Cape Crusaders
Let’s face it: the world is just more fun when you wear a cape.
Would Adam West’s Batman have been as cool for TV audiences
in the 1960s or as much fun for kids to imitate without
the cape? Holy superhero fashion statement, we don’t think so.
When my younger brother and I were kids, one year for Halloween, he wore a supercool costume of his favorite superhero, Batman.
Long after trick-or-treating was over, he continued to wear the blue vinyl cape. He wore it when he fought imaginary Gotham villains, rode his bike over homemade jumps in airborne feats of derring-do, and taped nickels and dimes to the bottom of his shoes to wow us with his “tap” dancing moves.
Why couldn’t he set aside that blue vinyl cape? Because even my scrappy 8-year-old brother knew that a cape adds a certain pizzazz, an air of grandeur to whatever you are doing while wearing one.
Fastening a cape around your shoulders is a sartorial shorthand for impending action and means you are ready for anything. This message has been conveyed for centuries, regardless of whether the wearer is a king, a fashion maven, or a kid pretending to be Batman.
A Transformative Garment
Since its earliest known mention in 1066, the wonderfully diverse—and highly polarizing—cape has ebbed in and out of fashion more than any other garment. And today, it’s coming back around again.
The word cape is derived from the Latin word “cloca” or “cloak.” People often use cape and cloak interchangeably, as they are similar garments, but there are main differences: capes are typically hoodless, commonly waist length, and generally don’t close in the front, while cloaks are floor length and usually hooded.
Capes have been worn throughout time by many historical figures, including Julius Caesar, King Arthur, Napoleon Bonaparte, Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana to convey authority, power and sophistication. They are also associated with fantasy settings and stories involving Dracula, knights, pirates, superheroes, wizards and swashbucklers like Zorro.
Capes are also included as part of a female soldier’s dress uniform in all branches of the military; are worn by many men and women in police units worldwide for weather protection; are utilized by marching bands; and were also a popular part of a nurse’s uniform from the early 1900s through the 1980s for warmth and as a way to display nursing rank.
What began as a plain piece of cloth tied at the neck, capes have been reimagined by some of fashion history’s greatest designers.
This red wool hooded cape, designed in the late 18th century and
called a “cardinal” because of its color, is a variant of the capuchin, or monk’s habit.
Victorian-Era Capes
If the cape had a Golden Age, it was during the 19th century Victorian Era. As with much of fashion, capes took on a different level of significance and style and became less a man’s accessory and more a woman’s go-to look, especially since the sleeves on gowns were commonly too poofy to fit into coat sleeves.
A gentleman helps a young woman with her cape in the circa 1881 painting,
“The Fairest of Them All,” by English painter George Goodwin Kilburne (1839-1924).
Renowned couturiers like Emile Pingat and Charles Frederick Worth took advantage of increasing industrialization and became more creative with their cape creations. They used a variety of materials, including feathers, lace, silk, and velvet, to make the garment in different cuts, lengths—from full to shoulder-length capelets—and styles.
From left to right: Emile Pingat’s interpretation of Plains Indian motifs on this 1891 cape.
This style of embroidery pattern, although distinctive amongst other late 19th-century European
designs, is iconic of Pingat’s work; Charles Frederick Worth’s “Tulipes Hollandaises” cape from
1889, showcasing vibrant tulips, won a grand prize at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris;
Pingat’s evening cape, 1890, is made of silk, metallics, beads and stones.
Wealthy Victorian women were rarely seen in public without wearing red velvet capes, also known as hooded cardinal and scarlet capes. These capes were often floor-length and trimmed with white fur. A hallmark of high fashion, these capes signaled to the rest of society that the woman wearing one possessed good moral standing, which is why many women also wore them as part of their wedding ensembles.
Other popular capes worn for social status included opera capes, made of velvet or wool and richly embellished with embroidery or various trims, that were a favorite with men and worn on nights out to the theater; “dog-collar” capes designed to cover and protect the high necklines of dresses and gowns; and multi-tiered pieces made specifically for day or evening. These capes commonly had three tiers, and according to fashion magazines of the day, a “proper” lady would have owned at least three.
Capes in the 20th Century
No one managed to wear a cape with as much panache as the flamboyant pianist and entertainer Liberace.
By the early 20th century, capes further established their high-fashion status. In the 1920s and 1930s, French designers like Coco Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin, and Paul Poiret used the garment to add flourish to their evening
wear and lavishly embellished them with appliques, embroidered designs, or rhinestones.
Though capes briefly fell out of style during the Jazz Age, when slinkier dresses required more coverage, the garment saw a mid-century revival. Shoulder-length pieces were paired with a fitted dress or blouse and pencil skirt. Fashion designers Cristóbal Balenciaga and Christian Dior cornered the mid-century cape market. Balenciaga attached mini capes to his extravagant gowns, and Dior accessorized tailored suits with cocoon-style iterations.
Elvis, Liberace, and stunt performer Evel Knievel kept the cape trending in the 1970s and ’80s. Elvis used the garment to add a matador-like flair to his stage presence, and one notable cape he wore during a 1972 concert at Madison Square Garden was part of one of his best-known ensembles that sold for just over $1 million in 2021.
But perhaps no one else ever donned a cape with such extravagant pomp as Liberace, famous for his excessively bedazzled creations that weighed over 100 pounds and were made of everything from pink-dyed turkey feathers adorned with butterflies to black monkey fur.
When it came to capes, the American pianist and singer went big, and some of his most notable include a Norwegian blue fox cape with a 16-foot train studded with bands of Austrian rhinestones that weighed 135 pounds; his King Neptune cape that was 26 feet around and featured fish, coral, waves and starfish made with 200 pounds worth of pearls, rhinestones and sequins; and his Flame costume cape that featured small mirrors all over and was embedded with 600 tiny electric lights. The New York Times once noted that two of Liberace’s costume attendants had been operated on for hernias developed while handling his wardrobe.
Capes Trending Again
From the ’80s onward, the garment billowed in and out of the mainstream, but good news: the timeless fashion staple is in again. Capes in various styles, from those with modest flair to bold examples ideal for those who want to make a statement like a heroine in a period drama to pieces, are fluttering across social media and being touted by fashion magazines as a fall trend. Capes are also part of the spring 2025 collections of Burberry, Christian Dior, and Isabel Marant, among others.
While Grandes dames propelled capes into style a century ago, the social media platform TikTok can take much credit for its resurgence in the past few years, as capes (and cloaks) are an obsession among Gen Zers adopting old-world glamor. For proof, look no further than a 37,000-member group on Reddit.com called The Cape Revolution is dedicated to all things capes and cloaks.
So, if you’ve ever toyed with the idea of giving a vintage cape a whirl or already have one in a collection you want to start wearing again, now is the perfect time to do so.
Collecting Capes
Collectors prize capes for their elegance, theatrical panache, and place in fashion history. When it comes to acquiring them, there are many options, from capelet to floor styles, and they can be found at different price points. Antique and vintage capes range from around $10 for basic examples of cotton or wool to $1,000 and more for rare examples and those with elaborate embroidery or other embellishments. Capes made by notable designers naturally command higher prices.
Some of the most popular capes to collect are pieces from the Victorian era, especially lavishly decorated examples, and items made by innovative 19th-century designers like Pignat and Worth. Other popular capes include pieces made in the 1920s through 1940s, ceremonial, law enforcement, military, mourning, nursing, opera, religious and multi-tiered. Capes made by prominent luxury brands, including Burberry, Chanel, Halston, Givenchy, Pendleton, and Yves Saint Laurent, also hold value.
In all its different guises and aesthetics throughout history, one thing about the cape remains the same: wear it with flair, and you can wear it anywhere.
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