After I first saw the Solo movie the thing I wanted to talk about most was that Lando had an entire closet just for capes on the Millennium Falcon. A whole closet! Just for capes! And he had such a fabulous variety of different coloured capes for every occasion that my imagination lingered in that cape closet for the rest of the movie and long after the closing credits rolled. Since then it has been a dream of mine to amass a collection of capes that Lando would be proud of.
Capes are such fun to wear! They aren’t just for super heroes or overly dramatic fantasy costumes, there are lots of different shapes and styles of cape that those of the modern age can somewhat wear in general society whilst only getting a modest amount of side-eye from everyone else.
I do have somewhat of a cape collection already, but before I add to it consciously I wanted to pause and admire the capes I already own and love. And share them here of course!
Some capes are somewhat costume-y, others not so much, but this one can be both. The Poncho of Levitation from Elhoffer Designs is a lot of fun, and absolutely fulfills the swishyness requirements of capes! But it is more often than not gets mistaken for a version of Thor’s cape when I wear it geeky places, which I am absolutely ok with, because either way it looks super nice!
This cape came from a Kickstarter and it is my favorite blanket shaped cape! It is a galaxy lined flying fox cape from Button Fox and I love wearing it over an outfit for warmth. It’s so comfy, plus space things are just extra special for me.
This is the cape I wear the most, it is shaped so nicely and flows in such a lovely way. It is a kimono wrapper I found in a tiny little second hand shop in Tokyo. It has a polka-dot lining, little buttons to secure it at the wrists, and is just the cutest thing!
Another creation from Button Fox, this time an adorable Pikachu cape. The ears are poseable, it has a removable tail, and is a lot of fun to wear. I took lots of pictures of it for my Giginka Closet Cosplay post. It’s a very specific cape and I don’t get a lot of wear out of it, but it’s just so cute I can’t not love it.
This little wrap was knitted for me by my Granny and is basically a rectangle of fabric with arm holes, but I absolutely love it! It’s much more a wrap than a cape really, but it still gives me that swishy cape feel when I wear it. Plus I love my knitted things gifted to me by my family.
Another knitted item gifted to me by family is this amazing purple creation from my Mum. Technically a poncho, however it was inspired by Magneto’s fantastically flowing purple cape, so I think it deserves a place on this list.
This little red cape with ears on the collar is more a shoulder duster and I love wearing it over simple tshirts when it’s hotter. It’s so simple and so cute, it can add just a little quirky touch to an otherwise plain outfit. Plus a little extra warmth of course! As with all my capes with ears, this one is also from Button Fox.
Once again, this cape with adorable ears is from Button Fox. This is also a duster length cape that I prefer to wear in warmer weather to add interest to plain outfits. The hood makes this one a little top-heavy, so it’ll sit heavy against the neck clasp, but with the hood up it is the most adorable thing! And the lighter colour is different to most other things I wear so it always stands out.
I’m told this wrap is somewhat fancy as it’s made of alpaca. I love it because it’s warm and drapey and I usually secure it at my shoulder with a big wrought iron penannular brooch. It also looks fantastic with a belt at the middle, or just draped like this. It’s super versatile, comfortable, and feels good to wear.
This little blue-grey circle cape exists by pure accident. It was the day before a wedding and the weather was forecast to be much cooler than my outfit was designed for, so I needed a shawl. I wanted a black shawl, but there was no black fabric at the store when I went so I settled for this and made a simple circle shaped wrap-cape-sleeve-thingie that I absolutely love! Worked out much better than planned! Sometimes everything goes wrong and that is perfectly fine. This cape is a great example of that.
With the success of my blue circle cape, I bought a few different colours of stretchy velvet to make more, and this one in red was the first of what will hopefully be a bit of a rainbow. It’s much brighter than it’s blue version and can make simple black dresses look accidentally fancy. Ended up wearing this one to the ballet and didn’t feel out of place amongst people dressed fancy for the occasion!
This somewhat square cape is from Elhoffer Designs and is designed to be Star Wars inspired. However, I always end up wearing it in Lord of the Rings inspired outfits. The texture is my favourite part of this cape as it just adds so much interest to an outfit. It has a pocket in one of the front pieces and is snuggly and warm and excellent fun to wear!
Last up is my absolute favourite cape that I own, it’s a vintage nursing cape. It’s made entirely of wool, has a thin pocket on the inside, a stiff collar, a little chain to hang it from and it’s just beautiful. The red lining is so striking against the blue of the cape. It sits heavy on my shoulders and has a gorgeous structure to it that makes it a joy to wear. I looked for something like this that would both ship to Australia and wasn’t eye-wateringly expensive for years before I found this one and I love it so much!
While not always practical, the swooshy feeling of a cape flowing around me is almost worth having to rely only on pockets for storage while out an about. They are always such fun to wear, and like a full skirt, practically beg to be played with by spinning around in circles and giggling! Which is exactly what I spent most of my time doing while taking pictures for this!
I already have plans to expand my cape collection while also working on my sewing skills. The obvious gap in my collection is something long and dramatic for those more formal flouncy occasions. Thankfully I have a roll of blue velvet I have been keeping for just such an occasion! I just need to get some nice lining fabric and a wonderful new swooshy cape will be all mine!
Stay tuned for more capes to come!