Cape it in style

Not all superheroes wear capes, and not all capes are for superheroes. Putting a little spin on the regular dress, cape dress first gained popularity in the ’50s. A great option for winter wear, these dresses are sophisticated, fun and lend the oomph factor to your everyday wardrobe. From Hollywood celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie to popular Bollywood names like Jhanvi Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, everyone is catching up on the trend, which has made a comeback.

A versatile piece of clothing, cape dress is suitable for all kinds of body types. Fashion designer Amy Billimoria says, “I think cape dresses are a good idea to camouflage any kind of body type, but cape dresses look nicer on people who are slimmer and taller and have long legs.”  Designer Nachiket Barve seconds the motion saying, “For the Indian body type, it works very beautifully in terms of how somebody can wear it or how it can be put together. Also, it is quite forgiving for curvier body types or for those who have slight bulk on their arms, so they can still wear a sleeveless dress and throw a cape on it to get a caped dressed silhouette. It’s a drape so it sorts of hides your body flaws.”

Deepika Padukone in Zuhair Murad.

But styling a dress which in itself is a statement can be tricky but fret not as our experts will help you own the cape. “The best way to style a cape dress is to accessorize it minimally with the right kind of shoes and hairstyle. But it is also very important to wear the correct length of a cape dress. A cape dress worn just an inch above the knee would help any body type look nicer. But if you wear a cape dress slightly longer than the knee, you could go wrong,” says Amy. A knee length cape dress paired with a pair of high boots is the perfect outfit for the winters. But that’s not all, cape dress can even make for a great party wear and a long embellished cape dress can draw the spotlight towards you. “It’s great for parties even in this weather and also it adds a little bit of a drama to the end of your dress,” says Nachiket.  But keep the accessorising to a minimum, warns designer Samant Chauhan, he says, “Styling depends on the type of cape dress you’re wearing, if it is embroidered, not much of accessorising is needed. If it’s a simple one, you could style it with a pair of statement earrings.”

Cape dresses have been around for quite some time and it’s back in trend this year, but what would our designers do differently if they had to make one themselves? Nachiket would love to experiment with gemstone colours while Amy believes in keeping it minimalist is the key, she says, “If I had to do a cape dress I would keep it, bare minimalist, I would just pick a right colour. I would love to have a single coloured tone cape dress and would give it a slit pocket on the side and embellish that with something different. Because I haven’t seen cape dresses with minimalist tone and monochrome colours.” And to go with the season, Amy is drawn towards green and brown tones.