I understand that modern outer layers are more functional. A leather jacket, for example, can be dressed up or down so as to be worn in a variety of situations. It is also better at keeping you warm.
However, I think capes/cloaks are more aesthetically pleasing garments. It also feels good to have the fabric flowing around you as you walk. But what do you think?
The actual reason that we don’t is pretty much because of the invention of sewing machines. Once sewing machines were widespread, making coats became sooo much cheaper than they had been. Coats need a lot of tightly made seams which took time and so made coats very expensive. With sewing machines, making these seams was vastly quicker and more reliable.
Coats win over cloaks in so many ways because you can do things with your arms without exposing them or your torso to the rain and cold: impossible with a cloak.
Capes were the short versions - and intended to cover the shoulder and back without seams that might let the rain in, but with the new machine made seams, they were not needed either.
The really big change was when it became affordable to outfit armies with coats instead of cloaks or capes. At that point all the caché and prestige that was associated with military rank disappeared from cloaks and capes and they were suddenly neither useful not fashionable.
Nowadays, of course, they are no longer what your unfashionable dad would have worn: they are quite old enough to have regained a certain style.
Awesome comment. Today I learned something.
I know someone who wears a cloak cape. They explained this to me how practical it was back 300 years ago that you could wear your nightly blanket.
I asked them if that was a situation they ran into often while living in Brooklyn. Having to bed down for the night with your cloak.
Or just living in New York where it’s cold in the winter. It’s a blanket you wear over your coat. You’re not supposed to wear it as your only piece of outer clothing.
The other big reason is that the world is cleaner. Capes and cloaks also protect the whole body from mud/dust and can be easily removed. Riding a horse or walking on dirt roads is a lot dirtier than riding in cars or walking on a sidewalk
The original type of coat that would have been worn when riding was the Great Coat - which did cover the whole body, down to the ankles (and included the front of the body much better than a cloak). Those would have been worn by military officers, particularly.
Those were fine for riding, but then if you were off your horse and end up in the newly developed trench warfare - starting from around the US civil war onwards - you ended up wading through mud which got caked to the coat. So then they started cutting the coats shorter and they became Trench Coats.
I WOULD LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO COAT AND CAPE FACTS
you ended up wading through mud
Horse shit. In cities, you waded through horse shit.
As someone who has done extensive reenactment in period dress, sometimes in towns dedicated to realism that banned cars and relied on horses for travel, you wouldn’t believe how terrible even a dozen carriages and a few dozen private horses can be to your skirts/trousers and shoes. Especially when it rains.
People sometimes make light of women in the past who changed their outer clothes two or three times a day, but if you were in town, your attire would be absolutely foul after a few hours in the same outer skirt. A long cloak helped immensely to keep your skirts or trousers from soaking up horse sewage.
Once cars took over, that stopped being a problem, cloaks weren’t as desirable as they obscured fashion, and coats became shorter and more for protection from the weather than from horse shit.
There was a bit of military influence, but that was more about fashion than functional influence.
e: clarification
Shawls are pretty popular in South Asia during winter and can vary wildly in size allowing a wide variety of fashion options, including Wizarding World cosplays. 🤷
100% of the cloaks and capes I’ve seen IRL have been as part of either someone’s weird cosplay or some neckbeard/weeb shit. I think that, a bit like the fedora, they’re just sorta ruined now due to the people who wear them.
They’ve just morphed. A poncho is basically a cloak that doesn’t open. A long dress coat is basically a cloak with formal buttons.
A long dress coat is basically a cloak with formal buttons.
Also sleeves, which are the main difference anyway
I think this is why the cloak died. Sleeves are just so useful.
They can kind of get in the way though. Cloaks could give your arms more freedom of movement if you really need it. I could see a resurgence in military and/or trade uses.
I wear a Fedora sometimes - AC can get cold and my hair isn’t as thick as it used to be… it just seems easier than converting to Judaism to be able to wear a Yamaka:-P.
AC can get cold and my hair isn’t as thick as it used to be… it just seems easier than converting to Judaism to be able to wear a Yamaka:-P.
I pity Americans who don’t just wear a touque (or as you might call it, a beanie). Honestly it’s the perfect hat for cold weather. Here in Canada, basically everyone wears one for the half of the year where it’s cold enough to warrant a hat. Some people are fancy and wear an Ushanka hat or a Nordic hat in the winter, but 99% just wear a touque.
Do you mean a toboggan?
What? A toboggan is a sled. We’re talking about hats.
It’s a knit hat.
Just looked it up. Apparently that’s what southerners call a touque. Y’all’re weird.
No googling or anything, huh? Just throwing “yamaka” out there and hoping it was right?
Try it - you might be surprised? :-P
Can’t really pull off a fedora (or similar) without a suit that matches, otherwise, yeah, you just look like a neckbeard or maybe a Michael Jackson cosplayer. If you aren’t dressing in formal attire, consider a baseball cap, beanie, hood, cabbie hat, or even a stetson if it’s up your alley.
It’s ackshully called a trilby
The issue is it has to fit the overall outfit. A fedora can still look really good if you have a well tailored suit to match it, while most of the things that look good with a cloak are, frankly, uncomfortable to wear everyday compared to modern clothing. This is why it’s essentially only done for cosplay and larping nowadays, looking like that is fun every now and then but not so fun that you’d want to go about daily life dressed that way.
“It is also better at keeping you warm”
Not even remotely accurate. I actually used to have a full size woollen cloak, and it is unbelievable how good they are at keeping out the elements. I have literally slept in the middle of a forest, in only jeans, a t-shirt, and that cloak, and I was toasty warm. I’ve sheltered through torrential downpours and snow storms in it. There is basically nothing as warm as a proper wool cloak.
Because we live in hell now and a cape would cook us.
Depends on the fabric and color. Look at arab countries, people there use tunics and loose clothing that cover most of their bodies and are mostly fine in +40°C
University students in Portugal do when wearing traditional attire.
There’s one other thing that ended its use: it was used to concejal weapons. Some countries banned them just like wide brim hats (to see the face)
As an avid cloak lover, I can attest that the reasons others state about practicality are pretty much spot on. That said, my 3/4 round wool cloak with a cotton liner is the warmest and coziest winter garment I have ever owned. I have three of them, and a lighter blue velvet one for dressy occasions in spring/fall.
Getting into a car with a big cloak though is tougher than with a normal coat. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not a problem, but it does take some practice! I do love my cloaks and I would love to see them make a comeback though!
Do you have a preferred make or place to obtain said cloaks? As someone who has always loved them
I do actually. These are my favorite: https://www.tgertoggs.com/pages/cloaks_hats.shtml
Ah they don’t ship to my country :(
I did look up cloak and dagger as well! I was drooling over this one: https://www.cloakmakers.com/5130-black-cloak-w-purple-pattern-purple-moleskin.html
I don’t know if I could pull off the black but damn is that thing gorgeous.
I use my blanket as a cloak in the winter
Seinfeld has this covered:
I have a nice collection of them ranging from cheap Amazon capes to a custom Cloak and Dagger wool and velvet cloak that has lasted me almost a decade. I mostly use them for performing but have worn smaller cloaks and ruanas out before. They’re particularly wonderful on those crisp, slightly chilly autumn nights in October.
While they were already in decline, the trend of Capes an Cloaks really dropped sharply in the 1950’s. With improving technology in the transportation sector and the rising prevalence of jet engines, the risk of getting sucked into an air intake or caught in some piece of machinery was just too great. Punctuated by a series of gruesome incidents , the new rule in fashion was set. No Capes.
Edna, is that you?
I really enjoy capes or cloaks as an aesthetic element. Whilst I wish they were more commonplace, I also enjoy being able to have aspects of my fashion that are just a bit “weird”
I wear a capelet in winter and it doesn’t work well with my backpack. I suppose I could design a front wearing pack to carry my laptop.
Damn, I didn’t think about backpacks!
