News:

Welcome to the Renaissancefestival.com Forums!  Please post an introduction after signing up!

For an updated map of Ren Fests check out The Ren List at http://www.therenlist.com!

The Chat server is now running again, just select chat on the menu!

Main Menu

Cloaks?

Started by theChuck, June 01, 2008, 09:54:21 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

theChuck

Sorry to make another post in here. It occurred to me last night that I don't really know exactly where cloaks fit historically. Were they only worn by the upper classes, or did everyone? It would seem that lower classes would have less elaborate cloaks, but how much elaborate? And what about full circle or half circle cloaks?
The Renlist - find faires near you!

isabelladangelo

Cloaks are a "time and place" issue.  Yes, the lower classes had simpler ones and the upper classes had more elaborate but, by the same token, in the 16thc cloaks were not worn for warmth.  Coats were a "warmth" layer in the 16th c.  Cloaks or capes were worn mostly for ceremonial purposes (Coronation portrait of QEI being a good example) or for decoration (men in the Elizabethan age wore a short cloak that was half on/half off the body and very elaborated decorated).

You might want to look in Patterns of Fashion for an idea of the short cloaks during the later 16th c.  However, cloaks/capes were largely out of vogue by then.  If you look at the portraits up at http://www.elizabethan-portraits.com or http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/ (Italian)  you'll see men and women wearing full length coats.

silverstah

Isabella is pretty well spot-on for the use of cloaks in the 16th century. :)  this is a great example of the short cloaks worn by men in the Elizabethan period.

Are you going for historically accurate?  What time period are you looking for?
Catarina Caravello - Mistress of the Bobbins
\"Arrrgh.  Feed Dogs.  Arrrgh.\"  -The Pirate, sewing

theChuck

I'm not really going for anything; this was more of a general knowledge question. I have a cloak that I bought a few years ago (in retrospect, it was a stupid purchase 'cause I don't wear it ever) and I was just thinking about in what context I would ever wear it. But I was truly uninformed about how cloaks fit into the whole world of garb.

Isabella, what about earlier centuries? At what point did cloaks go from function to ceremony?
The Renlist - find faires near you!

isabelladangelo

They went out of vogue in the 15th c but came back in vogue around the 18th c.  Basically, they missed most of the Renaissance/baroque period. 
http://www.freewebs.com/isabelladangelo/sassetta_st_anthony_1440_dog.jpg
From the 1440's.  Notice that his cloak look almost like nothing more than a blanket draped over his shoulders.  During the 15th c, the cloak/cap evolved from this into having cuts in the front for arms and then into having sleeves.   
http://www.florentine-persona.com/men_cloaks.html This is a pretty good link on Men's cloaks in the 15th c.  I have a feeling that the ones at the bottom are purely ceremonial (academic robes) rather than worn for warmth.