IN WINTERS past people dressed appropriately for the weather. It's not that these days we no longer feel the cold, it's more about our overheated homes and work spaces.
Therefore, if you're a fan of cosiness, these velvet fashions from granny's time will certainly impress during this usually cold month of February, as we hover between winter and spring.
Maybe I love velvet because I want to return to my eight year old self, when my mother bought me a burgundy coloured velvet dress for parties, but of course it could be now that I am old, it might just have something to do with wanting to return to vintage fashions. To relive this fantasy I purchased some charming photographs which had been captured at the studio of Horace Dudley.
Now, to be honest, you have to agree, you would like to turn back the clock and slip into a little number as warm and cosy as this luxurious velvet dress (top right)? This shows a young lady posing thoughtfully next to a vase of roses, probably taken during the early twenties.
Maybe she was about thirteen, but her velvet dress reminded me of one I wore as an eight year old, even the lozenged-shaped buttons are the same. I wonder was it a deep to burgundy shade? Over the past year or so I have had to accept there are items in my wardrobe that must be dismissed from my "new" old life forever. Or, I'll be at risk of being one of those terrifying old girls who only looks young from behind.
Ladies, I am sure you will agree some clothes look dreadful once you're over the hill. And velvet is one of those "dodgy" fashions that is only acceptable as a very beautiful jacket, and not a tracksuit. No-one wants to be called an ageing swinger. So if I was tempted I would wonder if others thought I was doing it for a dare? However, if you are of a certain age, it's easy to recall the years of female enpowerment in the "Seventies," when ladies lounged in velvety tracksuits, because they had been enticed by the allure of crushed velvet worn by the pop group Abba. Although, most of us remember that this fashion really harks back to this era when "keep fit" had become part of our healthy lifestyles.
Velvet had been replaced by Velour, a nasty synthetic material, that as we thrashed about doing aerobics, its body hugging nature turned it into a sauna.
This leisurewear was a nightmare, but at least we lost a few pounds in weight.
During the Seventies velvet was everywhere in our lives. We sat on three piece suites upholstered in brown corded velvet, stretch "Velveteen" covers were pulled over well worn car seats, even "Medallion Men" tucked their shirts into velvet flared trousers. While some girls were tugging on crushed velvet shorts their mothers pulled on pleated velvet hats for weddings. Respectable rich girls were wearing punk evening dresses with artistically made velvet bodices which caused sweaty pleasures at the disco. But, we were "Dancing Queens" looking for "Saturday Night Fever."
Strange, isn't it, about ten years ago velvet returned to the fashion scene in pastel-hues? However it never really caught on, as gorgeous girls looked as though they were wearing over-sized baby grows when they tottered around in their new tracksuits. Did they want to be a kid again dressed in baby pink velour, and twiddling their long, baby blonde hair? Oh, well, I wanted to be an eight year old; and at least no one would dare to wear sweat-bands.
However, I did surprise myself recently, when I did have a desire for a black velvet dress, but I couldn't find anything as velvety as the ones worn by this mother and her daughter pictured in their garden at Walsall. In any case, I couldn't possibly afford such a beautifully made dress. Both dresses had been tucked, gathered, and manoeuvres of cotton velvet had enhanced the waistlines of each lovely lady.
Once even little boys could be seen wearing velvet knickerbockers, and tootight velvet jackets with lace collars.
These boys were often the privileged upper classes who had the strictest, most regimented upbringing. Such a boy might have all the blessings of wealth, which included a bicycle. Therefore they needed trousers suitable for the job of riding. And yet you may ask yourself what on earth are these three lively young men doing wearing knickerbockers at their age. They had certainly expanded the boundaries of wearing velvet. You may imagine they are prancing in adult plus fours, and velvet berets for a bet, but no, they had a perfectly acceptable reason for behaving in such a bright and dizzy way while wearing such daring fashion. It was the "Twenties," the mood of the jazz age was frivolous and the pace was hectic. It amused, rather than embarrassed them as they starred in "Patience" with the "Wolverhampton Amateur Comedy Operatic Society."
Just shows how some first impressions can be quite unreliable. These bright young men obviously had spent their evenings in an orgy of dance on stage at Wo l v e r h amp t o n ' s Grand Theatre.
Patience is an unknown musical comedy to most of us; it appears from this photograph to be humorous, but maybe a little camp.
The women of the Twenties also had a soft spot for the allure of velvet. The frivolous, scantily clad, jazzing flapper adopted the velvet cape for evening wear to cover up her plunging neckline and whirl of fringes. Even their mothers mimicked the craze with their swagged and pleated velvet curtains, and crushed velvet, fringed tablecloths. It may sound very sombre, but some people copied this in the Seventies with flocked wallpaper and velvet door curtains to keep out the cold. Not everyone had central heating even then.
Velvet may seem to be the height of bad taste these days, but the advantage is, if we lived with it and decided to wear it, perhaps we could turn down the throbbing thermostat on the boiler!
