Letter Six Things Bathrobes Linda
I've bought dressing gowns for fifty years. This is the first one I've opened the door in, and the first I've ever written about
Six things these robes get right that towelling, fleece and frills never did, from a woman who used to come down to breakfast last so nobody would see her in her nightclothes.
Linda Marsh · Customer · Chester · 5 min read
I'm Linda, I'm 68, and I live in Chester. I've never written to a shop about a dressing gown in my life. But last Boxing Day something happened in a farmhouse kitchen that I haven't stopped thinking about, so here it is.
The robes are from Beatrice London, a small British shop. When they asked whether they could share my letter with other women, I said yes, as long as I could say exactly what I thought.
We spent Christmas at my son-in-law's parents' farm in the Dales, near Hawes. Eleven of us under one roof, one bathroom, and a kitchen that's the heart of the place. On Boxing Day I crept down at eight, clutching my old fleece dressing gown shut at the neck, hoping to get a cup of tea before anyone saw me.
And there was Rosemary, my son-in-law's mother, standing at the Aga with the bacon on, in a red robe covered in big orange and blue flowers, with a teal band round the neck and down the front. Halfway through, the neighbouring farmer knocked at the back door about a ewe that had got out. Rosemary opened it, chatted to him for five minutes, and went back to the bacon. She didn't give it a second thought. I was hiding behind the fridge.
When the others went out for a walk, I asked her where it was from. She wrote it on the back of a Christmas card.
The red one, at my own cooker. The Christmas card's on the fridge.
Here's what fifty years of dressing gowns had taught me. They come in two kinds. The bathroom kind, thick towelling or fleece, heavy as a wet dog and two days drying on the airer. And the bedroom kind, satin and frills, which was never meant to go further than the landing. Neither is any use in a busy kitchen with the family in it.
One kind too heavy to live in, the other too flimsy to be seen in. Not once had I owned a dressing gown I'd open the door in.
The robe I ended up buying is the first. I've worn it through the autumn, and I can tell you it comes down to six things.
A print you can open the door in
These don't look like nightwear. The prints are big and bold, the kind of thing you'd see on a kimono jacket in a nice shop, so you look dressed rather than caught out. The first week I had mine, the postman rang with a parcel and I opened the door without thinking. I haven't hidden behind a door since.
On my own front step, first cup of the morning. Not a bit of me wanted to hide.
The postman asked if I was off somewhere nice. I was in my dressing gown at half past eight.
Margaret K., SkiptonA front that sits neat all morning
There's a contrast band that runs round the neck and down the front in a flat V, like a kimono. It lies flat, it doesn't gape, and it doesn't slide off your shoulders while you're making the toast. On the red one it's teal, and that band is what makes it look chosen rather than grabbed off the hook.
The red one on the back of the bedroom door. The teal band is what catches people's eye.
It's the contrast edging that makes it. It looks smart, and it stays where it's put all morning.
Jean D., HarrogateA tie belt you wrap your own way
No buttons to fiddle with, no zip to catch. Just a tie belt you can wrap loosely or snugly, however you like it that day. It means the fit is forgiving, and there's room without it looking like a tent.
I'm a size 16 and there's plenty of room in the wrap. No pulling across the middle at all.
Susan B., RichmondSleeves that stay out of the washing up
The sleeves are three-quarter length, so they stop just below the elbow. No cuffs trailing through the butter, no sleeves dipping in the sink, no pushing them up every two minutes. If you do anything at all in the kitchen in the morning, you'll know why that matters.
The sleeves stay out of the way while I'm doing the breakfast things. I didn't realise how much the long ones annoyed me.
Pauline R., ThirskSoft and light, not a weight on your shoulders
The fabric is soft, light and breathable, and it falls just below the knee. It's not a towelling robe for getting out of the bath. It's something to live in for the first couple of hours of the day, with the heating on, without overheating by nine o'clock.
Folded on the kitchen table with the teapot.
Light enough to fold up small for a weekend away, too, which my fleece one never was.
I get far too warm in towelling. This is just right for wearing round the house.
Christine W., MaltonTwo proper pockets, and twenty-one designs
Two good-sized patch pockets, for your glasses, your phone and a tissue. And there are twenty-one designs, all the same price, so you choose the one you love rather than the one you can justify. I went back for the Isolde, a soft grey with golden ginkgo leaves, for every day, and ordered a third for my sister June for Christmas.
The pair of them on the bed. Ginkgo for every day, red for Christmas morning.
The pockets are a real bonus, and the colours are exactly as they look in the photos.
Valerie T., KendalThese robes, against the dressing gowns you've been buying
You can buy a dressing gown anywhere. I've bought plenty myself. Here's the difference, laid out plainly.
Made for the bathroom or the bedroom
Heavy and slow to dry
Long sleeves that trail in everything
Plain, or frilly
Something you hide behind the door in
Made for a morning with people in it
Soft, light and breathable
Three-quarter sleeves, out of the way
Bold prints and a contrast front band
Something you open the door in
About the price
Every design is £39.95 at the moment, down from £133.15, the same price whichever print you choose. They come in UK 10 to UK 16, delivery is free to the UK and Ireland, and you've 30 days to send it back if it's not for you.
The shop told me the sale is on while the winter stock lasts, and once a size has gone in a design, it won't be coming back this year. Their words, not mine. All I'll say is that I've paid more than that for a dressing gown I was embarrassed to be seen in.
I don't trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before ordering. Just over three hundred, averaging 4.2 stars, which sounded like real women rather than robots. The same things I've told you about kept coming up, in their own words.
If you're still coming down last so nobody sees you in your dressing gown, have a look while your size is still there. And if you're stuck for a Christmas present for a sister or a friend, this is it.
As for me, this Boxing Day I'll be first downstairs.
Linda
The Bathrobe Collection
- 21 designs, all at one price
- Including the red Avalon and the grey Isolde
- Kimono style with a contrast V band and tie belt
- Three-quarter sleeves and two patch pockets
- Soft, light and breathable
- UK 10 to UK 16 · Free UK & Ireland delivery
Sale on now. The winter stock is already going.