After last weekend’s storms I think we can safely say that the season has changed and it’s no longer a case of just playing around with ideas for autumn outfits. With that in mind I have a try-on for you which is going to focus mostly on using brown as a base – although for those of us who have a lot of blue in our wardrobes I have a strong navy option too. I’m looking at Boden today because their big AW25 drop landed last week and my goodness it’s a good one, so much so that I think we can say that Boden is most definitely back. Before I go into the detail of what’s going on there though I just want to apologise for there not being an option to comment after last week’s post. It was just an error on my part – I was working in a new page design and forgot to add the comments block on. It’s back today so if you had anything you wanted to ask just add it to your thoughts this week.
So, let’s recap on progress at Boden. You’ll remember that in 2023 they held their hands up saying they’d made the mistake of chasing trends, losing sight of who their core customer is and what she wants. They promptly discontinued menswear and returned to their heartland of quirky British style, focusing on quality classics with an updated twist. By the end of 2024 their profits had been restored from a loss of £12.3 million in 2023 to a profit of £34.6 million which is pretty impressive, especially in today’s climate. In the first half of 2025 sales have continued to grow by 9% and 300,000 new customers have been tempted in.
I’ve been enjoying watching their progress although as you know, a few times I’ve said that I was a bit concerned about how classic they might go. This latest collection however is just brilliant. I’m delighted that they’ve brought back one of my favourite ever pairs of trousers, they’re adding contemporary finishes such as brushed cashmere and the colour palette is stunning, with vibrant options for cool skintones as well as warm ones. It feels like a long time since I’ve loved almost everything in one of their new releases and it was hard to whittle it down to an edited capsule but here are my top picks for October.
You can still find navy
Quite a few navy lovers have been mourning its demise on the high street this season. Well there’s one place you can still find it and that’s at Boden. With their focus on giving the customer what she wants they’ve moved ahead with the fashionability of brown but they’ve kept navy options in their lines too. One of the pieces that jumped to the top of my list as soon as I saw it was this navy cropped jacket. I make no secret of the fact that I don’t like wearing coats and jackets. I find them restrictive and uncomfortable especially when I have to layer up underneath but living in the frozen north I have to wear them. I’m always looking for pieces that will move with my body and so when I saw this tailored jersey option I was instantly drawn to it. It’s a great cropped cut that will look great with both wide trousers and dresses/skirts. I’m wearing a 12 and it’s true to size.
By the way isn’t this a beautiful building? It’s known locally as the coffin because of its shape but it was originally built by a wine merchant and it features in the film Women In Love with Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed. More recently Sting took 40 of his music industry friends there to show them a proper Geordie pub and started an impromptu singalong.
Zip patch pocket jacket; Soft orange merino jumper; Clean jeans
Let’s get back to the jacket though, it has the London street map lining that Boden first introduced last winter to finish things off so beautifully and you’ll notice that on the exterior there’s white stitching detail which really gives it standout.
Zip patch pocket jacket; Soft orange merino jumper; Clean jeans
I’ve paired it with a soft jumper in my favourite high necked design. I find this sort of skimming style much more flattering on a loose-skinned midlife neck than one that clings and not being a double layered roll neck makes it less likely that you’ll overheat. It’s 100% merino wool so it doesn’t feel itchy and the shoulders are a raglan cut so they suit everyone, regardless of shoulder width. I’ve sized down to a small because I know I’ll want to wear it with skirts and wider leg trousers like these clean jeans which you’ve seen me wearing a few times. Just a reminder, it’s always worth having a pair of clean jeans in your wardrobe – they’re basically a trouser cut but in denim fabric which means you can dress them up or down more easily than ordinary five pocket jeans. The flat front and the slip pockets along with the deep indigo dye make them smarter than relaxed denim. I’m wearing a 12 regular and they’re a neat fit so if you’re in between sizes, go up.
Relaxed casual with chocolate brown
These are the trousers I was talking about in the introduction. Why are they so good? Because they’re velvet and so they give you the rich texture that chocolate brown needs and (most importantly) they’re cotton velvet and yet machine washable. I used to live in Boden’s wide leg velvet trousers when the boys were little – and brown was always a good choice with three sets of muddy fingers. They’re a great cut because they aren’t too baggy at the top, the width in the leg starts further down and yet it isn’t a flare. The only issue I have with them is that in the regular they’re just a fraction too short for me which is unusual for Boden trousers – the standard is usually the perfect length. However I’d prefer them to be just an inch longer for wearing with flats. Otherwise they’re fabulous with slight stretch in the fabric and a comfortable fit on me in a size 12.
Cable knit jumper; Velvet trousers
I’ve paired them with a 100% merino cable knit jumper and I like the fact that the button detail picks up the brown of the trousers. Once again it has my favourite raised neck style, it sits a little closer than the orange jumper does but you do have the option of loosening the buttons as shown in the model pictures at Boden. As I’m wearing it with wide legs I’ve sized down and I think it was the right thing to do on this one. If you wear your trousers slim and cropped, go for a bigger size.
We had to find shelter to take this photo and every day’s a school day with Midlifechic so here’s another little snippet of local context for you. I’ve talked about the glory of Newcastle station before but did you know that it was the first covered station in the UK? It was such an innovation that Queen Victoria visited to open it in 1850 which was quite a big deal because the year before she’d stopped off briefly on her way home from Balmoral to launch the High Level Bridge. A big celebration had been organised with a party to follow but she declined to stay, leaving the high fliers of Newcastle with a gala event but no guest of honour. Those of us who spend a lot of time with Geordies know that they like to get value for money… so they went ahead with their party anyway but sent her the bill… and she was not amused! After that she apparently ordered the train’s blinds to be closed whenever she passed through Newcastle on her way to Scotland so that she didn’t have to set eyes on the offending city. And in her will she left Newcastle two pairs of her rather large bloomers!
Contrasting textures and colours
Actually I'm in another lovely old spot here, the former house and studio of Thomas Bewick who wrote and carved all of the wood block engravings for A History of British Birds which was one of the first ornithology reference books to be published in 1797.
It's still in print to this day and as well as the hardback it's even available to buy on Kindle – I can imagine sitting in this little library room of his and trying to explain that to him! His rather magnificent home is now a lovely pub and on another very blustery autumn day it was a great place to shelter, huddled in Boden's new brushed cashmere.
And actually when I put this outfit on I felt I was channelling Virginia Woolf who famously loved a cardigan as well as lace and velvet so this once literary dwelling was the right place for these photographs. As you can see I'm wearing the chocolate velvet trousers again because I want to show how easy it is to switch brown around as a neutral. If you don't want to feel too 'brown and down' then a contrast with unusual shades like this can lift it and have more impact than if you paired them with more predictable navy – although that would still work. I'm looking forward to pairing brown with soft mint green, rounded pinks, orange sorbet shades and Dutch blues too.
Brushed cashmere cardigan; Broderie blouse; Brown velvet trousers
Unfortunately I’m not the only one to have seized upon this cardigan and it sold out within days so it’s going to be a case of stalking the site if you want one in this purple shade although it’s still available in mink here – I’m wearing a medium and it’s the right size. It feels warmer than ordinary cashmere but that could be psychological, it’s such a comforting thing on a cold day.
The blouse is cream rather than white and so it tones better with a lot of warm winter colours (as well as being kinder to faded winter complexions). The broderie detail goes all the way down the sleeve and while other brands are cutting corners that’s the attention that Boden is paying to its designs. This and the flourish on the cuffs makes all the difference when you’re pairing a blouse with a cardigan or a tank top – it’s the extra trim that makes an outfit stand out. I’m wearing the blouse in a size 12 which is the right fit.
Day to evening with a difference
I loved everything I tried for this post but this outfit was my favourite. It’s one of those looks that you could wear day or night, it just depends on the accessories that you choose. It would take you to work, for a relaxed lunch in a pub, to the theatre, to a party – or to all of those things if you were having a particularly stellar day! You know I love column dressing so I decided to go head to toe in chocolate with the trousers you’ve already seen paired with the matching jacket and a velvet blouse in a tone just a couple of shades deeper.
The jacket is good quality cotton velvet and a longer, leaner line than Boden have done before so it would look good worn more casually with jeans as well.
Brown velvet jacket; Brown velvet blouse; Brown velvet trousers
Once again it has the London street map lining but this time in sleek satin so it slips on and off smoothly. The velvet blouse has sparkly diamanté buttons – coincidentally a couple of weeks ago I was wearing the first piece of cashmere that I ever bought. It was from Boden and it was a pink cardigan with just the top button in diamanté like this. The middle one asked me why they hadn’t made all of the buttons sparkly and I replied that it was probably too expensive… and then out comes this blouse with the detail all the way down. It goes to show once again that not all quality is declining but it’s another piece that’s selling out fast, be quick.
Brown velvet jacket; Brown velvet blouse; Brown velvet trousers
When it comes to the length of the trousers, in this outfit they’re exactly right. When I’m wearing an elegant shoe that I want to show off then I like the hem to sit slightly higher like this. And I’ll finish with one more location based fact… I’m on the edge of Newcastle University here which is famed for many interesting things but my favourite is that it holds the Geordie Voice Bank – a digital archive of the dialect for future generations… perhaps I should send my MIL in there to talk to them about vegetables…
Brown velvet jacket; Brown velvet blouse; Brown velvet trousers
It was a real pleasure pulling the outfits together for this post, there were so many different ways I could have mixed and matched the new collection – Boden is most certainly back. I dread winter clothes but when you can indulge in sumptuous textures and rich colours then they start to lift the darker, colder days. There’s currently 15% off the new collection with code WXVK at checkout.
With fond memories of Dame Jilly Cooper
I don’t usually mention the sadder things that are happening in the news but I can’t sign off today without paying tribute to Dame Jilly Cooper who died after a fall this week and, as you know, had a special place in my heart. It’s almost exactly a year since I had the pleasure of spending time with her at Disney’s launch of Rivals when we reminisced about a long and emotional afternoon we had together 30 years earlier. She was so inspiring as an older woman who, having weathered life’s storms, still continued to sparkle with vitality and mischief. I’m sad that she’s gone but glad that she had what she told me was a ‘juicy’ life. When I asked her what advice she’d give to a woman in midlife she urged me to embrace love and passion wildly and never allow age to get in the way of it. So I pass that on to you as a final message from Jilly this weekend, knowing that she’d be delivering it with her beautiful, salacious smile!
