In Praise of Velvet Pockets

Living in North Carolina I don’t have need for lots of winter outer wear. Some winters I don’t even pull out a real cold weather coat. Because of this light demand for heavy coats I have kept my thirty five year old long fur coat to wear only on the coldest days. It does not really matter that it is terribly out of style and much too big because I really only wear it when it is so cold out that I am so bundled up from head to toe that you can’t recognize me.

I know there are plenty of people who are opposed to fur and all I have to say to them is these animals that gave their life for my warmth are being put to the fullest use since I plan on keeping this coat for at least another thirty-five years.

The thing I like best about my old coat is that the pockets are made of velvet and are the coziest and softest part of the coat. It makes me wonder why all coats don’t have velvet pockets; to me it is the biggest selling point.

Now pockets are sometimes an after thought in fashion, but in coats they are practically mandatory. For such a vital feature of a garment I wish that all manufacturers paid them more attention. Yes, it is easiest to fashion a pocket out of the same silky material the lining is made out of, but then you have a flimsy shell of a material that seems to hold the cold rather than velvet, which feels warm to the touch, no matter the temperature.

Yes, velvet is a little bulkier than silk lining, but on a coat that little bit more thickness should not make that much difference. It is not like I am advocating lining thin cotton shorts with velvet pockets that would add bulk to your hips.

The other feature of my old coat’s velvet pockets is that they are very deep. Not so deep that I have to stoop over to reach the keys inside my pocket, but deep enough that I can walk with a bare hand inside the velvet case and never feel one wisp of cold winter wind. This makes my old coat the perfect garment for walking the dog late at night when I can’t find my gloves and the long ago set sun has given way to nighttime low temps.

As long North Carolina is going to get one or two weeks of unseasonably cold weather I am going to cherish my old fur coat with the perfect pockets. I see no need for a new one that I would just wear to walk the dog, but why do away with something that makes me so happy on these ridiculously freezing days and nights. As much as I love my coat and it’s velvet pockets I am read to hang it back up in the hall closet until next year or the year after that and go back to some fifty-degree February days. Just because I have the right coat does not mean I need to use it.