THE MET
Cream Silk Brocade Dolman Cape
Victorian Late / Bustle · 1870s · American
Production
ready-to-wear
Material
wool and silk brocade
Culture
American
Influences
Turkish dolman military coat
A cream-colored dolman cape featuring an elaborate woven or brocaded pattern throughout the fabric. The garment displays the characteristic dolman silhouette with wide, bat-wing sleeves that create dramatic horizontal volume when the arms are extended. The cape fastens at the center front with a series of buttons or closures running from neck to hem. The textile shows intricate surface patterning typical of late Victorian luxury fabrics, likely combining wool and silk fibers in a complex weave structure. The garment's construction emphasizes the period's preference for enveloping outer garments that accommodated the full skirts and bustles worn underneath, while the rich fabric treatment reflects the era's taste for ornate surface decoration.
capetentcollarlesship length
Connected To
Worn with·bustle dressWorn with·petticoat
SHARED10 years · cross-culture · cross-category
These cream silk beauties speak the same Victorian language of restrained luxury—both deploy that particular late-19th-century trick of letting texture do the talking rather than color. The boots' rows of pearl buttons climbing toward the ankle echo the cape's methodical approach to ornament, where the brocade's woven pattern provides all the decoration needed without a single applied trim.
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