Last October, I was waiting in line at a coffee shop when a man walked in wearing a deep forest-green cloak. The hood was up on his head and he seemed completely oblivious to the half of the room that was staring at him in shock. The other half of the room was immediately pulling out their phones to frantically type away. I was kind of surprised that I recognized what was happening.
Cloaks are back – this time round they will be worn as outerwear as seen on the fashion runway. And across this great land, deep within every fashion capital, there are being taken to the farmer’s market in bunches by total strangers dressed up in all manner of garb, who have suddenly and mysteriously blossomed into giddy-goose costume-clad characters. But, why? The reasons behind this fascination of the public at large for the outerwear of all those heroes and heroine so loved in our present era of prestigious fantasy on the screen will reveal to us something rather sad and strange about all our aspirings for quality in the garment we wear.
Fantasy didn’t stay on screen
Since we have seen so many fantasies come to life on screen in the last decade or so, many people that have not read any fantasy novels are inspired by the clothes that powerful and elegant characters wear in these stories. And it looks so good to wear. There is a reason that the cloak has become an iconic symbol of powerful and elegant characters throughout human history.
The tailored wool cloaks first emerged in the designers’ collections during the Fashion Week for the 2021/2022 season. The woollen cloaks were presented as serious outerwear and were demonstrated in the shows with the same amount of attention to the item’s architecture as with a well-cut coat or a classic trench. A woollen cloak is essentially a coat without sleeves.
This has happened before. Screen culture plants seeds of taste in the collective unconscious of consumers long before they sprout. We have yet to realize that screen culture has made tailored wool cloaks (in various colors and lengths) a fashion item that will soon be available in stores and online everywhere.
The silhouette that refused to die quietly
There is a long history of fashion silhouettes returning to the mainstream after periods of time away, but this particular style has a lot of different influences that have contributed to its recent return. As we have covered before, medieval and Victorian fashion have been influencing mainstream fashion for years, and right now both of these historical styles are influencing the young in different ways. While linen and embroidery have been brought back to the fore by cottagecore, dark academia has recently brought turtlenecks and leather-bound books back to the fore as well. So it is not entirely surprising that the deep forest-green cloaks worn by the Crusaders have started to influence the fashion choices of young people from around the world.
But fashion cloaks can be worn in a multitude of different styles to create the individual wearer’s desired look for any occasion. Most commonly, wool cloaks are thrown over a number of items of outerwear and clothing, creating a very casual and relaxed look that often accentuates other bold elements of the wearer’s style. On other occasions, such as parties and nightclubs, long dresses can be easily covered in cloaks, accentuating the drama and color of the outfit to add that all important extra touch. Other items, like oversized jumpers and trousers, paired with boots, have been worn underneath the entire length of a cloak for a simple yet chic look on daily occasions. When wearing fashion cloaks in the style of medieval wool cloaks, there is obviously nothing new about this shape of outerwear but, in reality, there is something very, very contemporary about the fashionable use of the item as a component of modern wardrobes.
| Era | Typical cloak style | How modern fashion adapts it |
| Medieval | Heavy wool, floor-length, functional clasps | Structured wool, knee-length, minimalist fastenings |
| Victorian | Capelet layers, dark fabrics, dramatic hoods | Velvet capelets worn over tailored suits |
| Fantasy-inspired | Flowing, hooded, often with embellishment | Clean-lined hooded cloaks in neutral or jewel tones |
| Contemporary | Minimalist wrap shapes, unstructured | Oversized blanket cloaks as casual outerwear |
Festival Fashion
First of all, Renaissance fairs have been around for a long time and still exist today, but the modern festival scene is a much more diverse and global affair. There are music festivals, food and drink festivals, comic book and sci-fi festivals, and events celebrating just about every kind of local interest under the sun. And while not all of these events are costume-friendly, many of them are, and some of them even encourage guests to dress up in historical or period costumes. Because of this, many people spend a lot of money on their festival attire, and some even have custom pieces made for them or study historical methods of making costumes in order to create the most period-perfect outfit possible. And then, of course, there’s the fact that all of this is instantly shareable thanks to our love of taking photos of ourselves looking fabulous and then posting them online for others to ooh and ahh over.
As tourists, or curious explorers, the festival-goer can then follow the trail of images left in their wake. These pictures of elaborate period clothing can inspire someone who has never even heard of a Renaissance fair (let alone know where one is) to search for the perfect crimson cloak for themselves. And so the seed is sown, quietly spreading as the images of elaborate festival clothing travel far and wide, like a drop of water on a dry surface.
- Hooded wool cloaks for outdoor events where weather turns without warning
- Velvet or brocade options for evening gatherings and formal-adjacent occasions
- Lighter linen or cotton versions for warmer festivals and layering in transitional weather
- Full-length dramatic cuts for people who have fully committed and honestly we respect it
Knightweave is also selling high quality festival wear and historical costumes, which is completely the opposite of fast fashion. If you’re interested in seeing what quality festival wear and historical costumes actually look like, Knightweave is a great place to start.
The unglamorous practical case
Most people know of cloaks as historical garb, which are often worn at costume parties or at Renaissance fairs. However, what most people don’t know is that humans have been wearing tailored wool cloaks for roughly three thousand years. Then for the next three hundred years or so, cloaks fell out of fashion and humans stopped wearing them. Until now.
We just forgot. And then we remembered.
(There’s something almost embarrassing about that, when you sit with it. All that accumulated practicality, set aside because something newer came along.)
What this moment actually tells us
Earlier I stated that the fashion for cloaks was a fashion moment as opposed to a trend. By that I mean that after the decades in which no one wore cloaks of any kind suddenly here they are again. But this time around, I sense that people are reaching for the cloak for different reasons. Possibly even a reaction to the hideously disposable fast fashion that currently dominates our high street. The cloak and the other items of historical fashion that are currently enjoying a renaissance are symbols of something more meaningful than simply being to wear. Perhaps the outdoors. Perhaps the church. Whatever it is, it is not fashion in the classical sense.
I saw someone wearing a forest-green cloak the other day in a coffee shop. They seemed the most normally dressed person in the place. They looked as if they had on the most natural clothing. There was no sign of costume. They were not drawing attention to themselves by what they were wearing. There was no message. They were simply dressed.
When an item that makes you look good to wear has crossed over from novelty items to full fashion items then it has finally crossed over. It has ceased to be something that makes a statement for people to notice. It’s become something that you
