Late afternoon at the faire, the light turns the color of honey and the lanes fill with characters. A knight in a painted tabard asks a fairy for directions to the joust. A falconer strolls by with a hawk on her glove. Lute music drifts out of an oak grove, and every third person in the crowd wears a cloak: wool, velvet, a bedsheet bravely pinned at the shoulder, and here and there a hood printed edge to edge with dragons and angels.
Nobody checks paperwork at the gate. The American Renaissance faire was born in our own city, Los Angeles, as a schoolteacher's class project in 1963, and wizards and elves have been strolling its lanes beside queens and peasants for years. We're Magus and Lylyth Fawn, two visionary artists who put fantasy art on hooded cloaks, and our advice is simple: learn what the real Middle Ages wore over their shoulders, then wear the story you love.
The true history is richer than the costume-shop version, and the people inside those old cloaks would recognize the urge behind one covered in art, if not the zipper.
Were cloaks really worn in medieval and Renaissance times?
Yes, all the time. In the 1400s, short or long cloaks and mantles went on for ceremonies and bad weather, usually fastened at one shoulder (Wikipedia). By the late 1500s, a cloak was the third piece of a man's outfit, and the finest ones announced wealth. Hooded cloaks went over everything when the weather turned.
In the 1300s, women stepped outdoors in cloaks or mantles, often lined with fur, and a favorite lining was vair, squirrel fur that illuminated manuscripts paint in soft white and blue-grey stripes (Wikipedia).
The new fashion of the late 1300s wasn't a cloak at all. The houppelande, first named in French royal inventories in 1359, was a long, full outer gown with flaring sleeves, worn by men and women, its edges often cut into scallops or leaf shapes (Wikipedia). Academic and legal robes descend from it, so every graduation is a little bit 1360.
For the Renaissance, go to the museum. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London holds a man's cloak of crimson satin made in France between 1580 and 1600, cut as a half circle, its front edges embroidered in colored silk with silver and silver-gilt thread with a band of fleurs-de-lys around the hem (V&A). The curators explain that a cloak of that time was cut as a half, three-quarter or full circle depending on how much fabric the wearer could afford. The more swirl, the more money, and silk ones like this were mostly about status.
Elizabethans even sorted cloaks by nationality. The French cloak fell from knee to ankle and was worn over the left shoulder with a short cape to the elbow; the Spanish cloak was stiff, hip or waist length, with a richly decorated hood; the Dutch cloak flared out at the shoulders (Wikipedia). Even then, a cloak was half weather gear and half showmanship.
Do Renaissance faires welcome fantasy costumes?
Many do. Most Renaissance faires recreate an imagined English village under Elizabeth I, yet many also welcome fantasy characters such as wizards and elves, and costumed guests are part of the show. A Magus Fawn fantasy-art cloak fits that spirit: from across the lane, it reads as a character before you've said a word.
The faire's roots explain its open door. It began in 1963 as Los Angeles schoolteacher Phyllis Patterson's class activity in her Laurel Canyon backyard, with neighbors from the theater world helping the students make costumes, and that same year grew into the first Renaissance Pleasure Faire (Wikipedia). Faires soon spread across the country.
The first faire's vendors had to prove their wares historically accurate or at least plausible, but guests get room to play. The faire world even has a word for them, playtrons, and some faires set themselves in other eras entirely, from the Viking Age to the golden age of piracy. Each faire writes its own rules, especially on weapons: some allow peace-bonded blades, others leave them to the staff.
Is a Magus Fawn cloak historically accurate?
No, and we'd rather say so up front. A Magus Fawn cloak is a modern hooded zip-front cloak with sleeves, deep pockets and visionary fantasy art printed all over. It suits fantasy characters and cool faire evenings, not a reenactment that calls for period wool and hand stitching.
Here's what you get instead. The outer is micro-mink poly (listed fabric weight 200 g/m²) over a faux-fur lining in black or white, your pick. Heavy drawstrings cinch the hood, a double zipper runs down the front, and there are four pockets: two deep ones at the sides and two stash pockets inside, one of them zippered. The fit is unisex, XS to 5XL, and every cloak is made to order. The dye-sublimated art won't crack or fade.
If a 15th-century tailor had to file it somewhere, its sleeves and long, soft-lined body would sit nearer the houppelande than the V&A's half circle, and the zipper would take some explaining. To lean period, wear it open so the zipper tapes vanish into the folds, over a linen shirt and laced bodice, or the doublet and trunk hose a 1590s cloak was made to finish, with a pouch and boots.
Which ren faire characters can a hooded cloak play?
Almost any, once the art sets the scene. Magus Fawn cloaks carry their characters in the print: an astrologer's angelic script, a knight's ironwork, a dragon keeper's scales, a pilgrim's angel, a greenwood guardian's roses and horns, a sea captain's kraken. Each pairs with a thread of real history and two or three props.
The queen's astrologer: Enochian Vision Red. Elizabeth I kept an astrologer close. John Dee, mathematician and occultist, served as her court astronomer and adviser (Wikipedia), and the angelic Enochian script he recorded gives this design its name. The Enochian Vision Red Women's Festival Cloak ($250) is the court sorceress in her working clothes. A rose-pink pentagram inside a ring sits over the heart, and line after line of gold and violet lettering runs down the panels like a page from Dee's own journals. Turn around for the altar scene, a star over a book laid open, with the letters darkening to garnet and plum toward the hem. Carry a brass astrolabe or a star chart rolled in a ribbon, and let people ask for their horoscope.
The knight: Black Cosmic Cross. A knight's cloak should look as if it has seen a chapel and a tournament in the same week. On the Black Cosmic Cross Women's Festival Cloak ($250), silver-white tracery spreads over black like the wrought-iron screen in front of an altar, all faceted diamonds and little starbursts. The cross that names the design climbs the back to the hood. Zipped, it reads like a dark surcoat. Add tall boots, a belt with a pouch, a sash in your house colors and, if your faire allows it, a peace-bonded sword.
The dragon keeper: Electric Dragonscape. A favorite dragon story of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance was Saint George's, a legend that reached Western Europe with the Crusades and filled painting after painting (Wikipedia). We'd rather keep the dragon than slay it. The front of the Electric Dragonscape Dragon Print Men's Festival Cloak ($250), shown here, ripples with cobalt and ice-white scales like a hide catching moonlight; the dragon itself rears up on the back in silver, wings flung wide over a wheel of blue light. Carry a leather gauntlet, a coil of rope and a painted dragon egg that is, you'll explain, due any minute.
The cathedral pilgrim: Ophanim. Medieval pilgrims wore their journeys home as badges, usually lead alloy and sold at the shrines; the very first was a real scallop shell from Santiago de Compostela, still the pilgrim's emblem (Wikipedia). The Ophanim Men's Festival Cloak ($250) gives the pilgrim a vision to walk toward: the Ophanim are the wheels in Ezekiel's vision whose rims are full of eyes, counted in some Christian traditions among the choirs of angels (Wikipedia). Here, two glowing eyes watch from the hood, a pale orb hangs between violet wings, and a starburst wheel, the very thing these angels are named for, turns at the center above a lattice of amber diamonds. Add a walking staff, a scallop shell on a cord and a satchel for the road.
The greenwood guardian: Forest Wizard. Every faire has someone who seems to have walked in from the woods behind the archery range. Give them the Forest Wizard Women's Festival Cloak ($250). Up front, cream horns curl among violet and pink roses, moss-green vines and gold sunburst rosettes, while bands of knotwork run down both edges like a carved doorframe. Add a flower crown or antlers, a quiver that holds your water bottle, and leather boots that don't mind mud.
The sea captain: Mechanical Kraken. Pirates are faire regulars, and every pirate ship needs a monster. The word kraken first turns up in a Norwegian glossary of 1646, and the missionary Hans Egede later tied the creature to the hafgufa of medieval sea lore (Wikipedia). On the Mechanical Kraken Men's Festival Cloak ($250), the beast spreads across the shoulders in silver filigree, four teal eyes lit like lanterns below the hood, its tentacles winding down into towers and pistons that could be a sunken city or the engine room of a ship. Bring a spyglass, a tricorn hat and a ring of old iron keys, and claim the cloak was salvaged from the wreck.
Layers, lanes and laundry: ordering for faire season
Faire days tend to start warm and finish cool, so size for whatever goes underneath. For outerwear like cloaks, our FAQ suggests sizing up, "sometimes even 2 sizes up to fit extra layers under," which leaves room for a tunic, a laced bodice or a sweater. George, who bought a Madriax cloak, wrote in May 2023: "So comfortable you almost forgot how cool it looks!" That's the faire-day ideal: you forget the costume and play the character. Between sizes? Send your measurements to art@magusfawn.com before you order; we typically reply within 1–2 business days.
Production takes 7–11 business days, then delivery takes 6–14 business days: 25 business days at the slowest, so count back from your faire's opening weekend. Standard US shipping is free on orders of $70 and up, international shipping starts at $10, and every piece comes with one free size exchange, but the sizing email is still time well spent.
For lane dust, machine wash cold with like colors, no bleach, tumble dry low or hang dry, and skip the iron and the dry cleaner. Our festival cloak washing guide has the details. Some faires offer campgrounds for guests who stay the weekend (Wikipedia); for the campfire hours, our hooded blankets ($150) are the cloak's sleepier cousin, roomy 300 g/m² poly fleece in one size with ears on the hood.
From a Laurel Canyon backyard to your faire lane
The Renaissance world the faire borrows from loved a cloak that showed off. Ours show off with art instead of crimson satin. Choose your character, and pull up the hood when the light goes gold.
Find your faire cloak: women's cloaks · men's cloaks · all festival cloaks · hooded blankets
More cloak reading: wizard cloaks and the magic in their art, a Renaissance faire rave story of rival magicians and how to choose a hooded cloak
Frequently asked questions
What is a houppelande?
A houppelande is a medieval outer gown with a long, full body and wide, flaring sleeves, worn by both men and women from about 1360 well into the next century. It was sometimes lined with fur, and its edges were often cut into scallops or leaf shapes. Today's academic and legal robes descend from it.
When did Renaissance faires start?
The American Renaissance faire began in Los Angeles in 1963. Schoolteacher Phyllis Patterson staged a small fair as a class activity in her Laurel Canyon backyard, then she and her husband, Ron, presented the first Renaissance Pleasure Faire that May as a weekend fundraiser for radio station KPFK. About eight thousand people came.
What does playtron mean at a ren faire?
Playtron is faire slang for a guest who comes in costume, a blend of player and patron. Playtrons arrive as lords and ladies, peasants, pirates or fantasy characters and join in the fun. Many faires discourage mixing between the official cast and playtrons, so follow each faire's own customs once you're through the gate.
Where does the legend of Saint George and the dragon come from?
Its roots are older than the saint. The oldest known record of George slaying a dragon is an 11th-century Georgian text, and early versions set the story in Cappadocia. The legend reached Western Europe in the 12th century through the Crusades, and the 13th-century Golden Legend moved it to Libya.
What cloak is best for a rainy ren faire?
Wear two layers. A rain poncho or waterproof cape goes over your costume while the showers pass, and a hooded cloak keeps you warm once the rain stops and the evening turns cool. Our cloaks are a warmth layer, not a rain shell: soft micro-mink outside, sherpa faux fur inside, with no water-resistance claim. So keep yours dry under the poncho, then zip it on for the walk back to the car.
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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