Hi all! I am posting (first time) to inquire about a cape I bought at an estate sale. I'd love to know the age of it and if anyone has any information at all they can add about it. It's got a whip-stitch label of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. - which frustratingly, I can't find a record of this label style from the company from any era. Lining seems like a silk and appears to be hand-stitched all the way around, with a good bit of the thread now gone, and the silk quite threadbare and even nearly missing around the top in places. It's about mid-calf on me, I'm 5'3 and has no arm holes - or closures that are apparent. Would it have been closed with a piece of jewelry? There is ruching (?) in the area of a dropped waist or low hip section which makes me think it's 20s and several layers of wide, soft ruffles below that. The bottom seam is interesting since it's either the tiniest rolled hem (maybe a dating clue but I have no idea) or it was shortened a bit at some point and this very fine hem stitch was done then. Thanks for any feedback! I love this cape so much, I wish I had somewhere fancy to wear it...
Carson Pirie Scott & Co was a department store. It would've put its label on the manufacture's coat. This is, from what I can see, probably 20s... hard to tell without it on a mannequin or human... and I think it was worn sort of like a cape with some fastening like a deco sort of sweater guard maybe.
I also see late 20s - 30s, but it is hard to see the shape, in the full picture. Black velvet is so hard to capture!
