The bride wore a phoenix coronet and an embroidered shoulder-cape.
Tips
history
帔 is not used independently in modern Chinese. It named a decorative shoulder-wrap worn by noblewomen; it survives almost only in the set phrase 凤冠霞帔 (phoenix coronet and rosy cape), the classic image of a bride's formal dress.
register
Classical / cultural only — seen in descriptions of historical costume, not in everyday speech.
Right side 皮 is the sound element, shifting from pí to pèi. It carries no 'skin' meaning here. The same phonetic also drives 被 and 披 (to drape over the shoulders) — fitting, since a 帔 is draped on.
