the.com/velvet
fabric so soft it convinced kings that touching it was a personality trait
means A woven fabric, traditionally of silk and now often cotton or synthetics, with a dense, short pile that gives it a soft, plush surface and a faint sheen.
from From Old French 'veluotte', built on Latin 'villus' meaning 'shaggy hair' or 'tuft' — the same root that gives us 'villous,' a word for anything hairy or fuzzy. So at its heart, velvet is just a very dignified way of saying 'this cloth has a nap of tiny standing tufts.' The luxury came later, when silk velvet became staggeringly expensive to weave; the etymology only ever promised you fuzz.
- weaving trick
- Pile woven double, then sliced apart mid-loom
- royal monopoly
- Sumptuary laws once banned commoners from wearing it
- deer origin
- Antler velvet is living, blood-rich growing bone
- Silk Road star
- Genoa and Venice grew rich weaving it
- underground sound
- The Velvet Underground sold few records, launched thousands of bands
the velvet underground — influential rock band formed in new york city in 1965 by lou reed and john cale
velvet revolution — peaceful uprising that ended communist rule in czechoslovakia in 1989
blue velvet — 1986 film by david lynch about a severed ear discovered in lumberton, north carolina