I Thought Velvet Was for Younger Women. Then I Turned 63.

It is the softest thing I own, it goes over everything, and not once have I had to take it to the dry cleaner.

By Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Posted August 2026 · 5 min read

I had written velvet off completely. Every piece I ever tried on was one of two things: so heavy it sat on my shoulders like a curtain, or so shiny it caught the light in a way that made me feel costumed rather than dressed. And every single one had a label inside telling me it needed dry cleaning, which in my house means it hangs in the closet unworn until I feel guilty enough to throw it out.

What I actually wanted was very ordinary. Something soft enough to wear on a Tuesday. Something with a bit of warmth to it now that the evenings turn, that I could put on over what I was already wearing and look like I had thought about it. Not a special-occasion thing. Something that covers the parts of me I would rather not think about, without hanging on me like a bag.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to stop settling and try one from a small family boutique here in South Carolina — a velvet shirt light enough for everyday, that goes in the machine. Before I tell you what it did, I think you should read the Clarke family's letter first.

The Clarke family runs a small boutique here in South Carolina, family-run since 1986 — three generations, mother to daughter. The shirt is called the Marisol, and their letter walks through the handful of things they refused to compromise on. I am going to let their words carry it, because they say it better than I could.

1They Refused to Make It Heavy

"Most velvet is built for one evening a year. It is dense, it is lined, and it weighs on the shoulders — which is exactly why it lives at the back of the closet. The Marisol is cut from a light stretch velvet with a soft, short nap, and there is no lining in it at all. It has the warmth and the depth of colour you buy velvet for, and almost none of the weight. Women tell us they forget they put it on. That is the whole point. A fabric this pretty should not be something you have to plan your day around."

2The Pattern Is Pressed Into the Velvet, Not Printed On It

"Look closely and you will see a soft floral running through the cloth. It is not printed — it is pressed into the pile, so it is the same colour as the rest of the shirt and shows only where the light catches it. That is why the Marisol reads as expensive from across a room and quiet up close. It also solves the problem with cheap velvet, which is glare. A flat, shiny velvet throws light straight back at you. This one has texture to break it up, so it glows instead of shines. You get the richness without looking like you are dressed for a function."

3It Had to Be a Real Shirt, With Real Buttons

"We could have made this a pull-on top and saved ourselves the trouble. We did not, because a proper collar and a proper button front are what let one piece do three jobs. Buttoned to the top with the collar up, it is a shirt. Left open over a tee, it is a light jacket. Half open with the sleeves pushed back, it is what you wear around the house on a cold morning. The collar is a soft pointed shirt collar that sits well whether it is open or closed, and the buttons are round and brown and warm against the colour — no cold metal, no snaps, nothing fiddly for hands that ache in the winter."

4The Hem Had to Cover, and the Shoulder Had to Drop

"Two decisions do most of the work here. The shoulder seam is dropped well past the natural shoulder, so nothing pulls when you reach and the whole shirt hangs from you rather than gripping you. And the hem is cut in a curve — level at the front, dipping lower at the sides and back. That curve is deliberate. It means you can wear it over leggings, or over a pair of trousers you are not entirely sure about, and be covered exactly where you want to be. Roomy through the body, but shaped enough at the hem that it never reads as a sack."

5The Cuffs Are Ribbed, So the Sleeves Stay Put

"A wide velvet sleeve with an open end drags through everything — the sink, the stove, the car door. So the Marisol gathers into a soft ribbed knit cuff at the wrist. It holds the sleeve where you put it without gripping your arm, and it lets you push the sleeve up to the elbow and have it stay there while you cook. It is the least glamorous detail on the shirt and it is the one women write to us about. And yes — it goes in the machine on a cool wash. Hang it to dry and the nap comes back on its own. There is no dry-cleaning label in this shirt because we would not put one in."

6Five Colors, and a Size for You — S to 2XL.

The Marisol comes in five colors, and the one you see me wearing is the dusty rose pink. Whichever you choose, the depth of the velvet does something that flat cotton simply cannot — it holds the colour rather than sitting on top of it. The sizing runs  S,  M, L, XL and 2XL, and it is cut generously through the body on purpose, so if you are between sizes take the smaller one. The dropped shoulder means it will not feel tight across the back whichever size you land on.

The Marisol, against your usual velvet top

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Marisol at $169.95 when it launched, and it sold at that price all season. But for America's 250th, the Clarke family wanted to give something back to the women who have kept their doors open since 1986 — so every shirt is going out at $59.95, a third of what it was.

Mine came in a soft mailer with a folded note in it, and I will admit I opened the tissue paper and just put my hand flat on the velvet before I did anything else. Then I put it on over the shirt I was already wearing, and that was the end of my plans for changing.

I am sixty-three and I had genuinely decided that velvet was for other people. It turns out it was never velvet I had a problem with — it was heavy velvet, shiny velvet, and velvet that punishes you with a dry-cleaning bill. Take those three things away and what is left is the softest, warmest, easiest thing hanging in my closet. If you have been telling yourself the same story I was, this is the one I would send you to — and I would not wait, because the pink went first last time.

— Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, SC

This is a personal account from a Clarke Family customer. Sandra was not paid to write it. · The Clarke Family · Family Fashion · South Carolina, since 1986 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.