A letter from Harper & Matilda – Comfort Overalls
She spends the first warm weekend of spring in the same old trousers and a long top.
Not because she doesn't want something cheerful. Because everything fun to wear is tight, short or cut for someone thirty years younger.
On the six things we looked for before these overalls came into the store, how they compare to what you have been wearing, and why they are from A$69.95 in our Pre-Black Friday Sale.
We are Harper and Matilda, two sisters, and we opened our boutique in Melbourne in 2010 with one idea: that a woman should never have to choose between comfortable and beautiful.
The place that idea gets tested hardest is an ordinary spring day. A morning in the garden, the Saturday market, a coffee with a friend that turns into lunch, the grandchildren dropped off for the afternoon. The days you want to be comfortable all day long and still feel like yourself.
There are two kinds of outfits waiting for you, and you know both. There is the comfortable one, and it looks it: the old trousers with the stretched waistband and a long top to cover them. And there is the one that looks fun on the rack, fitted and short, so you spend the whole day pulling it down and holding your tummy in.
So every weekend a woman does the sums and reaches for the safe one, because at least she can bend down in it. And then she is comfortable, and covered, and a little invisible.
We never accepted that a woman had to choose.
Our Comfort Overalls are our answer. Twenty-one relaxed-fit overalls, from the Millie in sage botanicals to the Doris in blue patchwork and the Zena with its little bumblebees, most of them in sizes S | AU 10 to 5XL | AU 24. There were six things we would not do without.
1A loose, relaxed cut, because you shouldn't spend the day checking how it sits
So much of what is in the shops is cut close. It looks fine while you stand still in the change room, and then you sit down, reach up or bend over the garden bed, and you spend the rest of the day tugging at the waistband and checking your reflection in every shop window.
Every pair in our Comfort Overalls has a loose, relaxed cut that moves with you and never clings. Nothing presses on your middle, nothing rides up when you sit. You stop thinking about your clothes and get on with your day. That's the trick.
2Adjustable button straps, because every body is a different length
Overalls have a reputation, and it is usually earned. The bib sits too low, or the straps are fixed so the whole thing hangs wrong on anyone who isn't the exact height of the model. Most women try one pair, feel like a child in it, and never try again.
Ours have adjustable shoulder straps with a button fastening, so you set the bib height yourself. Shorter, taller, fuller through the bust: a minute in front of the mirror and they sit right on you. They are made to fit you, not the other way round.
3Two front pockets, because you shouldn't need a handbag to pick the parsley
Women's clothes are famous for pockets that aren't there, or are sewn shut, or are so small they hold nothing at all. So the phone goes on the garden step, the keys go on the bench, and half the morning is spent looking for one or the other.
Every pair has two front slip pockets, easy to reach with your hands full. Phone, tissues, a seed packet, the shopping list. We will not stock an everyday piece that sends you looking for somewhere to put your things.
4Wide, easy legs, because one pair should take you from the garden to lunch
Narrow trousers cling when it warms up and pull across the knee every time you bend. Cropped ones flap about in the wrong places. And by the afternoon you wish you had worn something else entirely.
Our overalls have wide, roomy legs that you can wear full length or with the cuffs rolled. Full length with sneakers for a cooler morning, rolled up with sandals when the sun comes out on the foreshore. Soft and breathable, so the air keeps moving. One pair, the whole day.
5S | AU 10 to 5XL | AU 24, one price, because fun shouldn't stop at a 16
There's a particular disappointment in finding something cheerful you love and discovering it stops two sizes before yours. We have never understood a shop that does that and then wonders why so many women end up in navy and black.
Most of our Comfort Overalls come in eight sizes, S | AU 10 to 5XL | AU 24, and every size of a style is the same price. If the fit isn't right, you can send them back within 30 days, so the only real decision is which print.
6Twenty-one prints, because what you wear should make you smile too
A comfortable outfit usually apologises for itself in beige. Somewhere along the way we are told to stop wearing colour, as if cheerful were only for the young.
Our Comfort Overalls come in twenty-one prints and finishes: florals like the Betty and the Niamh, bees on the Morag and the Kay, patchwork on the Ciara and the Moya, geese on the Melba, and calmer pieces like the Maud in stone or the Myrtle with its raised dot texture. Pop one over a tee and you are dressed. It reads as a choice you made, not a compromise you settled for.
Our Comfort Overalls, against what you have been wearing
| The usual weekend outfit | Our Comfort Overalls | |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | A waistband that digs in | Loose, relaxed cut that never clings |
| Adjusting | Fixed, made for one height | Adjustable button shoulder straps |
| Pockets | Tiny, or none at all | Two front slip pockets |
| Legs | Narrow, pulling at the knee | Wide legs, full length or rolled |
| Sizing | Often stops at AU 16 | Most styles S | AU 10 to 5XL | AU 24 |
We refuse to sell a woman something that asks her to choose between being comfortable and feeling cheerful. That is the whole reason these overalls are on our rails this season.
Why they're 80% off right now
Our Comfort Overalls are marked from A$349.95. For our Pre-Black Friday Sale, running until 26 November, we have taken 80% off everything in the boutique, so every pair is now A$69.95, A$74.95 or A$79.95. Buy more than one and you save even more: an extra 15% when you buy 2, 20% when you buy 3 and 25% when you buy 4 or more.
These are the overalls for the months ahead: the garden in full bloom, the markets, the long lunches and the summer holidays with the grandchildren. Our years behind the counter have taught us that once a woman finds something she is both comfortable and cheerful in, she wears it until it falls apart. That is what we hope for every pair.
★★★★★ 4.7 out of 5 · from 1,475+ women in our Melbourne boutique
- A loose, relaxed cut that never clings
- Adjustable button shoulder straps
- Two front slip pockets
- Wide legs, worn full length or rolled
- 21 prints and finishes · most styles S | AU 10 to 5XL | AU 24
- Extra 15% off 2, 20% off 3, 25% off 4 or more
- Free shipping Australia-wide · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every size the same price
We have watched a great many women pick up a cheerful pair of overalls, smile at the print and put them back on the rail. She likes them. That isn't the question.
What she is deciding is whether a woman her age is allowed to wear something this much fun.
You are. Go and pick your print.
With love, Harper & Matilda · Wattle & Vale Melbourne
See the Comfort Overalls · From A$69.95 →A personal letter from the founders of Wattle & Vale Melbourne. Melbourne family boutique since 2010 · Free shipping Australia-wide · 30-day money-back guarantee, subject to our returns policy.