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This autumn and winter 2012 some European Fashion Houses come with capes for men.
Is this fashion - item possible for men wearing today without being ridiculous ?
It will depend on the "cape" and the setting. Depending on the weather and location you could get by wearing a Loden cape (Sheepherder), I wouldn't be doing it with a suit.
 
This autumn and winter 2012 some European Fashion Houses come with capes for men.
Is this fashion - item possible for men wearing today without being ridiculous ?
No.

European fashion houses are notorious for producing things that make people look ridiculous. I do not follow fashion - I could wear the suits I wear today thirty years ago. Not in fashion now, and would not have been in fashion in the 1980s.
 
Discussion starter · #26 · (Edited)
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Picture 1 : Tabarro of Grey "loden", knee - length Full Circle
combined with hat, scarf, gloves and cane (no combination with a suit)


I consider it still as an interesting fashion - item : they can also be stylish and elegant. But I doubt.
I only know you can dress up with it in a classical way, you know, with the tuxedo for the opera.
Ofcourse you draw attention with it, but it do not has to be always negative.
It can be appreciation as well for the fact you dare to make a fashion - statement.
For the classical way of dressing I have personally no fear.
But why buying a cape if you can only use them three times a year : the opera, the new yearsparty and may be the christmasservice in the church ? There are expensive after all if you buy a high quality cape.

I posed the question to have feedback on this : is there a more common use possible of the cape for men?
Inspired by the experiments European Fashion Houses for this Fall and Winter.
Not to go back to the past or to re - introduce it the way it was.
That will be too much "out of date" I think.
It is to do something new with it and go forward. Innovating.
Mission impossible ? I am doubting. May be yes. May be no.
More investigating if it is possible to have it integrated in a more casual way of dressing in cold weather times
without settling the impression that you are not living in this modern time.
But there are hardly examples to find on the internet and I am not expert enough to imagine with which fashion accessoires you have to combine it for a more contemporary look.
This requires fashion expertise I do not have.
That is why I asking you. With thanks already for the feedback.
 
I shall be honest I do like the look, although I will never wear a cape because;

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Discussion starter · #30 ·
Capes : Is it possible today for men to wear them ?

I don't remember the last time a guy went out wearing a cape?
They are out of fashion.
But after a long time some European Houses consider them interesting again for men.
I like them. But how to get a contemporary look ? Mission Impossible ?
 
^ A mission that I would disavow any knowledge of. This post will self-destruct in five seconds.
 
Discussion starter · #32 · (Edited)
Capes : Possible for men to wear today ?

Stylish ? Weird ? Contemporal ? Gentlemanlike ? "Out of place "?
Casual ? Acceptable ? You may say it. But please with arguments.

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'Picture 3 : Free time combination (gentlemanstyle ?) with the use of a navy woolen cape
combined with hat, scarf umbrella and sunglasses. No suit.
 
The image above is a puzzling one. Where is this man that is so cold that he requires a scarf and cape, yet so warm that his sleeves must be rolled?

Setting that aside, I'll try to engage with the discussion you want to have. Capes fell out of favor for reasons. Capes are relatively impractical in cars. Cars have forced, far more than we typically think, a great many of the changes in men's dress over the past 50 years. Serious headwear is neither needed nor convenient in an automobile; it has all but disappeared. Tailored jackets fare poorly when sat upon, buckled and strapped in, in a car seat; they are in long-term decline despite flattering nearly all men. Long overcoats are also in decline, since they are somewhat unwieldy when getting in and out of a car. Capes would be significantly more cumbersome than a long coat. If an item is affirmatively at odds with car use, there's no future in it.

They also have inherent impracticalities. With a conventional cape, one must choose between keeping one's front warm/dry and using one's arms. Coats solve that problem, and thus have gained complete ascendancy. At least an Ulster cloak solves that problem.

Here's the real scoop: There's no such thing as a menswear designer. Everything in men's wear has already been "designed." "Designers" don't drive anything in men's dress except trends regarding colors, tightness/looseness of fit, etc. And even those are really driven by marketers, not "designers."
 
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Discussion starter · #35 ·
You said a lot of wise words.

The only reason here I think a cape wins it in this situation from a coat, because by changing temperatures ( you start the day cold and then the shun begins to shine later on) a cape has the possiblity to wear it open without sleeves.
On the other hand : ofcourse you can wear a coat "cape-like".
It migth have been chosen too for elegancy or stylish - reasons but for that case coats and capes do migth score equal.
Then the question remains : is this a contemporal acceptabe combination ?
 
Capes are still in use in various places in Europe and they may stage a succesful a comeback on the larger general market, why not?
Prada's recent autumn/winter collection shows quite a few frock coats and worse things have managed to come back on the market before, e.g. bottom bells.

Capes are still used with tailcoats in the evening (possibly better ones than the one in the picture above, which has low waisted and cuffed trousers plus an overlong waistcoat) and also in countryside settings. I do know even of a few tailors who specialize in capes.

As a closing remark seeing how hard the current crisis is hitting I would not bet on the future of cars as a _commom_ mean of transportation.
Yours,

Phileas Fogg
 
Discussion starter · #37 · (Edited)
Capes : compatible with .............?? Suits ? Jeans/ denim ? ....a casual contemporary look.......??

This is a model from Dolce & Gabanna.
I think he is looking ( for a casual style ) fine.
Suppose it is a cold winterday.
Could he wear a cape ? With what kind of accessoires do you keep it contemporal and /or elegant and stylish ? Mission impossible ?

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Picture 4 : Is this model dressed in casual style from
Dolce & Gabanna with this combination "cape - able " ?
 
Discussion starter · #38 · (Edited)
An effort to combine a casual combination with a cape from the catwalk.
And that for a young man.
I do like it since it questions the opinion that capes are "out of place" and only worn by strange eccentric old men.
But how does he look like ? Even if yourself will never wear or buy a cape ........is this
Elegant ? Contemporal ? "Out of place" ? "Weird" ? "An eye - candy ? " Stylish ? Casual ? Eccentric ?
You may say it if it is acceptable or well chosen. Please with arguments.

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Picture 5 : From the catwalk : How designers think they can make the use of a cape more casual
 
Then the question remains : is this a contemporal acceptabe combination ?
It depends on what you mean by "acceptable." If you mean to ask whether wearing a cape will get you incarcerated, or immediately tossed out of a restaurant, the answer is "yes." If you mean to ask whether it will be viewed as other than eccentric, strange, even unbalanced, the answer is "no." The exception is during Dragoncon* or Halloween. Outside of those circumstances, people will view a cape as either a joke, an indication that the wearer is desperate for attention and will be theatrical to get it, or a sign that the wearer cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. People lose jobs over those sorts of perceptions (unless they are in IT ;) ).

I can only speak, of course, for the norms in America. I don't get to Europe very often (once every 5 years or so for a vacation), so maybe things are different there.

Understand that being negative on capes pains me. I think they can look good in concert with traditional clothes. (I think they would look ridiculous with the runway combinations you've shown, but I think those runway getups, and really any "street" "designer" clothing, looks terrible anyway.) I think spats look great, and wish they would make a comeback. But they won't. What we want and what is socially acceptable are not always the same thing. Life is hard for many reasons, and this is but one.

*Google it.
 
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Discussion starter · #40 ·
"Your wear a cape and you pull on a coat" (House of Sesena Madrid)

Capes are still in use in various places in Europe and they may stage a succesful a comeback on the larger general market, why not?
Prada's recent autumn/winter collection shows quite a few frock coats and worse things have managed to come back on the market before, e.g. bottom bells.

Capes are still used with tailcoats in the evening (possibly better ones than the one in the picture above, which has low waisted and cuffed trousers plus an overlong waistcoat) and also in countryside settings. I do know even of a few tailors who specialize in capes.

As a closing remark seeing how hard the current crisis is hitting I would not bet on the future of cars as a _commom_ mean of transportation.
Yours,

Phileas Fogg
Again very true words spoken.

"You wear a cape and you pull on a coat"
I personally have to learn how to deal with it.
The cape will only match with people who have learned how to use it
and how to move in it in an elegant way.
A lesson I got from the House of Sesena in Madrid.
 
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