Real stories · The jumper that does the outfit for me

Every autumn I disappeared into beige jumpers — this is the one that does the dressing up for me

The jumper that does the outfit for me — that's what this is. I'm 67, and every October my wardrobe goes into what Graham calls 'witness protection': oatmeal, camel, navy, and one grey thing I wear when nothing else is clean. Warm, yes. Sensible, certainly. But I'd catch myself in a shop window on the High Street and see a perfectly pleasant woman nobody would ever ask about.

What I wanted was a jumper that looked like I'd made an effort — without me having to make one.

Then I found the Weston from Susan and Kate London — a colour-block jumper in olive, mustard and black, with a row of statement buttons running diagonally across the front. I'll be honest: I laughed, and then I ordered it.

The buttons are the clever bit. That diagonal line across the front does exactly what a scarf or a brooch would do, which is why it looks like a styled outfit the moment it goes on — no necklace, no scarf, no thought. The colours are proper autumn ones, so it sits happily with black trousers or plain jeans rather than shouting at them. And the fit is close rather than boxy, so there's none of the shapeless-bundle look most warm jumpers give me — just a neat, polished line that still keeps me cosy on a cold morning walk with Biscuit.

One diagonal row of buttons and three autumn colours do all the styling — I pull it on over plain trousers and I'm dressed, not just warm.

It was £54.95 in the sale, half the usual £110. I paused — it's not nothing — then remembered how many beige jumpers I own that have never once been complimented. And with 30 days to send it back and free delivery, the pause didn't last long.

It has since done Sunday lunch at my daughter's, a gallery morning with Pauline and the school run with my granddaughter, who announced that I looked 'like a painting'. Pauline wants to borrow it. She can't. Graham said nothing at all, which from Graham means he noticed. It was £54.95 in the sale, half the usual £110.

If your autumn wardrobe has also gone quietly beige, do have a look. The Weston is rated 4.8 out of 5 by more than 210 women, it comes in olive, mustard and black, in UK sizes 8 to 18 — and at half price, the middle sizes always go first.