EVELYN | Painted roses in apricot and sage

Every floral I try on fights my hair. This one does not, and I finally worked out it is the apricot.

Once the gray comes in, half the florals in the shop turn against you. The bright ones pull all the color out of your face and the cold pinks argue with the silver, so the sensible answer becomes another plain top and floral becomes something you wore in a previous decade. It is almost never the flowers that are wrong. It is the temperature of them.

Evelyn is painted in apricot and sage on a warm cream ground, the colors of an old still life rather than a spring catalogue, and warm tones sit alongside gray hair instead of fighting it. The blooms gather toward the front and thin out along the sleeve, so the density is where you want it and the arms stay quiet. The shape is a relaxed open button front shirt, hip length with a curved hem, in a light matte weave that keeps the print soft rather than glossy, finished with a point collar, tonal buttons and two hip pockets.

Why women our age keep coming back to it

• Warm tones rather than bright ones. Apricot and sage on cream sit well next to gray or silver hair, where a cold pink or a sharp white does not.
• The print thins out at the sleeve. The flowers concentrate at the front and lighten along the arm, so the upper arm is not the busiest part of you.
• A matte weave, not a shine. The fabric holds the colors soft, which is what stops a painted print reading as printed polyester.
• Hip length with a curved hem. It falls past the waistband rather than stopping at it, which is what lets you wear it open all afternoon.

Buy more, save more

• Buy 2 and save 10 percent
• Buy 3 and save 15 percent
• Buy 4 and save 20 percent

The discount is applied automatically at checkout.

How it fits

Evelyn runs on the small side, so size up rather than ordering straight. It comes in 8 through 22, and these are UK sizes, not US ones, so go by the measurements rather than the number you usually buy. The chart gives bust, waist and hips as body measurements in inches, so measure over a light top with the tape level. If you are between sizes, want room through the shoulder, or plan to layer underneath, take the larger one.

30 days to change your mind

Send it back within 30 days for a full refund. There is no restocking fee and no questions about why.

A few recent reviews

I wore it to the art museum and a docent asked me about it. Fitting, given the print.
Winnie A., Santa Fe

The sage keeps it from being sweet. That was my worry and it was unfounded.
Leona P., 71

Over black, as suggested here. It is the only way I wear it now.
Myrna G., Tempe