13 Easy & Affordable Ways to Refresh Your Holiday Look with Velvet

This image is no longer available

Perhaps no other fabric can boast a pedigree synonymous with luxury, royalty and decadence quite like velvet. Here, easy and wallet-friendly ways to update your look—and your home—this holiday season.

Whether or not it’s because of these trying times, designers have offered up an array of this soothing, feel-good material for fall, and it was seen all over the runways—from edgy labels like Givenchy to artsy Dries Van Noten and ultra-feminine Alberta Ferretti.

While velvet might have had an elitist pedigree—available only to the church or nobility during the Italian Renaissance (though there is evidence the fabric dates back to 2000 BC in Egypt)—today’s technology has helped render it more democratic and has helped make the fabric adaptable for just about anything and almost at every price point.

During the 1920s, flappers went crazy for the decadent-looking fabric. By the 1970s, velvet was embraced by the dandies and disco grooving set. But perhaps it was during the 1990s—which showed how versatile the fabric had become—when the grunge movement took to mixing velvet dresses with their plaid flannel shirts and torn jeans. 

Today the fabric remains a classic, but this season the swanky fabric seems to be more in abundance. Not just available in the requisite evening blazer that you can find in any mall store, but the material now cover shoes, booties, purses and earrings.  You can even find velvet sunglasses.  Yes, there is such an item now—in case you need your temples caressed. And perhaps the biggest change surrounding velvet today is the the glamourous material is now worn during the day. 

Since it’s sumptuous to the touch, it also makes sense that velvet should decorate your home—and not just for drapes. You can luxuriate on velvet chairs, pillows and blankets, as well.

Viva la velvet!

Scroll through our favourite velvet picks for the holiday season. 

MARRAKECH, MOROCCO - DECEMBER 04: Marisa Berenson attends the 16th Marrakech International Film Festival : Day Three on December 4, 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco. (Photo by Dominique Charriau/WireImage)

Marisa Berenson takes velvet  back to its opulent roots. Wearing a velvet coat – and velvet flats – the actress takes a stroll down the red carpet at the 16th Marrakech International Film Festival earlier this month.

Velvet jacket, $159 and matching pant, $89.90, at zara.com

Velvet bow clutch, $180.40, Anntaylor.com

 

Wesley Rose swivel chair, $1199, mobilia.ca

Velvet drop earrings, $62, Banana Republic

 

Velvet bodysuit, $45.90, at zara.com

Velvet zippered clutch, $22.94, Old Navy.

 

SHOE

Miu Miu velvet flats, $885, Holt Renfrew and HoltRenfrew.com

Velvet dress, $49.99, H&M and hm.com (available in plus-size)

Velvet pumps, $90, Aldo and aldoshoes.com (clip-on pompom sold separately)

Velvet cami, $115, J.Crew and jcrew.com

Velvet bootie, $79.90, Express and express.com

 

Velvet bedspread double, $179, H&M Home and hm.com

Velvet platform shoes, $88, Express and express.com