She Almost Put the Jacket Back. I'm So Glad She Didn't.

There is a small moment I have seen happen many times in the shop. A woman spots something she likes, picks up a sleeve, perhaps looks closely at the collar. And then, quite politely, she talks herself out of it.

The reasons are usually sensible ones. It's lovely, but it isn't really me. I'll stick with something I know.

I understand that. Comfort matters, and there is nothing wrong with being practical.

I'm Olivia, and I started Daily Aussie in Melbourne in 2006. I want to tell you about one of those moments.

The woman in it is a composite of customers I've met over my years in the shop, so her name and details are changed. But the hesitation is one I recognise, and I suspect you might too.

Let's call her Helen. She came in around three o'clock in a grey cardigan, jeans and comfortable flat shoes. She was about 64. There's nothing wrong with that outfit. I've worn it myself plenty of times.

She wandered along the rail the way people do when they're not really shopping. Then she stopped at an olive jacket with flowers embroidered across the front.

She picked up the sleeve and turned it over. She ran her thumb along the stitching. She looked at the collar. She smiled.

She held it up against herself, just for a second.

Then she hung it back on the rail and straightened the hanger. But she didn't walk away.

She stood there, one hand still resting on the hanger.

"Lovely," she said. "But I couldn't wear something like that."

I asked her why not.

"Oh, I used to wear brighter things. But you get to a point, don't you? It's all navy and grey now. It's just easier."

I didn't try to talk her into it. I said, "Would you like to try it on? Nobody's watching, and it costs nothing."

She laughed. "I suppose it doesn't."

She looked at the jacket a moment longer. Then she lifted it off the rail.

She took off her cardigan and slipped the jacket on over her white top. She kept her jeans on. That was the whole outfit.

At the mirror, she did up one button. She adjusted the collar. She looked again.

I said nothing.

"You know," she said, "I used to dress like this."

She turned slightly to see the sleeve. Then, mostly to herself, she said it. "I didn't realise how invisible I'd made myself."

I knew what she meant. She was talking about her own wardrobe, and how little of herself she'd let into it.

She bought the jacket that afternoon. She said she'd wear it to lunch with a friend on Saturday.

What stays with me is how ordinary it was. Nothing dramatic happened. She wore the same jeans and the same white top she'd walked in with.

She'd just remembered she liked this. Colour, a bit of detail, something that felt like her.

The jacket had been hanging there the whole time. All she did differently was let herself try it.

I used to assume most women had moved on from colour by a certain age. I don't anymore. I've seen too many women pick up a jacket, smile, and put it back.

That's the idea behind our embroidered jackets.

Each style is embroidered in several shades, such as olive, teal, burgundy, gold and cream. That's what makes them easier to wear than you'd expect.

When a jacket has a few colours in it, there's usually one that sits happily with what you already own. You don't have to plan an outfit around it.

Try one with:

• A white tee and blue jeans.
• Black trousers and a simple top.
• Navy from head to toe.
• Khaki trousers and whatever you usually wear on top.

They're made from comfortable cotton, light enough for a cool spring morning when a cardigan feels like too much and nothing at all is too little.

Coffee with a friend, lunch somewhere nice, errands, visiting family, a weekend away. It all feels easy, and a plain outfit can feel a little more like you.

The styles are all different, with different collars, colours and embroidery. Choose the one you keep looking at.

You don't need a new wardrobe. You don't need to look younger, or braver, or different. You've probably got the jeans and the white top already. All you're adding is one thing you like, and finding out how it feels when you look in the mirror and think, "Yes. I like that."

This spring marks twenty years of Daily Aussie, so we're running our 20th Anniversary Spring Sale.

If you've been wondering whether one would suit you, this is a gentle time to find out.

I hope you never have to say that sentence in front of a mirror. But if some part of you nodded as you read, take a few minutes with the collection. Pick the one you keep going back to.

And if you catch yourself saying, "That's lovely, but it isn't really me," try it on anyway. You can always put it back.

Hold it up and see what you think.

— Olivia · Daily Aussie