Adulthood is a splendid invention: at last, no permission is required. Astonishing how many women use that freedom to forbid themselves everything interesting.
You have mastered the adult virtues impeccably: paying on time, answering calmly, buying good wine and resisting the temptation to draw on important documents. The last one is particularly difficult. The margins are scandalously wide.
As a child, using four felt-tip pens at once meant the picture was important. In adult life, the same combination is somehow called “too many accents”. This is usually how envy sounds when it has been issued nothing but beige.
Red, blue, yellow and black appear here all at once — without a gentle introduction or professional approval. One shoulder is bare; the other has a wide openwork sleeve. The lightweight knit is made for summer, while the asymmetry provides just enough order to make the disorder look entirely deliberate.
Wear it back-to-front, and the sleeve, bare shoulder and broad areas of colour change places. Turn it inside out, and the seams and a different texture come to the surface. The length remains exactly the same. Even a small act of mischief deserves impeccable proportions.
No excuses. No revolutions. Just you, four felt-tip pens and, finally, margins of your own.