Someone once told me that capes went out of fashion because of an association with facism in the 1920s. A trawl of Google reveals nothing. Does anyone know?
I always thought it was the tophat, walking cane and diamond stickpin association that did them in. Along with the waxed moustache and monocle accessories… man that would be cool. Now I want a cape. 
The Wikipedia merely notes that they are the accessories of superheroes and vampires. Yet they were very common even in Dickensian times. What happened?
A fashion mystery.
Personally, I still like capes, but then agian my fashion sense leaves much to be desired.
etgaw1
It didn’t die out with the freak/goth/drama major who lived on my floor senior year.
My suspicion is that good ol’ natural selection kicked in around the time of the industrial revolution – they don’t heat those factories, in general, but people who wore long, trailing bits of cloth around heavy machinery with few or zero safety precautions… Well, if they hadn’t reproduced up 'till then, it’s not likely that they would afterwards.
Capes use a lot more fabric than jackets—the one Drachillix made for me has yards and yards, but do I look smashing!?!
A cape would have to be much less effective than a button-up coat in cold weather with strong wind. More fabric for less protection = goodbye, cape.
Only cool people, like Dracula and Batman can wear capes and really pull it off.
Did Spiderman have a cape?
No.
He should have. He’d have been much sexier.
Prince wore a cape. He was sexy. LMAO.
The reason I ask is because I recall reading something on the DC Comics message baord about it. Someone said that caped gents were beaten in anti-facist riots in Italy prior to the rise of Mussolini. I just can’t find anything suporting that statement.
Automobiles and such.
You see long coats (and capes) don’t work well in cars, you end up sitting on them. In much the same way long military coats (for the field) are no longer used, too tough in a fighting vehicle.
I still have my old policeman’s rain cape. I love it. Very distintive.
FTR, there is (or was) a store in New Orleans, on Decatur Street near the French Quarter, that sold clothes made in an “alternative” factory. IOW, they were made in a factory that employed disabled, MRDD people, etc.
The place had lots of Dickensian garments, including top hats, capes and the like.
It happened after Dollar Bill got his caught in a revolving door, then got plugged while he was stuck. Night Owl warned about having fashion designers coming up with practical crime-fighter garb.
I read it in Watchmen. It has to be true.
Capes are out of fashion?
Next you will be telling me I shouldn’t wear my underwear over my tights…
Capes are for keeping you warm, blockhead.
Blast you, CalMeacham…
I agree with Paul in Saudi. Capes were very useful when you were driving a coach or had to walk about in the rain. (What is a cape, after all, but a king of poncho?) Drivers would wear capes to protect them from the elements as they drove their coaches and wagons, and toffs would wear them to protect their elegant clothes. But they lost their utility when we started getting around in enclosed cars.