Robes of the British peerage

)[1] The Parliament robe of a peer is a full-length garment of scarlet wool with a collar of white miniver fur.

It is closed at the front with black silk satin ribbon ties (except for a short slit at the neck down half the length of the robe) but open from the shoulder on the right-hand side.

Miniver bars (edged with gold oak-leaf lace) on the right-hand side of the robe indicate the rank of the wearer: 4 for a duke, 3½ for a marquess, 3 for an earl, 2½ for a viscount, and 2 for a baron.

Bishops in the House of Lords have their own distinctive parliamentary robe, which is worn at the State Opening of Parliament.

It is akin to the cappa clausa of Cambridge University: a full-length scarlet cloak with a cape of plain white fur.

For male peers, the Coronation robe is a cloak of crimson velvet extending to the feet, open in the front (with white silk satin ribbon ties) and trailing behind.

[2] In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, very precise details about the design of peers' and peeresses' robes (and what is to be worn underneath them) were published by the Earl Marshal in advance of each coronation.