Not many fabrics or materials that are used to make fabulous clothing are as stylish and pleasing to look at as velvet. The word “velvet” conjurs up images of softness, luxury, glamour and royalty.
Velvet can appear smooth to the touch and very victorious!
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving the material a distinctive, furry feel. When someone uses the word velvety, this is an adjective used to mean “smooth lke velvet.”
The phrase “as smooth as a velvet glove” has earned its reputation. Velvet slides onto the skin silky smooth, and feels slightly furry and fuzzy to the touch.
Velvet is used to make all types of clothing, from pants, to dresses, to skirts, to jackets, to hats, to shoes, to purses, to gloves, to shorts and beyond! Velvet is woven on a special loom that weaves two thicknesses of velvet at the same time. The two pieces are then cut apart to create the pile effect, and the two lengths of fabric are wound on separate take-up rolls.
Velvet Fun Fact: Velvet was expensive to make before industrial power looms became available. Velvet is difficult to clean because of its pile, but modern dry cleaning methods make cleaning velvet more feasible. Velvet pile is created by warp or vertical yarns and velveteen pile is created by weft or fill yarns. No matter how velvet is created, one must admit that the alluring fabric is created beautifully.
Velvet can be made from many different kinds of fibers, traditionally silk. Velvet that is made entirely from silk has market pieces of several hundred US dollars per yard. Cotton can also be used, though this often results in a slightly less luxurious fabric. Other fibers that can be used to make velvet materials are linen, mohair and wool.
Velvet pants are adorable! Velvet pants worn with feminine blouses and/or velvet jackets and blazers make for gorgeous fashion ensembles!
For those of you that want to work out in style, or dress casual chic for a shopping excursion in some high class but cozy duds, velvet sweat suits are the sassy way to go. Velvet sweats are the complete mixture of trendy and comfortable!
Traditionally, velvet is associated with nobility. Velvet was first introduced to Baghdad during the rule of Harun Al-rashid by Kashmiri merchants and to Al-Andalus by Ziryab. In the Mamluk era, Cairo was the world’s largest producer of velvet.
Velvet Fun Fact: In 1399, King Richard II of England directed in his will that his body should be clothed in velveto.
Dead or alive, velvet screams glamour.
Step out being kings and queens when your beautiful body is cloaked in classic velvet clothing!
Various Types of Velvet:
- Chiffon: Lightweight velvet on a sheer silk or rayon chiffon base.
- Crushed: Velvet where the pile uses cut and uncut loops to create a pattern.
- Devore: A velvet treated with a caustic solution to dissolve areas of the pile, creating a velvet pattern upon a sheer or lightweight base fabric.
- Embossed: A metal roller is used to heat-stamp the fabric, producing a pattern.
- Hammered: This type is lustrous, appears dappled and a bit crushed.
- Mirror: A type of exceptionally soft and light crushed velvet.
- Pile-on-Pile: A luxurious type of velvet woven with piles of differing heights to create a pattern.
- Plain: Commonly made of cotton, this type of velvet has a firm hand and can be used for many purposes.
- Velveteen: Imitation velvet normally made of cotton or a combination of cotton and silk.
- Wedding Ring or Ring Velvet: Another term for devore and/or chiffon velvets which are allegedly fine enough to be drawn through a ring.
Velvet is very versatile and very much in demand!
In addition to decorating yourself in the fantastic, scrumptious material that is velvet, why not let your accessories speak that you are indeed regal royalty?
How you view yourself and carry yourself is truly expressed through your clothing. So give a shout to velvet, and view yourself as being on top of the world! King or queen of the mountain (or the catwalk)!
The earliest sources of European artistic velvets were Lucca, Genoa, Florence and Venice, which continued to send out rich velvet textures! Rich, regal, royal and riveting never looked so velvety smooth.
Shimmer and shine your way into fashion forward finesse.
Velvet:
Sheer elegance,
Feminine and fancy,
Seductive and sensuous.
Get the velvet touch both soft and smooth as a velvet glove!
Vavavoom velvet!
Nancy Mangano is an American beauty/fashion/style influencer, fashion journalist, screenwriter and author of the Natalie North murder mystery book series. Visit Nancy on her global online fashion/style/beauty magazine Strutting in Style! at https://nancymariemangano.com, her Facebook page Nancy Mangano at https://www.facebook.com/nancymmangano/ Twitter @https://twitter.com/nancymangano and her author website http://www.nancymangano.com
