casual jumpsuits

The anniversary sale is on now, while it lasts.