Dating a long wool cape

A

AuroraNox

Registered Guest
Found this long, black cape, I suspect it's wool and cotton velvet, but there's no information. Long, it's got some holes in it and the fabric is wearing thin in some places. I can't find the brand anywhere, it's Baroque London Ltd.
No overlock, side seams are left raw. The interfacing under velvet is rough and stiff, I tried to show it in the pictures.
Any ideas about how old the cape might be?

https://imgur.com/a/UZqDPgq

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Here is detailed information on the company and the designer.
http://www.jazzageclub.com/val-st-cyr-and-baroque-ltd/5374/

We would love to have the label image for our label resource if you give us permission to use it.
I think the cape is from the 30s but let’s see what others say. In the article above, it says the following of his 1932 collection “fur evening capes and fur winter coats were prominent often with detachable collars”
 
Wow! I'm so thrilled, so far my "oldest" find was a 70s dress. Of course, feel free to use the label or any of the pictures and let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know about it.
Thank you so much for your reply and I hope it truly is 1930s, will wait for others' opinions.
 
I did not see that, Victoria. I am going more by the look of the label actually which does not look that early to me...but then again I don't believe I have ever had the good fortune of coming across a piece by this designer. It might well be older, it is a beautiful cape!
 
I don't know if this is any sort of a clue, but there are strips of fabric, which by where they are located, I'm guessing are meant to be for putting your forearms through, to keep the cape in place. Besides that it has wonderfully shaped arms and doesn't slide off at all. The wool isn't very thick (not terribly thin either), definitely not meant to be a winter coat substitute.
 
Ruth and Mary Jane, I am sure you are probably right. I thought the same of the actual label looking a bit newer. Relied more on the description of his collections which in the later years sounded like they became more bold colored, floral etc. That of course totally doesn’t mean that he didn’t do more traditional stuff as well. While the sketches referred to at the bottom of the article sadly don’t show up anymore if you follow the link, a few of the other links do have some interesting info from family and people who worked for him. Fascinating and I would love to do an entry for the LR especially since so much information seems to be available. @AuroraNox thank you for letting us use the label image.
 
Vintagiality said:
I am sure you are probably right. I thought the same of the actual label looking a bit newer. Relied more on the description of his collections which in the later years sounded like they became more bold colored, floral etc. That of course totally doesn’t mean that he didn’t do more traditional stuff as well. While the sketches referred to at the bottom of the article sadly don’t show up anymore if you follow the link, a few of the other links do have some interesting info from family and people who worked for him. Fascinating and I would love to do an entry for the LR especially since so much information seems to be available. @AuroraNox thank you for letting us use the label image.
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I will try and find my label image, but I suspect I've lost it. My memory though is very clear, and I think it was exactly the same, or very very similar, to this one.
 
Thank you all very much for your replies! I'm going to assume it's late 40s/ early 50s then.

As I said it has a couple of holes and needs some stitching near the colar, where the interfacing is peeking through, so I'm going to look for someone who would like to take care of the cape, as I have no skills or expertise to do that correctly.

Feel free to message me if you might be interested :)
 
Alright, I have found a picture of a dress by House of Baroque on the Victoria and Albert Museum website, which actually has a very similar collar and is made entirely of black velvet, dated as ca. 1938. Would you say it might mean the cape is after all from around that time and collection or is that unrelated and would you consider in 40s/50s anyway?

The collar on my cape isn't properly pressed now, so it's hard to tell how wide it should actually be, might be as small as the one on that dress or a bit wider.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O364746/culotte-dress-st-cyr-val/
 
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