A Bit Regal

Posted on 07.06.10 to Fashion / Style by Lindsay

Velvet’s achieved it’s bad rep through decades of misuse.

Considering it’s prevalence in history, one would think that using such a rich and delicate fabric would have been executed a little more thoughtfully than a series of massive hammer pants and skin-tight tube dresses. C’est la vie – this is how we learn, I suppose.

I, personally, haven’t worn velvet since the years wherein my father would take me to monthly theatre productions in downtown Seattle – and even then, the velvet was minimal and barely noticeable, at best. Now that I think about it, that might have been my first dress-buying experience that I actually got to consciously participate in… Interesting.

Anyway. These days, velvet is in the middle of a fashion crossfire; it wants to come back (so bad!), but it’s torn between the pull of the 1980′s on our current trends, and the classic designs that are trying to oust the complete tackiness of the aforementioned era. What’s a fabric to do?

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time longer than, well, this post, you’ll likely know that I am vehemently anti-80s. I think that they were an experimental, yet deplorable era of fashion and should be remembered only as a “What happens when we all do too much cocaine” PSA.

That being said, I don’t think that velvet should be brought down just because there was a 10-12 year stint where it was so horribly abused that it was banished from closets for almost 15 years. I say it’s time for another chance.