# Do capes have any practical use as clothing or just decorative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-capes-have-any-practical-use-as-clothing-or-just-decorative/814847 "2018-05-26T05:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-capes-have-any-practical-use-as-clothing-or-just-decorative/814847/81 "2018-07-07T10:41:15Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > By the same people who also do such things as exclude Europe, or any non-English-speaking country. Errm, did you \*read \*the Wiki article? Non-English Western Europe is totally included, as is \*all \*of Canada, including the Francophone bit. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-capes-have-any-practical-use-as-clothing-or-just-decorative/814847/82 "2018-07-07T16:07:26Z")
In a comic book I had in the '60s, Batman’s cape saved his life: two guys were doing evil at the docks and one of them fired two spears (from a spear-gun, natch) at Wayne, whose cape was wrapped around his body. He managed to push the cape far enough out in front to absorb the impact, then deliberately fell backwards into the water to escape. One of the spears did clip an arm, so he had to one-arm swim to shore. Alfred patched him up. Bad guys yelled, “We scragged the Batman!” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-capes-have-any-practical-use-as-clothing-or-just-decorative/814847/83 "2018-07-08T15:51:24Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Errm, did you \*read \*the Wiki article? Non-English Western Europe is totally included, as is \*all \*of Canada, including the Francophone bit. There are definitions which do not include non-English speaking countries. Heck, there are people who use “western” to mean “the US”, or even “WASP US”. People have the right to use those definitions, I have the right to hold opinions about them. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-capes-have-any-practical-use-as-clothing-or-just-decorative/814847/84 "2019-01-08T21:43:18Z")
Bumped. Just saw this interesting exhibit on the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe - her paintings, lifestyle and wardrobe: [Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern | Cleveland Museum of Art](http://clevelandart.org/exhibitions/georgia-o%E2%80%99keeffe-living-modern). According to one of the captions, she liked capes because they “eliminated breaks in her silhouette and gave her body a columnar form.” So there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-capes-have-any-practical-use-as-clothing-or-just-decorative/814847/85 "2019-01-09T00:00:03Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I guess you can tune a piano, and even tune a _tuna_, but you still can’t tune a fish. But you can, however, practice your scales. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-capes-have-any-practical-use-as-clothing-or-just-decorative/814847.md?page=4)