Velvet has long been associated with luxury and wealth - the fabric of choice for kings and queens. It was made from silk and it was expensive to produce. Velvet originally has been linked to China, the Middle East and Egypt but it came along the Silk Road in the Middle Ages to Europe.
Renaissance Venice, Genoa and Florence were the hub for velvet production.
The industry was so lucrative and competitive weavers were not allowed to leave town, for fear of divulging the techniques of weaving velvet!
Such satiny, sumptuous, shimmering fabrics are hard to resist! Which is why the sumptuary laws were brought in the late Middle Ages to curb the conspicuous consumption that nobility are prone to. I’m not sure that approach will ever work but now velvet at least is more democratic! Thanks to mechanization and new materials to weave from.
But it still has that aura of luxury, style and old worldiness…..and in the middle of winter…warmth!