This Unexpected Coat Trend Is Perfect for Spring (2024)

For an indeterminate period between discounted Valentine's Day candy season and swimwear season, we have more questions about outerwear than answers. Am I going to freeze if I leave home without a coat? But isn't it too late in the season to wear shearling? The weather app isn't giving spring, but it's not quite winter either. Thankfully, designers have an answer for struggling intra-season dressers: the cape coat.

I can imagine hesitation from loyalists to easy-on, easy off bomber jackets and longline trenches. But cape coats are happening, have happened, and will continue to happen so long as there are outfits to protect from a late February chill. They're worth embracing, for good reason.

Intermix chief merchant Divya Mathur agrees. "A cape or poncho is the fashion girl's answer to transitional outerwear," she tells me in an email. "A bit more unexpected than a trench coat, it’s a statement in just one piece for an elevated, 'I just came in from the countryside' look."

While cape coats may be a touch literary in their influence, the ways to become a Cape Person aren't limited to romantic styles in the vein of Jane Austen heroine. For a few seasons, designers have played with the cape silhouette to more than wearable, yet regal, results. Isabel Marant's pastel capes and ponchos are for anyone who subscribes to "French girl style." Twists like quilting, fringe, or elevated fabrics can be found on edgier capes at Altuzarra, A.L.C., and Ganni. Looking ahead to fall 2022 trends, designers from Carolina Herrera to Duncan draped their models in capes suited for evening wear—the sorts of coats that make the outfit.

One favorite of editors' favorites is Nili Lotan's Eliza cape, in a sharp black wool. BAZAAR.com digital director Nikki Ogunnaike even named it her fashion week essential. Lotan designed the cape to strike a very specific balance. "To me, it takes the familiar classic peacoat shape and gives it an unexpected rock and roll vibe," she tells me.

It's true that wearing a cape requires a touch more consideration than throwing on a cocoon coat over your outfit of the day. Runway styling can lead you toward monochromatic outfits with your cape as the deciding colorway (like at Bevza or Lanvin) or as a bold point of contrast (see: Gabriela Hearst). For a classic vibe, look at Mathur's "ultimate cape muse," Jaqueline Kennedy. For daytime, Mathur follows Kennedy's example by wearing her capes over streamlined classics: a thin turtleneck or crisp button down, with leggings and a tall riding boot or wide-leg jeans and an ankle boot. "If you prefer a little more definition, you can always add a wide belt to cinch your waist in," she adds.

Lotan, for her part, casts her cape as the ultimate going-out outerwear: "I love wearing it in the evenings, over one of my beautiful black wool trousers with a fluid, sexy silk blouse."

The best cape coats will ease you from winter into spring with a dose of opulence, and be waiting for you when fall comes back again. Get the look with a few more of our favorite cape coats below, from The Row's luxurious cashmere to under-$200 gems at Mango and Lattelier.