The earliest Klansmen after the Civil War didn’t really have a standard outfit but they did wear masks sometimes. The white robes and pointed mask was literally invented by the MOVIE “The Birth of a Nation” (technically the book first but movie was more popular) that put the Klan in those robes because they thought it made them look cool. Then real Klan Members started doing because they thought it looked cool in the movie. The Klan would actually go to movie showings in those robes like fucking harry Potter LARPers lol

Apart from the reasons already mentioned I think part of the appeal of Klan robes is the level of theatrics and group cohesion it gives. Kind of the same function that masonic regalia has.

It’s done as a courtesy so that anti-fascists can easily identify who needs a brick to their skull.

:fash-bash: