Colour is the quickest way to feel better dressed — and the easiest thing to get wrong!

Just imagine fine vertical stripes running the length of the body in pink, blue, sage, yellow and coral over cream. Now stop imagining, because these are narrow and soft-edged, which is what turns a rainbow into something you'd actually wear.

• Vertical, Not Horizontal
  The stripes run up and down rather than across. Vertical lines lengthen the body and draw the eye upward — a small change in direction that makes a large difference in the mirror.
• Softened Colour
  Every shade is muted a step: the pink is dusty, the yellow is buttery, the blue is powdery. Together they look like sun-faded fabric rather than a bright print.
• Textured Ground
  The waffle stitch runs through the stripes, breaking up the colour and giving the whole piece the substance of real knitwear.
• Relaxed Through The Body
  The cut skims instead of clinging, with a dropped shoulder and a gently curved hem that sits just past the hip. Take your usual size for the easy drape you see here, or go one up if you like a little more room. It comes in S through 5XL, and the shape is drafted for each one rather than simply scaled up.
• A Cheerful Neutral
  Because so many colours are present, almost anything plain works underneath and over it. White jeans keep it fresh; denim keeps it easy.

The worry with stripes in colour is that they'll feel like too much by lunchtime. These don't — they're fine, faded and vertical — which is why this becomes the sweater you reach for on the mornings that need lifting, again and again.