How to ‘wear’ Christmas part 2.

As promised, the Queen of Christmas fabrics - velvet.

Velvet is such a gorgeous opulent fabric. Not without its issues however. I have two velvet sofas at home. It stains like a bugger, attracts all the fluff to it and is very difficult to wear under a coat. HOWEVER, looks super cool.

So, how to wear it so you don’t look like my sofas.

It’s definitely a thick widening material so bear that in mind. Especially with trousers with side pockets as they stick out further on your hips.

A velvet suit – for both sexes – looks amazing. In darker colours – black, midnight blue, dark green or a deep wine red. Trousers for ladies can be cropped or wide and worn with heels or trainers. There is an awesome one at M&S, the trousers for which have totally sold out but I’m wearing the jacket in the cover picture. The reason I have fallen in love with it is because it’s relaxed in style and has 3/4 length sleeves which makes it easy to wear over anything.

Velvet dresses like this one is lovely because it is unexpectedly velvet if you see what I mean. I would expect this style to be in a lighter fabric, or even a corduroy. I love the slight back reveal too. And the fact that it’s dark green rather than the customary black.

Velvet shoes and boots are really gorgeous because again, they’re a bit unexpected. But, a bugger to keep clean. Especially on trainers – in my experience. Use a protector, you will thank me later.

Or a long velvet coat to be worn over an otherwise plain outfit can really lift. In fact, long coats of any sort of fabric add a great deal of drama. In a very swishy way.

For gentlemen, a velvet suit is quite bold but perfectly acceptable. However, a velvet blazer is a very very good thing to have in your wardrobe and not just for Christmas. This one I like due to the colour but they are widely available. And finally, a velvet scarf is very dandyish and that’s a good thing. It can be just the thing to lift an outfit, without full commitment.

Next up; stain and tulle. Definitely more challenging (especially for the gents) but there are ALWAYS solutions.