The Wealth-Whispering Jacket Trend Stylish Dressers Are Wearing This Autumn
In all my years as a fashion writer, never did I think I’d be reporting on a trend beloved by Sherlock Holmes, Chemena Kamali at Chloé and Claudia Winkleman. But alas, the reign of the best cape jackets has brought me to this junction.
So, how did a jacket silhouette synonymous with the 19th Century find its way off the pages of a Baker Street-based detective’s tale and onto the runways of Paris Fashion Week and television screens through the beloved British series, Traitors?
A cape jacket, as the name suggests, is a hybrid outerwear style that is often cropped, billows out from the body, sits higher on the neck and has trimmed sleeves.
Fictional connotations aside, cape jacket have always conjured two contrasting images. Tinkering between opposing poles, this structured shield allies itself with both country and city contexts. With a theatrically enveloping shape, it easily assimilates with the bustling big smoke, serving as protective wrapping against skyscrapers and cement-lined streets, as equally well with quiet pastoral villages and forest environments.
The former effect has made it quietly favourable for the designer set, with couture houses including Balenciaga and Dior co-opting this shape for its elegant clientele as far back as the ‘40s and ‘50s. (Though the earliest examples of cape jacket date to the 11th Century.)
Indeed, associations with well-travelled and well-heeled ‘ladies who lunch’ types have made the cape jacket relevant again in the 2020s, with the most recent seasons awash with leather and wool versions designed for dressing up. The return of cape jackets can be attributed to Kamali’s debut collection for the bohemian-inspired French maison. In Chloé’s autumn/winter 2024 runway show, the creative director kicked off her tenure by showcasing ethereal, tiered dresses layered under clipped smocks that bundled over the shoulders and gracefully fell to the elbow.
This act was soon adopted by the brand’s adherents, with everyone from Sienna Miller to Sydney Sweeney immediately throwing a cape jacket over their ensembles while running errands in London and Los Angeles, respectively.
Despite its lack of cold weather, Beverly Hills saw a slew of cape jacket emerge during winter times, including a very covetable scarfed iteration by Phoebe Philo worn by Kendall Jenner to shop at The Row’s Melrose Place boutique.
However, it must be said that it’s the brisker climates of Europe where cape coats really shine. At the recent tenth anniversary presentation of Oslo Runway, Scandi brand Envelope 1976 showcased a series of cape coats that proved that combating frigid temperatures doesn’t always have to be a test of how well your Uniqlo thermals can hold up against the great outdoors.
In Daniel Lee’s latest Burberry collection, an especially sumptuous ruby red shearling crop—one of the biggest autumn 2025 colour trends— was showcased alongside a pair of taupe leggings and matching crimson riding boots. If this didn’t prove how the best cape coats have become the centrepiece in autumn outfits for discerning dressers, then perhaps the data attesting to the demand for cape coats will, with Google searches for the term doubled within the past month alone.
And with winter on the horizon, I simply cannot think of anything more inviting than cosying up and swaddling yourself in a tailored piece as decadent as this. From designer styles at Proenza Schouler to the expensive-looking high-street options at COS, Arket and Massimo Dutti, there’s a cape coat to fit every taste. Simply swap the deerstalker cap for a pillbox hat and you’re set. Get wrapped up in the best cape coats, below.
Cape jackets might evoke visions of Count Dracula or Batman, the original caped crusader, but modern interpretations are far from these literary archetypes. (Though pieces like Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Book Tote featuring the classic Bram Stoker horror might just well be changing the tide here.) All this to say that cape jackets (and coats) are trending again in 2025. The return of this style is part of a return to mid-century dressing that we’ve seen emerge recently, with gloves, pillbox hats and brooches all examples of other ‘60s staples that are making a comeback.
The most important thing to look out for when buying a cape jacket is fabric composition. You'll want to steer away from synthetic fibres as these won't hold up over time as well as natural ones will.
Plus, wool or leather versions will have the perfect mixture of slouch and structure, as you want your cape to feel lived in and unfussy as opposed to stiff and out of place. This Burberry look below, as aforementioned, balances these elements well, making the piece feel authentic to the wearer.
Capes can read as intrinsically polished, but they don't always have to be this way. Of course, there are plenty of runway and influencer imagery to serve as inspiration if that's your preferred look.
However, I'd prefer to focus on the styling hacks that help cape jacket feel more relevant for day-to-day wear. Take tastemaker Monikh Dale and her The Row cape jacket, pictured below.
Introducing new elements like denim can soften the super crisp composition of a cape coat, ensuring it feels cohesive with more casual settings, like the dining room of an elevated pub. Balancing this out with flip-flops or suede trainers will make cape coats feel milder, and therefore more accessible, which is the preferred quality you want in a jacket.
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