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A cape dress describes a woman's dress that 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 coordinate in fabric and/or color.[2]
Cape dresses provide a modest double layer in the bodice area. They also provide a long, full, skirt that conceals the form and falls at least below the knee and sometimes down to the ankle, depending upon the Christian denomination. Cape dresses are traditionally worn by female Anabaptist Christian church members, such as Mennonite, Brethren, Amish and Charity women.[3][4] 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, 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."[4] Cape dresses have additionally been worn by traditional Christians of the Quaker and Shaker denominations, among others.[5]
Each local church group has its own regulations and basic pattern, so that when meeting each other, members of plain churches can generally recognize each other's specific congregations. 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.[3]
- ^ Epp, Marlene (2008). Mennonite women in Canada a history. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. pp. 184–187. ISBN 9780887554100.
- ^ Picken, Mary Brooks (1957). A dictionary of costume and fashion : historic and modern. Courier Dover Publications (2013 reprint). p. 53. ISBN 9780486141602.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "Q: So what about the funny clothes? Do you dress like the Amish?". Stillwater Monthly Meeting of Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends. Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
Women usually wear long-sleeved, long dresses, and a head-covering such as a scarf, bonnet, or cap.