Tippet

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A tippet is a piece of clothing worn over the shoulders in the shape of a

Elite costume

Anglican

The ceremonial scarf often worn by Anglican priests, deacons, and lay readers is called a tippet, also known as a "preaching scarf." It is worn with choir dress and hangs straight down at the front. Ordained clergy (bishops, priests and deacons) wear a black tippet. In the last century or so variations have arisen to accommodate forms of lay leadership. Authorized readers (known in some dioceses as licensed lay ministers) sometimes wear a blue one. A red tippet is also worn in some Anglican dioceses by commissioned lay workers. Commissioned evangelists of the Church Army are presented with a cherry red type tippet of the capelet or collar shape rather than a scarf, although some replace this with a scarf form of the tippet, retaining the distinctive red colour.

Tippets are often worn as part of choir dress for the Daily Offices of

Clergy who are entitled to wear medals, orders, or awards sometimes fix them to the upper left side of the tippet on suitable occasions (such as Remembrance Sunday in the Church of England). Sometimes the end of the tippet is embroidered with the coat of arms of an ecclesiastical institution with which the cleric is affiliated. It is common for the Canons of Cathedral churches to have the coat of arms of their cathedral embroidered on one or both sides of the tippet, commonly on the breast rather than the end, as a sign of office.

The tippet is not the

Other denominations

In the British Army, all serving chaplains are issued with a tippet to be worn directly over

Some Lutherans also use the tippet. Members of the Lutheran Society of the Holy Trinity wear a black tippet embroidered with the Society's seal when presiding at the daily office.

The black preaching scarf (or rarely blue, grey, or green) is also worn by some Scottish Presbyterian ministers and other non-conformist clergy.

British military nurses

A different and non-religious sort of tippet, a shoulder-length cape, has been part of the uniform of British military nurses or of nursing uniforms in Commonwealth countries. These are often decorated with piping and may have badges or insignia indicating the wearer's rank.

Evolution of the tippet

• 
  Fourteenth century fur-lined tippet or hanging sleeve
• 
  Sixteenth century zibellino or fur tippet
• 
  Eighteenth century fur-lined tippet or capelet

Notes