A Spanish cloak is a garment typically worn in the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

-speaking world, and dates back to the late nineteenth century. It was the garment of priests and traditional Christians. It is called "Spanish" or even "Pañosa," being made of cloth, wide flight and with bands of velvet lining revealing colour at the front edges.

History

The cloak is thought to originate from the "Sagun", a garment worn by the

Celtiberians The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo) ...

. Much later the cloak was banned by one of the ministers of Carlos III, triggering the start of the

Esquilache riots The Esquilache Riots () occurred in March 1766 during the rule of Charles III of Spain. They were directly sparked by a series of measures by Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marqués de Esquilache aiming to diminish the use of traditional apparel that ...

in the eighteenth century.

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story author, and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe. Ford's first collection of short stories, ''Rock Springs (short stories), Rock Springs ...

, in 1845, wrote that the cloak "favours habits of inactivity, prevents the over-zealous arms or elbows from doing anything, conceals a knife and rags, and, when muffled around, offers a disguise for intrigues and robbery", and that this is why it was banned. The first cloaks of the nineteenth century came from some of the wool-producing areas such as

Béjar Béjar () is a town and municipality of Spain located in the province of Salamanca, autonomous community of Castile and León. As of 2018, it had a population of 12,961. The historical development of the town has been linked to its once thriving ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

. It is for this reason that one of its early precursors corresponds to the

Duke of Béjar Duke of Béjar () is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Spain, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee and granted in 1485 by the Catholic Monarchs to Álvaro de Zúñiga, 1st Duke of Plasencia and chief justice of Castile. The title refers ...

. In the nineteenth century the cloak became very popular and thought of as elegant and stylish. Its use decreased around 1900. The journalist Antonio Velasco Zazo founded in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

the Association Cloak (called "La capa") in 1928, which was devoted entirely to encouraging the Spanish cloak as part of the popular apparel in Madrid. Zazo frequently wore the "castizo Spanish coat", whilst still wearing a hat, a custom among intellectuals. Although the association emerged in Madrid, it was something also typical in the history of Spain, and its prevalence existed in many cities.

Features

The cloak is long, open at the front and sleeveless. It was originally worn by men; models for women began to exist at the end of the 20th century. The most common colours for the cloak are black, navy blue and brown. It typically includes a fibula (generally similar to those of forms charro button).. It is often made of 100% sheep's

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

, or 90% wool and 10% cashmere. In the present day it typically includes some amount of

polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made throug ...

fiber. The emboli, the part that covers the face, is almost always 100% cotton

velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

and is dyed in different colours: red, maroon, green.

References

External links

The spaniard cloak (Blog)
{{Folk costumes 19th-century fashion Coats (clothing) Spanish fashion Spanish clothing Charles III of Spain