Why Did Men Stop Wearing Capes [0:00:00]
So, over in the community tab, I asked the question, “Should the cape make a comeback?”
And almost 60% of you said no.
And, I get it, capes are old school, we’ve got coats.
And, I mean, who needs them?
But, oh, my gosh, some of you guys were ruthless in the comments – “What as ludicrous question?”
“Gay.
Gay.
Gay.”
“No, corny ASF.”
“Seriously, WTF.
Only if you’re Batman.
I’m Batman.”
“What the hell kind of question is this?”
Now, all those comments were fine until I find this one, “Unmanly.”
Craig Miller, what the heck are you talking about?
Do you not know your history?
Now, I want to start things off by saying, yes, I do own a USMC boat cloak.
Now, I don’t wear it on a daily basis, but in inclement weather, when I’m walking with
my lady and I need quick access to my sword or AR15, the cloak is a great tool to be able
to keep warm and to give you quick access to any type of weapon you may be carrying.
But, seriously, gents, the United States Marine Corps along with other military and police
units around the world like the Italian Carabinieris allow their officers to wear cloaks with their
uniforms.
In fact, many units issue them and the functionality aspect, because the nature of the cloak’s
design, it makes it very easy to be able to grab a weapon or to be able to grab anything
that’s on your person underneath it.
Let’s start things off by getting our terminology correct.
We’ve got the cape, we’ve got the cloak, and in between them, we actually have what’s
known as the capelet.
Let me explain.
So, a cape is going to be a garment that is shorter than a cloak that usually goes below
the buttocks, the midsection area and it covers the back.
Capes do not normally cover the front, although, they can in some circumstances.
Now, the cloak is going to a longer garment.
This is made to cover the full body and is made for protection.
Most cloaks as well will have a hood or a head covering.
Now, what’s a capelet?
Kind of sits in between the two, usually covers up the shoulders and is longer in length.
And to make this even more confusing, let’s talk about the origin of the word, cloak.
Cloak is a French term.
It comes from Medieval Latin clocca and clocca meant traveling cape.
So, cloak came from the word, traveling cape and the traveling cape got the name clocca
because it looked like a bell.
Makes sense, right?
Clocca, clock, bell, time, yeah.
Now, getting into the history, how long have men and women been wearing cloaks?
Well, pretty much since they’ve been wearing any type of clothing.
The idea in the design of a cloak is so simple that we have seen this pop up in cultures
all around the world.
When we look at the earliest clothing that they were wearing, these were felts that were
shaped basically with room for their head to be able to stick out of and to be able
to protect all around the body.
And, another big advantage of a cloak is simply that you can wear it when you’re sleeping,
you can wear this when you’re walking around.
It’s basically, yeah, you’re wearing your bed wear right here and it was just incredibly
functional and, again, didn’t require a whole lot of sewing to be able to get the
job done.
Now, when it comes to recorded history, the first evidence that we see other cloak or
I was able to find was about 500 BC and this is on a cup that’s over in the Louvre and
it’s from ancient Greece.
And it shows two people hiding under a cloak.
I wonder what they’re doing.
But, seriously, the Greeks are given credit I think back to 450 BC for the himation which
was a variation of the cloak.
The Romans eventually took it and ran with it and their variation was known as the pallium.
Now, as it seems like they did with a lot of things, the Romans took the Greek idea
and they actually made it theirs and in some ways improve upon it or actually gave us the
first idea that capes and cloaks could be used as differentiators, for us to be able
to see who a person is and their rank in society.
Now, the simplest form of the Roman cloak was known as the paenula.
And this was worn by both men and women.
It was just a simple thing that you wore to show that, hey, I’m a part of the community.
Now, higher up the rank structure, we had soldiers and they were actually wearing sagums.
And these were larger cloaks, a little bit longer and they had specific colors.
So, if you’re wearing a red one, you were a regular foot soldier.
If you were wearing one that was scarlet, you were an officer.
If you had a purple sagum, you were a general.
If you were a general, you wore what’s called a lacerna and that was attached to one shoulder
by a brooch on one side and it basically was made in a color that it was very distinctive.
People knew who you were, they got out of your way, you were in charge, you were the
man.
And this status symbol wasn’t confined just to the military, we also saw Roman senators
wearing lacernas in purple as well over their togas.
And, by the way, the use of cloaks as a status symbol was not just a European thing, we saw
this also over in North America.
In fact, the ancient Aztecs wore what was known as tilmahtlis.
So, if you were a nobleman, if you were, you know, the guy on top, if you were a priest,
if you were a warrior, you wore one of these to signal who you were in society in that
function.
Specifically, the most brightly colored elaborately decorated timahtlis were reserved for the
Jaguar Knights, for the Eagle Warriors, for the noblemen, for the priests, and for the
emperors.
Cloaks continued to be used for over 1,500 years, a very functional item, which, yes,
they can serve decorative purposes.
[0:05:00] If you were a king, if you were a prince,
if you were a nobleman, you would have just really high-end fabrics, gold, and other precious
items sewn into the cloak that was decorative.
But, functionality-wise, the common man found, hey, this is just something that works.
So, we saw this popping up and used throughout medieval times.
It was a simple garment that the peasants would use and a king would use oftentimes
to protect themselves from the elements.
And that became the functional aspect of it.
In fact, there was a whole class of mantel makers.
That’s actually they are called mantles or mantels, but mantel makers was a type of
person that actually just make cloaks as a living.
Now, for a garment style to have lasted for over 3,000 years, I really think that speaks
to the overall usefulness and functionality of the cloak.
But, specifically why did people like them?
Why did we continue to use them?
Well, one of the first things I mentioned is its – they’re easy to make.
You don’t have to do a lot of sewing.
Sewing machines didn’t pop up ‘til about 200 years ago.
Before then, everything was hand-sewn.
So, you didn’t want to have to deal with a lot of singe, you didn’t want to have
to deal with a lot of sewing that could be days if not, you know, months of work right
there.
So, to have something that actually could just fit over the body, you make minor adjustments,
you reinforce a few areas.
Maybe actually just use type of a fastener around the neck, all of a sudden, you’ve
got an item, which gets the job done.
And to be specific, what do I mean getting the job done?
I’m talking about protecting the body from the elements.
We take it for granted nowadays in our modern vehicles, but people used to have to travel
for at least a day if not days at a time just to simply go to the market, to go to the store.
You would oftentimes be camping on the side of the road, you’re traveling light because
everything you’re carrying is right there, either on yourself you’re walking or you’re
on horseback.
So, what’s great about this, I mean, this was an item that you could sleep in, an item
that you could wrap up as a blanket, an item that actually that outside of these were made
to be tough.
So, you would have these to be treated, to be weather-resistant.
Now, hundreds of years ago, of course, they didn’t have access to fabrics that were
going to be water-resistant.
But, they did have access to some fabrics that they could treat.
So, if you actually have let’s say wax, you could wax the cotton, you could wax the
linen, you could wax even the wool and it would do a decent job of repelling the water.
In addition, wool does a really good job of pretty much absorbing its weight in water
without feeling wet.
So, it could take a light drizzle and you would still feel dry and it would insulate
you and keep you warm.
Another characteristic that made the cloak really functional is how it would actually
drape over the body without flattening a lot of items.
This was important especially back in the 15th century whenever you had a lot of ruffles,
you had a lot of let’s just say they’re wearing fancy clothing, they spent a lot of
time and effort especially the noble people and they don’t want something heavy on it
that’s going to crush all those ruffles and the other looks they’re going for.
So, you could put a cloak on this and it would do a good job of just draping on and not damaging
the clothing.
In addition, if you’re just simply, you know, you’re a guy with some means because
you got a horse, but you want something that can drape over and still cover your legs and
fit right on you when you’re riding the horse, guess what?
A cloak did that.
So, this was, again, a very functional piece whether you’re walking, whether you’re
riding a horse, this would keep your whole body warm.
And, I alluded to this earlier, but ease of access to your weapon.
So, 1500’s, you’re traveling through a forest couple of days, yeah, you’re going
to be armed, you’re going to be taking a weapon with you, because there are bandits,
there are just problems out there.
I mean, today, there are bandits out there, you’ve got to be careful.
And what I loved about the cloak is that the overall just the way it’s built is that
from a distance you actually can’t tell if that person is armed or not.
So, simply, yeah, you’re not sure.
Is that, you know, it’s, you know, 18th century, is that carrying a flintlock, is
he actually, you know, armed with a weapon that’s going to stop you on your tracks?
You don’t know, so you want to be careful, so you want to be courteous.
You know, what is that?
An armed society is a courteous society?
Let’s just say with cloaks, you didn’t know what the other person was packing and
that was often a good thing espe – and if you did need to be able to pull out your weapon,
you could just simply knock the cloak back quickly, grab your sword or your firearm.
Now, if you’re enjoying today’s video, if you secretly want to pull off a cape?
Do me a favor and smash that like button.
Seriously, by hitting that like button, you let the YouTube algorithm, you let the gods
know, hey, this is a good video, I want to see more like this from Antonio.
Why do comic book artists, why do they depict super heroes with capes?
Why are they wearing cloaks?
And I know some of my favorites, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, no, never pulled it off,
but Dr. Strange.
Yeah, you see, Thor.
You see a lot of these super heroes, especially the older one wearing capes.
What’s up with this?
It was all about movement and the illusion of being able to see where the character was
going.
Yes, you can do this in – with other tricks, but early on it was so easy to be able to
show Superman or Batman, the direction that they’re going based off of their cape and
the way that their cape is drawn creates a feeling of movement.
[0:09:58] Now, of course, as Edna Mode has pointed out
in The Incredibles, no to capes because they are dangerous.
And I do have to agree.
I know, this is something that pop up a lot in the comments, people were like, hey, we
don’t wear capes because I don’t want to get choked, I don’t want to get pull
off my horse, I – and these were real things that happen.
So, capes did have a, yeah, you had to be careful with these things especially if you
had a rope around it that would not break or would not release you.
Yeah, that could lead to disaster or getting pulled into a jet engine.
Yeah.
All right.
So now, let’s answer the question that you’ve been probably wondering, if capes were so
darn useful, why did they disappear?
What happened over a hundred years ago that caused the cape to pretty much disappear from
men’s wardrobes around the world?
So, the first crack in the dominance of the cloak appeared in the 1830’s, a little invention
called the sewing machine.
All of a sudden, sewing seams, long seams didn’t have to be done by hand.
You had factories start to pop up in the 1850s, 1860s, all of a sudden were using this revolutionary
machine to manufacture clothing that could be sold premade.
This was huge.
Before this, almost all clothing was handmade, all of a sudden, we had mass manufacturer
of clothing and guess what?
Uniforms were being produced for wars.
We had wars over in Europe, we had wars over in the United States, the civil war.
And guess what?
The cape was not going to be a part of most uniforms.
It was expensive.
They were rationing clothing and all of a sudden, yeah, they started forming this very
functional item which was now easy to manufacture known as the coat.
Now, coats had been around for centuries, but they were always expensive.
Now, with the sewing machine, with mass manufacturing and demand from wars, all of a sudden, we
saw the fashion trends changing.
All of a sudden, we saw coats become very functional and it was – you didn’t have
to worry about crushing any fancy clothing underneath.
You can wear this item and they did a very good job especially if cut properly with the
higher armholes, you had full freedom of movement.
And a lot of guys liked this, they got used to it and they ditched their cloaks.
Now, cloaks continue to be worn especially in upper society.
They were worn with formal wear, white tie, black tie.
It was an item they could go over that delicate clothing.
You also saw variations of different types of jackets and coats that actually were a
mix with the cloak, one of them being the Ulster jacket.
The Ulster was a working Victorian daytime overcoat that had both a cape and sleeves.
At the beginning of the 20the century, things continue to get worse for the cloak.
Why?
We’ve got another war, World War I popping up.
Uniforms were being ordered and everyone is really careful with the amount of fabric that
they’re using.
We’re going to be rationing this, we’re going with simple practicality.
Cloaks, capes are not going to be part of uniforms pretty much of any military out there.
Everyone is keeping it simple, even the Germans.
During the middle of the war, they actually made all of their stuff much simpler to be
able to save money.
After World War I, you’ve got all these men coming back used to not having to wear
a cape or a cloak, so they’re not wearing them in their civilian gear.
In addition, we had the rise of the automobile.
And anyone that has worn a long jacket and try to get into an automobile knows that the
bottom of it always gets dirty, always gets stained.
So we were transitioning from riding horses to going into automobiles and all of a sudden,
you know, we’re now working more indoors, we’re not spending as much outdoors.
All of a sudden, you had all of these forces conspiring against the cloak.
And the cloak manufacturers, the ability to make them actually at good cost, all of a
sudden started to drop because the skill the ability to do it started to disappear.
After World War II, the use of cloaks and capes in uniforms pretty much disappeared.
And with that, the only place that we would ever see this is informal wear.
And with the dying of white tie, black tie, I know you can find it in some places out
there, but really that – those were the only places that you’re going to see these
type of garments.
You do have some military units as I mentioned, my United States Marine Corps and a few other
ones out there that do maintain their cloaks, which is pretty cool.
But, yeah, these are really now a vestige of the past.
Fast forward to the 1940’s, we see another war break out uniforms manufacturer around
the world and guess what?
Cloaks, coats are pretty much missing.
Occasionally, you would see ponchos, but with the ability to make coats that serve a similar
purpose and got the job done, yeah, you didn’t really see this on uniforms.
They were viewed as superfluous. 1950’s, 1960’s you continue to see cloaks
popping up in formal wear, but that’s pretty much where you see them now out of tradition.
So now, let’s answer the question, how to pull off a cape, how to pull off a cloak modern
day time?
How can you do this?
Okay.
So, I mentioned a number of military units, why not consider joining up?
I know that if you showed up to a Marine Corps ball wearing a boat cloak and, yeah, you know,
you can – you can back it up, you’ve been on few deployments.
You just start as salty dog, guess what?
You can pull that off and you’re going to guy, yeah, everyone is going to be wanting
to wear it, take pictures and it is, yeah, Marine Corps balls, what a great time.
If you haven’t been to one, yeah, you’re missing out.
[0:14:56] But, I know not everyone can pull that off,
not everyone is going to be able to experience that.
So, what about the rest of the people?
Well, maybe, okay, look for inspiration.
Lando Calrissian, I have a guy down in the comments.
He was saying that he has thirty cloaks or capes.
I wasn’t sure which one he meant or what exactly he has.
But, he says he’s been inspired by Lando and he is actually pulling these things off.
And I think when it comes down to it, it is practicality.
For me, I would say, okay, is this actually you do a good job of keeping the elements
off of me?
Is it light?
Does it look good?
Can I pull it off with my outfit?
Do I practice wearing it?
Do I feel good?
And if you do, why not wear whatever you want to wear?
But, yeah, you are going to definitely be going against the tide because here’s the
thing is it’s not a fashion trend.
Baseball caps right now are a fashion trend.
Cargo shorts are a fashion trend.
Socks with, you know, sandals seem to be a fashion trend.
And that, you can wear that stuff and no one’s going to give you a second look.
But, yeah, you wear a cloak, you wear something that has a 3,000-year old history and people
for some reason think you’re crazy.
But, you know, if that’s you and if you want to pull it off, well, may the force be
with you.
And, yeah, you make it happen, maybe you want to go to the dark side.
I mean, Darth Vader pulled the thing off.
If you’re going to if you can force choke somebody, if you can jump over a tall building,
go for it.
You are authorized to wear a cloak or a cape at any time.
All right, gents.
So, what video to watch next?
How about the coolest uniforms out there?
Seriously, if you’re into military uniforms, you want to check out this video.
I talk about the coolest, the most awesome, yes, the ones that are – are pretty badass.
Check – check – find out what I’m talking about, guys.
Click on the video right here.
[0:16:31] End of audio