# Why did capes go out of fashion?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 17, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368 "2003-06-17T02:41:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Alcibiades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alcibiades)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/1 "2003-06-17T02:41:21Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/2 "2003-06-17T03:11:55Z")
I always thought it was the tophat, walking cane and diamond stickpin association that did them in. Along with the waxed moustache and monocle accessoriesā¦ man that would be cool. Now I want a cape. š
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### Author:  [@Alcibiades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alcibiades)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/3 "2003-06-17T03:15:54Z")
The [Wikipedia](http://www.wikipedia.org) 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.
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### Author:  [@etgaw1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etgaw1)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/4 "2003-06-17T03:16:17Z")
Personally, I still like capes, but then agian my fashion sense leaves much to be desired.
etgaw1
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### Author:  [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/5 "2003-06-17T03:52:54Z")
It didnāt die out with the freak/goth/drama major who lived on my floor senior year.
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### Author:  [@stoyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoyel)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/6 "2003-06-17T03:57:03Z")
My suspicion is that good olā natural selection kicked in around the time of the industrial revolution ā they donāt heat those factories, in general, but people who wore long, trailing bits of cloth around heavy machinery with few or zero safety precautionsā¦ Well, if they hadnāt reproduced up 'till then, itās not likely that they would afterwards.
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### Author:  [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/7 "2003-06-17T04:33:27Z")
Capes use a lot more fabric than jacketsāthe one **Drachillix** made for me has yards and yards, but do I look smashing!?!
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/8 "2003-06-17T04:50:56Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@MarlaDurden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarlaDurden)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/9 "2003-06-17T04:58:45Z")
Only cool people, like Dracula and Batman can wear capes and really pull it off.
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### Author:  [@MarlaDurden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarlaDurden)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/10 "2003-06-17T05:00:10Z")
Did Spiderman have a cape?
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/11 "2003-06-17T05:01:02Z")
No.
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### Author:  [@MarlaDurden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarlaDurden)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/12 "2003-06-17T05:02:00Z")
He should have. Heād have been much sexier.
Prince wore a cape. He was sexy. LMAO.
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### Author:  [@Alcibiades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alcibiades)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/13 "2003-06-17T05:42:19Z")
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 canāt find anything suporting that statement.
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/14 "2003-06-17T12:07:11Z")
Automobiles and such.
You see long coats (and capes) donāt 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 policemanās rain cape. I love it. Very distintive.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/15 "2003-06-17T12:23:42Z")
FTR, there is (or was) a store in New Orleans, on Decatur Street near the French Quarter, that sold clothes made in an āalternativeā 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.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/16 "2003-06-17T12:25:01Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/17 "2003-06-17T12:38:20Z")
Capes are out of fashion?
Next you will be telling me I shouldnāt wear my underwear over my tightsā¦
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### Author:  [@ElectroSunDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElectroSunDog)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/18 "2003-06-17T13:00:37Z")
Capes are for keeping you warm, blockhead.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/19 "2003-06-17T13:09:20Z")
Blast you, **CalMeachamā¦**
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-capes-go-out-of-fashion/182368/20 "2003-06-17T13:21:03Z")
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.
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