In June 1520, two kings pitched camp in a field near Calais and spent eighteen days trying to outshine each other. Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France brought feasts, music, jousting and so much cloth of gold, on their tents and on their backs, that the meeting was named after the fabric: the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Out in the fields beyond the castle of Guînes, another 2,800 tents went up for the less distinguished guests.
A tent city, days of music and games, and everyone dressed to be seen from across the grass. Any festival veteran knows that weekend. The speakers are just louder now.
At a festival, gold owns the hour before sunset, the stretch photographers call golden hour, when daylight goes redder and softer and anything gold seems to light from inside. On our cloaks the gold lives in the art: linework drawn by Magus and Lylyth Fawn in Los Angeles and dye-sublimated into the fabric, so it glows without a single metal thread. Henry, for the record, also challenged Francis to a wrestling match and lost in short order. Gold can't do everything.
What is cloth of gold?
Cloth of gold is a fabric woven with gold-wrapped thread, usually a silk core spiraled with a thin strip of high-content gold. In Tudor England, Henry VII kept it for royalty and the upper nobility. Magus Fawn's gold cloaks borrow the look rather than the metal: their gold is printed linework on a soft micro-mink outer.
According to Wikipedia's entry on cloth of gold, its makers included Byzantine weavers and medieval workshops in Genoa, Venice and Lucca, and for centuries it was how the powerful showed the world what they were worth. The Wilton Diptych, painted around 1395 to 1399, shows Richard II of England kneeling in a robe of it.
It never went out of style. At his coronation on 6 May 2023, Charles III wore the Supertunica again, a cloth-of-gold coat from the royal collection that weighs around two kilograms. Meanwhile, most of the shiny metallic fabric sold in the West today goes by a humbler name: lamé.
So gold on your back has always said the same thing: this is an occasion, and I came dressed for it. We think a sunrise set counts.
How does a printed cloak look gold without real metal?
Through contrast and drawn light. Real gold shines because its brightness changes as it tilts toward a light, and no flat color can copy that. Magus Fawn's gold cloaks get there with dye-sublimated linework in graded golds, from olive shadow to pale highlight, set against black, cobalt or green so the lines glow.
Wikipedia's article on gold as a color explains the catch: a solid patch of gold-colored ink doesn't read as gold on its own, which is why sacred art reached for real gold leaf. Medieval artists used it two ways, as Wikipedia's gold ground entry describes. One was the gold ground, a whole background of shimmering leaf in mosaics, manuscripts and panel paintings, a glow that could be read as heaven itself. The leaf was so thin that the gold cost relatively little; the lapis-lazuli blue beside it seems to have cost at least as much.
The other was chrysography, gold lines laid over an image to define and highlight details such as the folds of a robe. That second idea is the one we wear. Gold as a line, not a field, traced across a darker ground so it carries the drawing.
Look closely at the photos below and you'll see it working: the gold arches and wings are shaded, darker along one edge and brighter along the other, so a flat print reads as raised metalwork. And because dye sublimation makes the ink part of the fiber rather than a layer on top, the gold won't fade or crack.
Is gold just a shade of yellow?
Not quite. Yellow is a hue; gold is yellow that suggests metal, running from olive-brown shadows up to bright highlights. A gold cloak reads rich and ceremonial, a yellow cloak sunny and loud. Magus Fawn offers both: gold-colored linework on dark grounds, and yellow-gold set on chartreuse and neon green.
Dictionaries draw the line generously. Wikipedia's gold color article cites the American Heritage Dictionary, which stretches metallic gold from a light olive-brown through dark yellow to a vivid one. Inside that range sits old gold, a dark yellow that leans olive, the shade Purdue and Vanderbilt pair with black.
That sorts the cloaks below. The first two put gold-colored lines on deep grounds, royal blue and black, and read as metal. The last two let yellow run riot, first over the whole cloak as olive old gold, then as gold knots on neon green. Searching "golden cloak" for a costume or a coronation? Start at the top. Want a "yellow cloak" your friends can spot from the back of a daytime crowd? Skip to the bottom.
Four cloaks, from royal gold to sunlit yellow
Every Magus Fawn cloak here shares one build, so you're choosing by art and shade. The outer is micro-mink poly (listed fabric weight 200 g/m²). The lining is faux fur, black or white, picked at checkout. Heavy drawstrings cinch the hood, the double front zipper closes the front, and there are two deep side pockets plus two interior stash pockets, one of them zippered. Men's and women's listings share a unisex fit from XS to 5XL, and each cloak is made to order.
Royal gold: Gold Cosmic Cross. Start with the cloak that put gold in its name. The Gold Cosmic Cross Men's Festival Cloak ($250) climbs in pointed, mirror-image arches of gold-colored scrollwork, like the stone tracery of a great church window, over deep blue and violet. Aqua sparks flare in the gaps, small purple flowers bunch at the wrists and hem, and where the arches cross on the back, a pale jewel rests under a smaller one, holding the whole arch together. It's the gold-and-lapis pairing of a medieval panel painting, cut long and lined in faux fur. Our Cosmic Cross colorway guide shows its silver, green and red siblings.
Black and gold: Angel Catcher. For the classic pairing, the Yellow Angel Catcher Men's Festival Cloak ($250) does it with geometry. Hold it open like wings, as in our photo, and the back turns into an altarpiece: marigold feathers fanning out from a Flower of Life ringed in copper, a star of two interlocked triangles above it and another below, smaller star medallions riding each sleeve, and the lower half sinking into charcoal knots on black. It's chrysography for the dance floor, gold lines doing all the talking against the dark. Wear it to the last set before sunset, when the low sun turns marigold to honey.
Old gold: Dream Weaver. The Dream Weaver Yellow Women's Festival Cloak ($250) is our old gold: honey, chartreuse and olive curls rolling like carved plaster in a baroque ceiling, with flickers of violet and magenta at the edges. Mid-back, the swirls gather into a fierce masked face with pointed ears, so whoever walks behind you gets a second pair of eyes looking back. It's gold with moss in it, earthier than the others, and in the long light of our photo it glows like late-summer grass. Metallic gold boots finish the thought. Every color of this design lives in our Dream Weaver colorway guide.
Gold on neon green: Cosmic Cross Yellow. At the bright end sits the Cosmic Cross Yellow Men's Festival Cloak ($250): yellow-gold knots woven across electric green and inky black, with pinpoint red flowers tucked into the weave. It's the daytime pick of the four, made for afternoon stages where the sun runs the lighting rig. Worn open with the white lining, as in our photo, it gains two cream stripes from collar to hem. It's the same Cosmic Cross drawing as the royal gold pick, proof of how far one design travels on a change of ground color.
Can you wear gold and silver together?
Yes, and a gold cloak makes the mix easy. Let the cloak carry the gold, then add silver in small, bright touches: rings, chains, a belt buckle, boot hardware. The man in our Magus Fawn Cosmic Cross Yellow photo wears layered silver chains and a silver buckle under gold-yellow art, and the contrast looks deliberate.
The rest of the outfit can stay quiet. Black is the easy base, as in our Gold Cosmic Cross and Cosmic Cross Yellow photos. For contrast, cobalt and violet push gold forward. To echo instead, pull a color from the art: moss under the Dream Weaver Yellow, emerald under the Cosmic Cross Yellow, copper under the Angel Catcher.
Then decide on the lining. Black faux fur frames the gold and makes it look inlaid. White lights up the hood around your face and suits the yellow end of the range.
Size up, order early, wash cold
Size up if layers are in the plan. Our FAQ suggests going bigger for outerwear like cloaks, "sometimes even 2 sizes up to fit extra layers under." Between sizes? Email your measurements to art@magusfawn.com; we typically reply within 1–2 business days, and even with one free size exchange on every piece, that email gets it right the first time.
The warmth comes from the build: faux fur against you, a hood you can draw closed, and a zipper that runs to the collar when the field cools. Kevin, who bought a Lunar Eclipse cloak, wrote in March 2025: "High quality, detailed build and design. Top notch. Super soft and warm."
Every cloak is made to order. Production takes 7–11 business days, then delivery takes 6–14 business days. Standard US shipping is free on orders of $70 and up, and international shipping starts at $10. If a gold cloak is headed under a tree, our worst-case math says order by Tuesday, November 17, 2026 for US arrival by December 24.
For care, machine wash cold with like colors, no bleach, then hang dry (best) or tumble dry low; skip the iron and the dry cleaner. Our cloak washing guide walks through it step by step.
A field of gold, one hood at a time
Two kings once dressed a whole field in cloth of gold for eighteen days. You need one cloak and a sunset. Pick your gold, royal or neon, zip it up when the air cools, and let the last light of the day find you first.
Find your gold cloak: women's cloaks · men's cloaks · all festival cloaks · hooded blankets
More cloak reading: black cloaks with art and purple cloaks, the emperor's color
Frequently asked questions
Are Magus Fawn's gold cloaks made with real gold or metallic thread?
No. The gold on Magus Fawn's cloaks is part of the art, dye-sublimated into the micro-mink poly shell, so it's gold-colored linework rather than metal. Historic cloth of gold was woven with gold-wrapped thread, and most metallic fabric sold in the West today is called lamé. Ours goes in the washing machine on cold.
What is old gold?
Old gold is a dark yellow that runs from heavy olive or olive-brown to a deep, strong yellow, and the widely accepted shade sits on the darker side. Purdue, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest all pair old gold with black. Among our cloaks, the Dream Weaver Yellow, with its olive and chartreuse golds, reads closest to it.
Why is the City Watch called the gold cloaks?
From their uniform. Wikipedia's entry on Daemon Targaryen explains that, as Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing, Daemon gave each watchman a golden cloak to "wear with pride", and the name stuck. Building a gold cloak costume? A Magus Fawn Gold Cosmic Cross cloak brings the gold, plus a hood and faux fur for night patrol.
Why did Henry VIII and Francis I meet at the Field of the Cloth of Gold?
To strengthen the friendship between the two kings after the Anglo-French treaty of 1514. They met from 7 to 24 June 1520 at Balinghem, near Calais, and spent the summit outshining each other with tents, clothes, feasts, jousting and games. Wikipedia notes the political results were minor; the legend of all that gold lasted.
Written by Magus & Lylyth Fawn, the Los Angeles artists behind Magus Fawn. Magus makes VR and digital visionary art and produces Psy EDM. Lylyth makes fractal digital art and runs design and customer care. We've been selling wearable art since 2020 (4.8★ from 147 reviews as of October 2026), and every piece is made to order here at magusfawn.com. Come say hi on Instagram @magusfawn.
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