Velvet season

The term appeared in the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries in Imperial Russia when it was fashionable to vacation in the Crimea. According to Alexander Levintov, at the beginning of the twentieth century "velvet season" referred to several weeks in April and May, when the court and the royal family moved from St. Petersburg to the Crimea. Fur clothes were replaced with velvet, as the Crimea at this time was still cool. The summer in the Crimea was called calico season and September called plys season.[4]

Although its origins relate to the nobility, the velvet season came to have a more general meaning. It is better defined by the general public‘s tastes, behaviors, and morals than by those of the nobility. By the 1900s, people traveled for the velvet season because it was fashionable and they were hoping to meet people, rather than because the court was traveling.[5]

Although it has proven impossible to determine the exact point in time, at some point, the velvet season switched from referring to the spring to the fall, overlapping with the wool/silk seasons in August and September.[5]

Well-known Russian author Alexander Kuprin, described Velvet season in his 1914 short story "The Wine Barrel" (Винная Бочка):[5]

This is the golden days for Yalta, and, perhaps, for all of the Crimean coast. It lasts not more than a month and usually coincides with the last week of Great Lent, Easter and St. Thomas' Sunday. Some people come to get rid of sad necessity to do visits; others, as a newlywed, making their wedding trip; and the third, the majority, because in Yalta at this time gathers everything noble and rich, it is possible to express themselves with dress and beauty, strike up favorable acquaintances. The nature, of course, noticed by no one. And I must say that Crimea is truly beautiful in this early spring time, all in white and pink frame of blooming apple trees, almonds, pears, peaches and apricots, is not dusty, not malodorous, refreshed by magical sea air.