Speaking as someone who owns quite a number of original silk velvet
garments from the 19th and early 20th centuries:
The length of the pile, and the drape of the velvet, have nothing to do
with the fiber content.
The modern silk/rayon velvets currently popular for "burnout" designs
have the same drape as, and don't look too different from, the silk
"chiffon velvets" often used in the 1920s.
Victorian velvets tend to be heavier. There is a type of (usually brown)
silk velvet, or silk plush, which was heavily used to imitate sealskin
for outer garments. It has a distinctly longer pile than chiffon velvet,
and is much heavier in weight (and warmer). It is quite an attractive
and plausible fake fur.
A somewhat lighter and shorter-piled silk velvet was made in any number
of colors for non-"sealskin" outer garments. It was also woven in
designs onto silk satin backgrounds for the same purposes.
Victorian dress velvets were shorter piled, closer to what we think of
as a velveteen length, and somewhat lighter. Still, for a style with a
lot of yardage, garments made from them can be quite heavy and hot.
Although rayon does not have to be shiny, modern rayon velvets tend to
be very shiny, excessively so for my taste. Silk velvet has a mild
sheen, considerably less than the modern 100% rayon, and only slightly
more than a good modern cotton velvet. The latter is a better
approximation of a Victorian velvet than most rayon velvets.
Fran
Lavolta Press Books on Historic Costuming and Vintage Clothing
http://www.lavoltapress.com
It doesn't look or feel very luxurious,
has a short pile, and doesn't have much sheen at all. I'm kind of hoping
that I have a swatch of a different velvet from them, because I've been
hoping for a nice silk velvet for a while and if that's what it's
like... sigh. If my swatch isn't the 100% silk velvet, I'll order a
swatch of this stuff and test it.
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