Get ready for a velvet revolution
THE early warning that velvet was in for a renaissance this autumn hit me between the eyes at London-based label Preen’s show, back in March.
There was a particular dark, rusty green, ruched dress, with a high neck and long sleeves, which did it.
The look was part old English eccentric (along the lines of poet Edith Sitwell), part Seventies groupie-girl.
It took me right back to the Seventies because that fabric was almost exactly the same colour as the first velvet skirt I botched together as a teenager, probably from a Laura Ashley pattern.
It was a maxi skirt made out of some fire-damaged curtains I found in a jumble sale in Bath. Never did lose its smoky whiff, but how I loved it.
Far away in Notting Hill — the West London hotbed of all that was hippy, alternative and bohemian — older and more sophisticated types were buying tons of velvet treasures in the shape of bias- cut Thirties gowns, opera cloaks and Jimi Hendrix- type military jackets hauled off Portobello Market.
It was the time of the glam retro-revival at Big Biba in Kensington High Street, inspired by the silver- screen movies of old Hollywood.
Top of the Pops was heaving with velvet at the time.
But I digress. The point is that it’s all back again. As I say, it was that Preen show that confirmed it for me.
GIVEN
that the label’s designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi are having a moment thanks to the brilliant red dress the Duchess of Cambridge wore in Canada, it’s quite possible Kate’s got something in velvet from them lined up for winter, too.
If she hasn’t, there’s a tiered black dress with a handkerchief-point hem called ‘ the Linesey’, which has diamante brooches embroidered along the neckline, sort of modern Queen Mum-style, that would tick any number of royal-occasion boxes.
However the key thing about this season’s velvet incarnation is that it’s rooted firmly in daywear. Rather than being reserved for evening gowns for the ladies and smoking jackets for the gentlemen, this rechannelling is, thank goodness, more adapted to everyday 21st- century life. After all it’s such a shame to let our decorative things go to waste, stored up in our wardrobes for an annual wear at the Christmas party. The ethos now is to bring it all out into the light.
On the High Street, I’ve been coveting a dark emerald tailored jacket and trousers from Topshop Unique which have sadly now sold out.
A good alternative would be the double breasted velvet jacket, £85, and the wide leg velvet trousers, £59, both from the M&S Autograph range. How to wear a velvet cocktail suit for day? A plan would be to split the jacket and trousers. The jacket would be exactly the thing to wear to elevate a pair of jeans. Put a silk blouse underneath and hey presto!
A part-formal, part casual look which has an off-hand elegance wholly suited to the sophistication of grown up women, not girls.
If a velvet suit is just a little too evocative of the early Seventies, then a velvet bias cut midi or maxi skirt (last seen in the mid-Nineties) could be recycled for day, worn with a sweater, tweed coat and boots. Try the maxi skirt, £ 49, at Kaleidoscope ( kaleidoscope.
co.uk) or the Ellis velvet skirt, £98, ( anthropologie.com).
And don’t forget that velvet also works brilliantly on footwear. Have a look at the Sadie heels, £175, ( katmaconie.com) and the Lucite heels in velvet, £268, ( jcrew.com), which have this season’s (eminently wearable) block heel.
If just a touch of velvet is enough for you, then consider Russell and Bromley’s statement bow flats, £ 175, ( russellandbromley.co.uk).
Anyone grown up enough to remember the platform boots that went with the original Seventies velvet craze will be pleased (or maybe horrified) to know that those are back, too.
Personally, I wouldn’t. Those are best left, with the flared velvet loon pants, in 1972.