The Bernini and Degas examples are fantastic! Something I noticed that is interesting to me is how these inert folds can suggest the placidity or turbulence of natural substances like water or fire. When I look at the Degas inert folds on the floor I think of the fabric as pooling on the surface, as if spilled - it's inert in a way that seems like excess or waste, and I think that's part of the emotional quality of the symbol. In Bernini by contrast it's turbulence, it's like churning water on the saint, and maybe there's a contrast to a more fiery energy in the ascending spiral folds of the angel. This is something that drapery does that more constructed attire doesn't do - like armor, or some of those later comics you showed, where the clothing suggests rigid industrial design instead of protean nature. For natural flows of drapery that get outside of the six form folds I think I'll use 'inert' and 'turbulent' as two distinct categories - inert is that gentle pooling of fabric like Degas, while turbulent is the more chaotic churn we see in the Bernini that feels like the rapids of the stream instead of the gentle flow.

Great Bernini story. Helps me understand his work in new ways. Your history deepens my understanding of my own work.