drape, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

drape n.

[after its rejection by US blacks, the drape suit was taken up by Teddy Boys in the UK in the 1950s]

1. (orig. US black, also Harlem drape) a suit, typified by its generously cut, long, draped jacket with padded shoulders and high-waisted, tapering trousers.

1935		Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 18 May 5/1: Wilton Lee [...] was trucking on down the Avenoo in a new drape.
1939		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 1 July 11/2: [cartoon caption] Officer Johnson [...] that ‘harlem drape’ has got to go .
1942		C. Himes ‘Lunching at the Ritzmore’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 16: Strutting Filipinos, the sharp-cat Mexican youths in their ultra drapes.
1942		‘Marienne’ ‘Solid Meddlin’’ in People’s Voice (NY) 4 Aprr. 30/1: The sheiks are comin’ on with some quarter-sized peg-bottom pants and nipped-in-the-waistline drapes.
1954		Mad mag. June 20: We wear drapes and suedes and we dig bop talk.
1958		Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 489: Where did you get that drape? Your pants look like a cape.
1960		C. MacInnes Mr Love and Justice (1964) 74: The man in Italian drape and pointeds.
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 26: The Teds had put away their drapes and drainpipes.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Rev. 19 Mar. 18: Leather shoes and teddy boy drapes.

2. (orig. US black) usu. in pl., clothes, a suit.

1938		Cab Calloway Hi De Ho 16: drape: suit of clothes, dress, costume.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 33: The drapes they handed me a jungle bum would wear on weekdays.
1952		Park East Dec. 31: His drapes were all crummy, his toupee was beat.
1961		J.A. Williams Night Song (1962) 93: I thought I was a hip paddy boy, like some of the kids you see around now in pegs and drapes.
1974		(con. late 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 503: He was [...] blade thin, with waist and hips like a snake in high-rise drapes of soiled white windowpane check.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 110: There is a large vocabulary that defines clothes in general – drapes, rags, pieces, threads, fronts, styles.

3. (orig. US black) those who wear such suits.

1950		Time 30 Jan. 18: The true drape wore his hair seaweed-long. Drapes resent any comparison with zoot-suiters [W&F].
2000		Guardian Guide 29 Apr.–5 May 89: Set in 1954 Baltimore, [...] he introduces her to life on the wild side and his gang of ‘drapes’.

In derivatives

drapey (adj.)

(US black) fashionable, chic.

1936

A.E. Duckett ‘Truckin ’round Brooklyn’ in N.Y. Age 25 July 7/1: Yvette is looking cool in yellow and Unis appearing drapey with a ‘sharpey’ moustache.

In compounds

drape crib (n.) [crib n.¹ (1)]

(US black) a wardrobe.

1944

D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 53: Then, and only then, do your lay your broom to the slammer that fronts the drape crib and split it slightly and politely.

drape shape (n.)

1. a style of man’s suit, typified by its generously cut, long, draped jacket with padded shoulders and high-waisted, tapering trousers; also attrib.

1942		B. O’Brien ‘I Wanna Zoot Suit’ 🎵 I wanna zoot suit with a reet pleat/ With a drape shape and a stuff cuff / To look sharp enough to see my Sunday girl.
1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 5 June 13: My drape shape is a steamed dream.
1987		(con. 1940s) J. Ellroy Black Dahlia (1988) 11: Our service revolvers had been taken from us at the station; the brass did not want .38’s falling into the hands of reet pleat, stuff cuff, drape shape, Argentine ducktail Mexican gangsters.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 72: Slick-dick dudes who wore zoot suits with reet pleats and drape shapes.

2. (US) of a woman or girl, a good figure.

1943

Chicago Trib. Graphic Section 26 Dec. 7/1: Jive Talk [...] Drape shape — good figure.