Cape
late 1870s
Medium
silk
Classification
Cape
Culture
American
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Miss Mabel Poillon, 1940
Accession Number
C.I.40.160.3
Art Historical Context
This elegant silk cape, crafted in the late 1870s by the Boston firm R. H. White & Co., offers a window into American fashion during theilded Age. As a department store retailer rather than an individual designer, R. H. White & Co. supplied ready-to-wear and custom garments to middle- and upper-class women, reflecting the growing accessibility of stylish clothing through urban retail. The lightweight silk material, prized for its sheen and drape, was ideal for outerwear that combined practicality with refined elegance. In the broader historical context, such capes were popular accessories in ...