A letter
The sweater that feels like coming home.
In a red brick townhouse on a quiet New York street, two friends keep the tea warm and the door open — and the sweater every woman asks about sits folded on the table in the front room.
Somewhere after fifty, a lot of women stop feeling at home in their own clothes. We reach for the sensible coat, the beige sweater, the shoes nobody will notice. Nobody tells us to. We simply stop expecting clothes to feel like ours, and we stop asking.
I have written about women and the things they wear for a long time, and I have heard that story more often than I can count. Which is why, when women kept telling me about a small house in New York where they said they felt at home again, in every sense of the word, 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 blue-gray front door that is nearly always left open. “Our door is always open,” Margaret says, and she means it. 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 tea if you want it, and nobody rushes you. Every so often Eleanor comes down the stairs with an armful of cardigans, 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 love most, they both pointed to the front-room table, to a soft mock neck sweater called the Ruth. “It’s the one we both wear at home,” Eleanor said. So I asked them why, and I am going to let their words carry it.
1Soft enough to forget you’re wearing it
“We refused to bring a sweater into this house that itches. The Ruth is a chunky, textured knit, so it looks cozy and keeps you warm, but it is light on the shoulders and gentle against the skin. Not at the neck, not at the wrists. If it doesn’t pass our ‘wear it all day at home’ test, it doesn’t go on the table.”
2A shape that forgives, without hiding you
“Most of the women who come in are tired of two things: clothes that cling, and clothes that look like a sack. So the Ruth skims the body. The shoulders drop softly, nothing pulls across the middle, and nothing rides up when you reach for the top shelf. Take your usual size, or size up if you like extra room.”
3The mock neck does the work of a scarf
“Margaret insisted on this one. The ribbed collar sits just high enough to keep the chill off your neck, but it is never tight like a turtleneck. And it frames the face. Add a pair of earrings and you are ready for lunch with friends.”
4One sweater for your whole week
“From the kitchen table in the morning to lunch with friends, with jeans for the grandchildren or over a slim skirt for dinner. The cuffs and hem keep their shape all day, and it goes under a coat without any bulk. It is the one we reach for first when we come down the stairs, which is why it is always on our front-room table.”
The Ruth, next to the usual winter sweater
| The usual sweater | The Ruth | |
|---|---|---|
| The feel | Heavy, itchy at the neck | Soft, warm, no scratch |
| The fit | Clingy or shapeless | Relaxed, skims the body |
| The neckline | Tight, or a scarf to fuss with | Mock neck that frames the face |
| The look | Sensible and forgettable | Polished enough for lunch |
| The colors | Grey, beige, navy | Six colors that go with everything |
Every order leaves the house the way a guest would: wrapped in tissue paper, 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, Margaret and Eleanor have now opened it online as well. And to celebrate, they are holding their very first Open House, the online kind, with the door wide open for a little while.
The Ruth Mock Neck Sweater
P|H - Relaxed Mock Neck Knit Sweater Ruthann
$119.95$59.95Save 50%
- Soft, chunky knit that doesn’t itch
- Relaxed shape that skims, never clings
- Mock neck that keeps the chill off
- Six colors · sizes S to 3XL
- 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 not feeling at home in what we wear. What struck me about Parker & Hayes is how simply they undo that: an open door, a warm front room, and clothes that are soft enough to live in and lovely enough to be seen in.
If you have been reaching for the same grey sweater for years, come in and have a look at the Ruth. Take your time. Pick the color you would wear most. 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.