A letter
The turtleneck for mornings the house is cold.
In a red brick townhouse on a quiet New York street, two friends keep the tea warm and the door open — and the turtleneck every woman asks about sits folded on the table in the front room.
Somewhere after fifty, a lot of women quietly make a deal with the cold: once it turns, looking lovely goes in the drawer and staying warm wins. Out comes the same shapeless grey thing, pulled on over everything, taken off the moment anyone comes to the door. Nobody tells us to do this. We simply stop expecting a warm sweater to also feel like ours, and after a while we stop asking.
I have written about women and what they wear for a long time, and I have heard that story every autumn of my working life. So when women kept telling me about a small house in New York where they felt at home again — in the room itself, and in their own clothes — I wanted to understand what happens behind that door.
It starts at the door. Parker & Hayes lives in a red brick townhouse on a quiet street, behind a blue-gray bay window and a small brass plaque, with a blue-gray front door that is nearly always left open. “Our door is always open,” Margaret says, and she means it literally. The women who visit all describe the same greeting: “Come in, make yourself at home.”
Inside it is not a store. It is a home. The front room has warm wood floors, an old wooden table piled with folded knits, and daylight falling through the bay window. There is a cup of tea if you want one, nobody rushes you, and you can take your time. Every so often Eleanor comes down the stairs with an armful of knits, past the rail of coats in the hall, and the two friends tease each other about whose taste is better. Women do not come here as customers. They come as guests.
Margaret loves a graceful neckline and a touch of polish; Eleanor will always reach for the softest knit in the room. Their house rule settles every argument: nothing comes in unless it is elegant and comfortable. When I asked which piece women ask about most, they both put a hand on the same pile on the front-room table — a diamond knit turtleneck that carries Margaret's own name, the Margaret. “It is the one we both pull on while the house is still cold,” Eleanor said. So I asked them why, and I am going to let their words carry it.
1The folded collar stands at the neck
“Margaret reached for this one first, and you can see why. The collar is a folded rib that stands high at the neck, so the chill stops there instead of travelling down your back, and it frames the face the way a good neckline should. Once winter properly sets in you can wear it over a shirt collar and let the two sit together — and it still slides under a long coat without bunching at the sleeve.”
2Diamond seams that catch the light
“This is the detail women lean in for. Raised seams cross the front and the back in one wide diamond pattern, and because the rib changes direction inside it, the knit catches the light as you move. It is why we keep the Margaret folded on top of the pile in the front room: you notice it from the doorway, and then you want to put a hand on it.”
3Loose over the hips, nothing pulling
“Eleanor would not have it in the house otherwise. The shoulders sit past your own shoulder line, the body falls loose over the hips, and the hem is curved so it dips lower at the back and skims the hips instead of cutting across them. Nothing pulls tight at the waist, so you can sit down at the kitchen table, drive, reach for the top shelf. And it pulls on in one motion, which matters on a morning when you are already late to open the door.”
4Deep cuffs, and seven colors to choose
“Each sleeve ends in a deep ribbed cuff you can fold back at the sink or pull right down over your hands on a cold walk. We wear ours with wide grey trousers and ankle boots through autumn — from the kitchen table to lunch with friends, and it is the one that leaves the drawer twice a week between October and March. Ivory and black if you want the quiet ones; raspberry pink, tomato red, lilac, deep purple or lime green if you do not. Sizes S to 3XL.”
The Margaret, next to the usual turtleneck
| The usual turtleneck | The Margaret | |
|---|---|---|
| The feel | Flat and plain under the hand | A ribbed knit with raised diamond seams you can feel |
| The fit | Grips the waist and the hip | Dropped shoulders, falls loose over the hips |
| The collar | Tight at the throat, or a scarf to fuss with | A folded rib collar that stands high at the neck |
| The hem | Cuts straight across the hips | Curved, dipping lower at the back |
| The colors | Grey, beige, navy | Seven, from ivory to lime green · S to 3XL |
Every order leaves the house the way a guest would: wrapped with care, with a little card on which Margaret writes two words. Welcome home. It sounds like a small thing. Reading what women write back, I am not sure it is.
Because not every woman can walk through that blue-gray door herself, Margaret and Eleanor have now opened it online as well. And to celebrate, they are holding their very first Open House, with the door wide open for a little while.
The Margaret Turtleneck Sweater
P|H - Diamond Knit Turtleneck Sweater for Women Margaret
$129.95$59.95Save 53%
- Folded rib turtleneck collar that stands high at the neck
- Raised diamond seams across the front and the back
- Dropped shoulders with deep ribbed cuffs you can fold back
- Curved hem that sits lower at the back and skims the hips
- Free shipping · 30-day returns
Open House prices, for a little while only
What I would tell you if we were friends
So many of us spent years treating warm and lovely as two separate drawers, and the cold months are where that shows first. What struck me about Parker & Hayes is how quietly they argue with it: an open door, a warm front room, and one sweater you can pull on in a cold house and still be glad to be seen in when somebody knocks.
If you have been reaching for the same shapeless grey thing every October, come in and have a look at the Margaret on the front-room table. Take your time. Pick the color you would reach for most — the quiet ivory, or the raspberry pink. Their door is always open.
Welcome home.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Carter
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- 30-Day ReturnsWithin 30 days of delivery
- Parker & HayesA townhouse in New York, door always open
Elizabeth Carter writes for Parker & Hayes. · Parker & Hayes, New York · Free shipping · 30-day returns.