brunhiddensmusings:

fattyatomicmutant:

thefingerfuckingfemalefury:

vo-kopen:

starlightomatic:

quillandsaber:

bardmutual:

why have we stopped wearing cloaks and capes. this is ridiculous. the human race is a failure

So this one I can explain!

puts on reenactor hat

Simply put, cloaks and capes are, all in all, a massive pain to wear in cold weather. Shocking, I know, but if you think about it, you have this massive amount of heavy fabric that you wrap around you like a blanket. The minute you need to use your hands and arms to, say, pick up something, you have to expose yourself to the cold by opening up your cape/cloak; even capes/cloaks with hand slits only solve the problem with very small items. Coats, by contrast, keep your body and arms warm and allow you to move as you please without having to expose most of yourself to cold. They are also far more fabric-efficient, being substantially less expensive to produce, and they’re a lot easier to put comfortable integral pockets into.

(Side note: for as much of a big deal as we put on women’s clothes having/not having good pockets, I am mystified at why people don’t take this into consideration for outerwear.)

The only case in which a cape or cloak has an advantage over a coat is in rain, and that only includes 100% fulled wool capes/cloaks due to how 100% fulled wool reacts when wet; most moisture rolls right off, but wool can be saturated in its weight in water, even cold water, and still keep you warm. Capes and cloaks made of silk, blends, etc. have zero functional redeeming factors whatsoever, and are only suited to making you look pretty in indoor settings.

You’re completely right, and yet.

My Dad impulsively bought a poncho like over a decade ago and he still uses it frequently. And now that a recent surgery has left him unable to use his dominant hand, the poncho is currently the only cold weather clothing he can put on by himself.

This seems off topic, but isn’t a poncho kind of like the blessed child of a coat and a cape?

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS 😀

Imma be frank here: ponchos are cooler than capes.

capes were more or less useless

CLOAKS were actually extremely practical for specific reasons

we assume that someone outside in the winter will need to use their arms constantly, because we are fools! during the era of the cloak the common mindset is why the fork would you be doing things outside that aren’t ‘going to the inside’, any possible arm related tasks would be done indoors, typically you went outside to pick up firewood. if you were someone doing a lot of outdoors work in the cold chances are you didn’t want a cloak OR a coat because you didn’t want to overheat, getting sweaty outside in the cold is deadly. in a setting where your cold weather wear didn’t need excessive arm usage its far more warm to keep that blanket sized wool slab surrounding as much of you as possible, including your entire head and jutting out on the sides for four inches to protect you from sideways wind as well

cloaks were for TRAVELING- your long walk to someones house because all walks were long walks, or sitting on a horse as you go to a different village and you want to be swaddled like a burrito while you wait for your horse to get there. this is why the ‘cloak room’ was a thing, and often still is, as you got into the building you traveled to you immediately take off your damp cold cloak and hang it up to drip dry as you sprint to the fireplace

extra traveling bonus- as so many destinations to travel to were farther then one days journey and the sparseness of inns to stay at many travelers had to sleep outdoors in the middle of a trip, and would not have had the luxury to carry a big heavy tent and gear with them for a two day trip. so your cloak was your sleeping bag as well