Thanks! Mike T sent me a note that the 17th century women's version
might be like the bedgown-like garment in Vermeer's Woman Holding a
Balance; the French written sources my online search turned up all
were versions of the one C. sent (below), from which it is hard to
tell if the women's
English and North American, no, but I've seen two portraits of Marie Antoinette
wearing what could only be velvet.
Perhaps the writer didn't mean an article of clothing in velvet. In my
understanding of the phraseology of the time (which is vague at best) wearing
velvet could just mean a
