Every year around now the same question comes up, and it is almost never asked the right way round.
People ask which is more special, satin or velvet. That is the wrong question, because both are, and the answer just becomes whichever one you happened to see first.
The better question is what the room is doing. Because satin and velvet are not two versions of the same idea. They are opposites. One throws light back at you and one swallows it. Everything else follows from that.
What each material actually does with light
Satin reflects
Satin has a flat, tight weave with a smooth face. Light hits it and bounces. That is the whole effect.
It means satin changes constantly as you move. Standing still it reads as one clean block of colour. Walking, it breaks into highlights along every curve of the shoe. Under a camera flash it goes bright, which is why it photographs so well and why it has been the wedding and awards material for eighty years.
It also means satin needs light to work. In a dim room a satin shoe loses most of what makes it interesting and reads as a plain coloured shoe.
Velvet absorbs
Velvet is the opposite construction. Thousands of short fibres standing upright, catching light and holding it rather than returning it.
The result is depth. A black velvet reads as a deeper black than any other black you own, because it is not reflecting anything back. Colours in velvet look saturated in a way flat fabrics cannot manage.
Velvet does not need bright light. It performs at its best in low, warm light, which is exactly the condition where satin gives up. Candlelight, lamps, a restaurant at nine.
Which one suits the room you are going to
This is the practical version of the same thing.
Take satin to bright rooms and to anything photographed. A wedding reception with high windows. A party with overhead lighting. Anywhere there will be a camera. Satin is built for those conditions and it is why bridal has never moved off it.
ALLEGRA in pink satin is the version of this that works past the event itself, because the pink is soft enough to carry into a dinner or an evening out rather than living in a box between weddings. The wrap-around ankle lace holds the foot properly for a long day on your feet.
LUNA in chilli red satin is the louder answer. Red satin under bright light is the most visible a shoe gets, which is either the point or it is not. The double-wrap ankle strap with a gold-tone buckle gives it more structure than the colour suggests.
Take velvet to dark rooms and to winter. Dinners. Bars. December. Anything after dark, indoors, with warm lighting.
STELLA in black velvet is built exactly for that setting. It is a pointed mule on a 10cm heel, and the one piece of decoration is a crystal sitting where the satin strap crosses the foot. In a dim room that crystal is the only thing that moves. That restraint is the reason it works.
There is a second argument for velvet that nobody makes often enough. It reads as more expensive than it is, because the depth of colour is doing work that on other materials would require embellishment.
The honest part: how each one fails
Both of these materials have a specific weakness. Anyone selling you one without mentioning it is not being straight with you.
Satin marks with water
A drop of water on satin leaves a ring when it dries. Not always, and not on every satin, but often enough that you should plan around it.
This makes satin a shoe you arrive in rather than one you walk in. Car to door. Taxi to venue. If the forecast is wet and you are walking any distance, the satin stays home and something else goes on your feet.
Satin also scuffs against rough surfaces more easily than leather does, because there is no grain to hide the damage. Kerbs and metal chair legs are the usual culprits.
Velvet crushes
Velvet's pile can be flattened by pressure, and once a patch is crushed it catches light differently to the area around it. You see it as a mark even though nothing has stained.
This mostly happens in storage, not in wear. A velvet shoe with something stacked on top of it for three months will come out marked.
Velvet also collects dust, because the pile holds it the same way it holds light.
How to look after both
Neither of these is difficult. Both take about a minute.
For satin: keep the shoes in a dust bag, away from direct light and heat, because sustained sunlight will fade the colour unevenly. Treat marks immediately with a dry cloth and nothing wet. Do not attempt to clean a satin shoe with water, because you will make the ring larger rather than removing it. Store away from anything that could rub.
For velvet: never stack anything on top of them. Store upright with room around them. Dust with a soft brush in one direction, following the pile rather than working against it. If a patch has been crushed, holding it briefly over steam and then brushing the pile back up will usually lift it.
Both styles are lined in leather and built on a leather sole, which matters more than the upper for how the shoe ages. Leather softens to the shape of your foot and lets it breathe. A synthetic lining does neither, and it is the single most common corner cut in party shoes because nobody looks inside a shoe in a photograph. More on that in why Italian-made heels are worth it.
Cost per wear, which is the real question
Here is the part that decides it for most people.
Velvet has a wider season and a narrower use. It works from October through February and it works almost exclusively after dark. Inside that window it goes with everything, because deep black or deep colour sits under any outfit you own.
Satin has a narrower season and a wider use. It works year round, and it crosses from day into evening in a way velvet does not. A satin shoe goes to a summer wedding, an autumn dinner and a spring event. A velvet one does not go to any of those in daylight.
So the honest count comes out roughly level, and it depends entirely on your calendar.
If your year has three or four bright daytime events in it, weddings especially, satin earns more wears. If your year is mostly dinners and evenings out, velvet does.
If you can only have one
Take the velvet.
Not because it is the better material, but because black velvet in a pointed shape is the closest thing to a shoe you cannot get wrong. It goes with tailoring, with a slip dress, with denim in December. It does not fight anything.
Satin is the more beautiful shoe and the more specific one. It rewards you when the occasion matches it and sits in the wardrobe when it does not. That is a fine thing to own second. It is a harder thing to own only.
The exception is if there is a wedding in your diary. Then it is satin, and the question answers itself.
Getting the fit right
Party shoes get worn for longer stretches than almost anything else in your wardrobe, so size is not the place to compromise.
DAVESINO runs EU sizes, which convert to UK and US on every product page. The full table and how to handle being between sizes is in the heel size guide.
Shipping is free worldwide and returns are open for 14 days, so trying the size at home is the sensible route rather than guessing from a chart.
Questions
Can you wear satin shoes in the rain?
No. Water marks satin and the marks are difficult to remove once dry. If there is rain forecast and any walking involved, wear something else and change at the venue.
Can velvet shoes be worn in summer?
They can, but they will read as out of season in daylight. Velvet indoors after dark works in any month. Velvet in June sunshine does not.
How do you get a mark out of satin?
Gently, dry, and immediately. A soft dry cloth, light pressure, no water. Water is what caused the mark in most cases and adding more spreads it. For anything serious, a shoe repairer who works with satin is a better bet than a home attempt.
Is velvet harder to look after than satin?
No, it is easier. Velvet's problem is storage and dust, both of which are solved by a dust bag and not stacking anything on top. Satin's problem is water, which you cannot control once you leave the house.
Which is better for a wedding?
Satin, in almost every case. Weddings are bright, long, photographed and often partly outdoors in daylight, and that is precisely the condition satin is built for.
Read next: How to Style Colourful Heels · Why Italian-Made Heels Are Worth It · Find Your Heel Size
