Cape dress

A cape dress describes a woman's dress which combines features of the cape and the dress. Either a cape-like garment is attached to the dress, pinned or sewn on,[1] and integrated into its construction, or the dress and cape are made to co-ordinate in fabric and/or colour.[2]

Anabaptist women wearing cape dresses and headcoverings

Cape dresses provide a modest double layer in the bodice area. They also provide a long, full, skirt which conceals the form and falls at least below the knee and sometimes down to the ankle, depending upon the Christian denomination. In Christianity, this practice has been followed since the times of the Early Church, immediately after the New Testament time period.[3][4][5] Cape dresses are traditionally worn by female Anabaptist Christian church members, such as Mennonite, Brethren, Amish and Charity women.[6][7] Along with the adjective kosmios (κόσμιος) meaning "modest", 1 Timothy 2:9–10 uses the Greek word catastola katastolé (καταστολῇ) for the apparel suitable for Christian females, and for this reason, women belonging to traditional Anabaptist denominations often wear a cape dress; for example, ladies who are members of the Charity Christian Fellowship (an Anabaptist denomination) wear the cape dress as the denomination teaches that "the sisters are to wear a double layered garment as the Greek word 'catastola' describes."[7] Cape dresses have additionally been worn by females who are traditional Christians of the Quaker and Shaker denominations, among others.[8]

Each local church group has its own regulations and basic pattern, so that when meeting each other, members of plain churches can generally recognize which church they are members of. Many churches have a dress pattern where the cape is attached at the waist. Others, especially among the Brethren churches, have maintained a dress pattern where the cape is loose at the bottom edge. Additionally the cape dress, in extreme forms, has become a part of fashion vocabulary.

The cape dress is worn with a headcovering, often in the form of a kapp or an opaque hanging veil.[6]

The cape dress and Mennonite women
A clothing exhibit at the Mennonite Heritage Village museum showing apparel worn by Mennonite men and women.

In the 19th and 20th century popular female fashion changed radically to be more form-fitting and revealing. At the same time, the cape dress continued to be worn by women who were members of conservative, traditional Mennonite and other Anabaptist communities.[9]

The cape dress has a plain style and a double layer of fabric covers the bodice. This piece of fabric has a square or V-shape form and cloaks, or de-emphasizes the female form.[1]

The women of the Holdeman Mennonite community in California wear a cape-dress that has a high neckline, loose bodice and fitted waist. The cape of the dress covers the shoulders and bust.[10] Because of religious reasons, no (or only minor) adornment of the dress is allowed.[10] The plainer the dress, the higher it is valued by some churches. For the Plain Christian community, women's clothing symbolizes her embrace of Biblical and traditional gender roles.[1]

According to men, the cape dress signifies a women's submission to God, her desire to be modest and not serve as a temptation or snare to men, her glad embrace of her place in the order of creation, as well as identification with the other members of her church.[10] Besides that it continues to be a statement of nonconformity to the world, especially against rapid and dramatically changing, body revealing fashions from the end of the 19th century onwards.[1]

As a fashionable garment
A pink coloured cape dress

The cape dress has occurred in different variations in fashion and film. Greta Garbo wore an Art Deco inspired cape dress in the film The Torrent (1926). The dress has a geometrical black-and-white pattern and a stiff round ruff.[11] The cape dress was also popular in the 1950s. Two types were prominent at the time: a full-skirted, sleeveless dress with a matching, elbow-length cape or a beltless, sheath dress with matching cape.[12]

In the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum various cape dresses can be found. In 1933 Madeleine Vionnet created a woollen jersey dress and matching cape.[13] Coco Chanel designed a dress with matching cape in 1937–38. The dress consisted of silk and net covered with black sequins. It was lined with satin.[14] In 1967 Cristóbal Balenciaga created an evening ensemble consisting of a matching cape and sleeveless dress out of black gazar silk.[15] Philippe Venet created a black-and-white dress with a cape-like collar in 1989.[16]

Recently, the cape dress has occurred in different collections of fashion designers:

See also

References
  1. Epp, Marlene (2008). Mennonite women in Canada a history. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. pp. 184–187. ISBN 9780887554100.
  2. Picken, Mary Brooks (1957). A dictionary of costume and fashion : historic and modern. Courier Dover Publications (2013 reprint). p. 53. ISBN 9780486141602.
  3. Steinberg, Aliza (7 February 2020). Weaving in Stones: Garments and Their Accessories in the Mosaic Art of Eretz Israel in Late Antiquity. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-78969-322-5.
  4. Winger, Otho (1919). History and Doctrines of the Church of the Brethren. Brethren Publishing House. p. 218. I. We examined prayerfully the scriptural grounds of Christian attire, and found that Jesus and the apostles taught modesty and simplicity of life and modesty in dress and manners. The scriptures bearing on the subject of dress and adornment are of several classes: First. Jesus condemned anxious thought for raiment (Matt. 6: 25-33; Luke 12:22-31). Second. The direct teachings, such as 1 Tim. 2:9, 10; 1 Peter 3:3-5. Third. Teachings on nonconformity to the world in general, and that apply to dress on general principles, such as Romans 12:1, 2; 1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Peter 1:14-15; 1 John 2:15-17. II. Investigation shows that the early church fathers and our own church fathers taught strongly and uniformly against pride and superfluity in dress, and constantly in favor of gospel plainness.
  5. Clement of Alexandria Collection [3 Books]. Aeterna Press. As, then, in the fashioning of our clothes, we must keep clear of all strangeness, so in the use of them we must beware of extravagance. For neither is it seemly for the clothes to be above the knee, as they say was the case with the Lacedaemonian virgins; nor is it becoming for any part of a woman to be exposed. Though you may with great propriety use the language addressed to him who said, "Your arm is beautiful; yes, but it is not for the public gaze. Your thighs are beautiful but, was the reply, for my husband alone. And your face is comely. Yes; but only for him who has married me." But I do not wish chaste women to afford cause for such praises to those who, by praises, hunt after grounds of censure; and not only because it is prohibited to expose the ankle, but because it has been enjoined that the head should be veiled and the face covered; for it is a wicked thing for beauty to be a snare to men.
  6. Keller, Rosemary Skinner; Ruether, Rosemary Radford; Cantlon, Marie (2006). Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. Indiana University Press. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-253-34685-8.
  7. Scott, Stephen (1 January 1996). Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups: People's Place Book No. 12. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-68099-243-4.
  8. "Q: So what about the funny clothes? Do you dress like the Amish?". Stillwater Monthly Meeting of Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends. Retrieved 10 April 2022. Women usually wear long-sleeved, long dresses, and a head-covering such as a scarf, bonnet, or cap.
  9. Lippy, Charles H.; Williams, Peter W. (2010). Encyclopedia of religion in America. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. p. 82. ISBN 9780872895805.
  10. Arthur, Linda B., 1997. "'Clothing is a Window to the Soul': The Social Control of Women in Mennonite Society". Journal of Mennonite Studies 15, p. 15
  11. Fischer, Lucy. "Greta Garbo and Silent Cinema: The Actress as Art Deco Icon". Camera Obscura 48 16 (3), p. 85
  12. Widmer, Marilou. New Orleans in the Fifties. Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., 1991, p. 80
  13. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Day dress|Madeleine Vionnet". V&A Search the Collections. Accessed: 14-10-2014. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15564/day-dress-madeleine-vionnet/
  14. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Evening dress and cape|Coco Chanel". V&A Search the Collections. Accessed: 14-10-2014. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88627/evening-dress-and-coco-chanel/
  15. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Evening ensemble|Cristóbal Balenciaga". V&A Search the Collections. Accessed: 14-10-2014. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O71705/evening-ensemble-cristobal-balenciaga/
  16. "Evening Dress | Venet, Philippe | V&A Explore The Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  17. Elle. "Stephane Rolland Fall 2010 Couture Runway - Stephane Rolland Haute Couture Collection". Elle.com. Accessed: 15-10-2014. http://www.elle.com/runway/haute-couture/fall-2010-couture/stephane-rolland/collection/?click=main_sr#slide-37; Elle. "Stephane Rolland Fall 2010 Couture Runway - Stephane Rolland Haute Couture Collection". Elle.com. Accessed: 15-10-2014. http://www.elle.com/runway/haute-couture/fall-2010-couture/stephane-rolland/collection/?click=main_sr#slide-23; Elle. "Stephane Rolland Fall 2010 Couture Runway - Stephane Rolland Haute Couture Collection". Elle.com. Accessed: 15-10-2014. http://www.elle.com/runway/haute-couture/fall-2010-couture/stephane-rolland/collection/?click=main_sr#slide-21; Elle. "Stephane Rolland Fall 2010 Couture Runway - Stephane Rolland Haute Couture Collection". Elle.com. Accessed: 15-10-2014. http://www.elle.com/runway/haute-couture/fall-2010-couture/stephane-rolland/collection/?click=main_sr#slide-5
  18. Misener, Jessica. "Gwenyth Paltrow Oscars Dress 2012: Tom Ford White Cape!". Huffington Post. 27-02-2012. 15-10-2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/26/gwyneth-paltrow-oscars-2012-dress_n_1302888.html
  19. Riemersma, Femke. "Interview: Jan Taminiau over de jurken van Koningin Máxima". Elle. 01-05-2013. 15-10-2014. http://www.elle.nl/lifestyle/interviews/Interview-Jan-Taminiau-over-de-jurk-van-Maxima
  20. Barsamian, Edward. "Lupita Nyong'o's 10 Best Red Carpet Looks". Vogue. 19-06-2014. 14-10-2014. http://www.vogue.com/868887/lupita-nyongo-best-red-carpet-looks/
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