The luxury fabrics they use now do seem such a minefield, although in most cases its just a more extreme way of covering their backs in case of laundry damage than the old ‘dry clean only’ labels were. I do think you’re right that toast are assuming that the velvet skirt would be worn very occasionally, even though they’ve styled it with a jumper and brogues.
In my experience ‘dry clean only’ and ‘do not wash’ labels are used because a lining would react differently to washing than the outer would - acetate linings, for instance - will shrink at a different rate to its wool or cotton garment and go dull if washed, although in this case the skirt isn’t lined so its not that. Its mostly to prevent claims. There are many people who throw everything into the machine on 40 or 60 after every wear - which certainly wouldn’t do a luxury fabric any good.
Barring things like metallic or fire resistant finishes its extremely rare for a fabric to not be washable, but you can’t throw everything in the machine. Sometimes fabrics are not quite the same even after careful washing, but are not actually damaged. I’ve never had a disaster washing cotton velvet (done it many times for work) but either ‘soak and roll’ without really touching the garment or use my fancy German washing machine that can do a cold handwash much more gently than I can.
@AmethystMoonShine Yes, I’d hang velvet up and steam it with a few blasts from my steam iron then use an old fashioned clothes brush or one of those red velvet lint pads to raise the pile, then let it dry completely before touching it.
Seriously considering buying that skirt now, although how many navy A line skirts can a girl own?