The Fashion Statement: A Velvet Revolution

by Kristin Young (RSS feed)
Jul 30th 2009 at 9:00AM

Velvet usually comes out of mothballs about once a year: the holidays. Other than that, the fabric that has always stood for wealth and luxury tends to spend more time on settees and chaises than on warm bodies. That is, until now.

Velvet's not so underground anymore thanks to European and American designers who used bolt after bolt of it in the fall 2009 collections. And each one has manipulated the short dense pile into much more than just eveningwear.

Ralph Lauren, Fendi and Bottega Veneta created velvet rose-colored cap-sleeved frocks, neutral strapless cocktail dresses and burnt-orange slouchy day dresses, respectively. Chloé, Sonia Rykiel and Ralph Lauren went for velvet harem pants, mostly in dark green and black. Gianfranco Ferré, Lanvin and Elie Saab blew fashion watchers away with their long black velvet gowns with structured cap sleeves à la the '40s.

Aquilano.Rimondi-a new talented design duo from Italy-draped, cut and sewed bright red velvet into a belted cocoon coat-dress that hits just above the knee. Superb.

But if two designers can turn velvet into a full-blown trend of the season, it's Miuccia Prada and Marc Jacobs. Interestingly enough, both fashion forces took some yellow with their velvet.

Jacobs ran with the '80s-the decade he first hit the fashion scene- with neon yellow cocktail dresses like the one pictured above. Another yellow cocktail dress wraps its wearer like a mummy in wide-bands of velvet. (Fergie took this look out for a spin on the red carpet recently, only in electric blue.)

Prada reached back to a darker mood in the '40s and came up with a more toxic shade of yellow. This disconcerting yellow hovering somewhere between poison and putrid was made into a deep V-neck and stitched to a tweed skirt. Burned-out velvet made appearances on double-breasted coats and V-neck dresses (sometimes awkwardly topped with fur).

Gallery: The Fashion Statement, 07/30/09

The last time we saw this much velvet was in the mid-'90s when Madonna was photographed in blue velvet hipsters by Tom Ford for Gucci. Gwyneth Paltrow followed suit with a head-to-toe red velvet pantsuit, also by Ford for Gucci.

Some 15 years have gone by which is just about enough time for velvet to feel fresh again. And it does.

Most of us mere mortals will feel comfortable wearing a small velvet accent. "For fall, one of our must-have items for ready-to-wear is the legging in velvet," Colleen Sherin, Saks Fifth Avenue's fashion market director, told me the other day. "It can be worn under a tunic with a strong shoulder."

Personally, I see a dark navy velvet blazer in my future.

How will you wear velvet?

Tags: Aquilan.Rimondi, Bottega Veneta, BottegaVeneta, Chloe, Elie Saab, ElieSaab, Gianfranco Ferre, GianfrancoFerre, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, MarcJacobs, Prada, Ralph Lauren, RalphLauren, Sonia Rykiel, SoniaRykiel, velvet