Inverness cape

History

The garment originated in the 1850s as the Inverness coat, a sleeved outer coat with a long cape reaching sleeve length. By the 1870s the cape was divided into two, with a small capelet-like wing on each side sewn into the side seams rather than across the back. In the 1880s the sleeves were removed entirely, leaving only armholes beneath the cape, creating the Inverness cape. The fronts may have short lapels with capes set behind them, or a simple fall collar with a tall stand and capes buttoning across; the latter style, favored by coachmen and cab drivers for arm freedom, is called a coachman's cape.

Still worn in the United Kingdom, it is often made of heavy Harris tweed in plaid or checked designs, commonly in a grey hound's tooth pattern for country wear. Lighter-weight black cape-coats are used for formal evening attire, and modest black capes of Gore-Tex, nylon, or twill are used by pipe bands.

Highland dress

The Inverness cape has been almost universally adopted for rainy weather by pipe bands worldwide and by many kilt wearers. Its sleeveless design with wide-cut armholes allows access to a sporran without unbuttoning the cape. A short cape covers the side opening and can be buttoned in front.

In Japan

When the Inverness coat arrived in Japan during the Meiji period, a local variation called the tonbi or tombi coat became widely popular. Its name came from the shoulder flaps, which resembled a kite’s wings. Because it could be worn over a kimono, the tonbi was a practical choice. Wool had been scarce in Japan before the Meiji era, but the rising demand for overcoats like the tonbi helped grow the market. This coat remained a common men’s garment through the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa periods.

In popular culture

Sherlock Holmes is often associated with the Inverness cape, though in the novels he is described as wearing an Ulster. His distinctive look—cape-coat, deerstalker cap, and calabash pipe—is a composite from illustrators David Henry Friston and Sidney Paget; Friston depicted Holmes in a deerstalker-like hat and elongated trench coat for A Study in Scarlet. Stage actor William Gillette did not wear a cape-coat, and the calabash pipe's origin is uncertain, possibly from Gillette's use of a full-bend briar pipe.

By the 1930s the cape-coat, deerstalker, and calabash pipe were associated with Holmes, chiefly in the United States, and became definitive with Basil Rathbone's 1939 films for 20th Century Fox. August Derleth's Solar Pons also wears an Inverness. In Western and Spaghetti Western films, characters such as Lee Van Cleef's in For a Few Dollars More and Gianni Garko in the Sartana series wear Inverness capes. In Doctor Who, the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) frequently wore an Inverness cape over dandy suits, taking one from his grandfather's wardrobe.

Barnabas Collins wore an Inverness cape on Dark Shadows; the 2012 film remake used a bottle-green fabric. In the 2001 film Waiting for Godot, Pozzo wears an Inverness cape, symbolizing Protestant Ascendancy landlords.