Trendspotting
Trendspotting: What’s Up With Fashion People Wearing Jackets Like Capes?
By Leah Chernikoff
Wearing a coat or blazer draped over your shoulders isn’t exactly a new trend. It’s kind of a fussy dignified old lady look. Cardigan clips existed in the late ’50s and ’60s (and Glee’s Emma Pillsbury is bringing them back) to facilitate wearing your button-downs draped instead of arms-in and buttoned-up.
But if you follow the big street style blogs, the ones that follow the fashion crowd over fashion month like Tommy Ton, Garance Dore and the Sartorialist, you’ve probably noticed that the fashion elite have taken to this trend like gangbusters. Most notably, Marie Claire’s Taylor Tomasi Hill and Zanna Roberts and Elle’s Kate Lanphear seem loathe to put their arms in their blazer sleeves.
It’s a styling trend that has hit the runways, too. At Banana Republic’s spring show this past week, one of the model’s was styled with her jacket draped cape-style. Of course, it’s hard to keep a jacket on when your stomping the runway and your arms aren’t in the sleeves, so they buttoned the coat at the neck, which just makes her look a bit like she’s being strangled.
Do you or would you wear a jacket like a cape?
All these people are. Take a look.
**All photos via Tommy Ton for Style.com and the Sartorialist.
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hey! i do that too!! :D and dignified old lady look is exactly what i am going for. too many herve leger dresses out there for my taste!
plus it looks a bit as if your boyfriend (or even better – some random gentlemanly stranger. terribly handsome and rich of course) has draped his jacket over your shoulders as you were waiting for your taxi in the cold new york rain and… alright, getting carried away,
i love the trend, it’s chic and different and elegant and yes, old fashioned.
thenetizon.blogspot.com
I wear my pants the same way….I just drape them and then button around the waist.
Dying.
Dying.
hillarious! lol-ing! ;)
it reminds me of being cold as a child and my mother forcing a jacket on me…me refusing…and it ending up on me halfway…as a cape
it looks unpolished and it is uncomfortable
http://whycantmybestfriendbeme.blogspot.com/
NO Anita! Look at the first response! Swap your mom for a really hot handsome hunk like AJ Abualrub or Ben Hill and.. well… it’s not unpolished, it’s just chivalrous and a ‘sure-thing’
haha…that is a good point…but in my life not so much of a reality :( haha
Stories like this are EXACTLY why I love fashionista!!!! Short, sweet and what’s on everyone’s mind! Many wouldn’t think this noteworthy enough to do a post on, but it’s soooo true!!! Gave me a nice end of the day chuckle, much prefer these little bits of original content and observations to the tons of reposts of other blogs that many fashion sites do!
Posts like these are what make Fashionista SO much more than just fashion news. Sites like Racked and Fashionologie just link to articles about the wheelings and dealings of the industry, these are real opinion pieces and reflections from gen-u-ine directional fashionistas!
aw thanks guys!
I absollutely adore this look. I do it often.
http://fulltimefabulous.com/video/view.aspx?vid=x1PvD7F3hr8
I do this too! I hate taking my jacket on and off a million times if I’m going into a bunch of different places, so I just throw it over my shoulders.
I think it looks so affected. And ineffectual, like it’s for people who don’t need to move much or do anything with their arms. Maybe that’s the intent though.
I adore it, I’ve added elastic under the arms of a jacket in order to keep it on this way
’cause their cool, ’cause they can, ’cause they CAN’T BE BOTHERED
Question: I feel like my shoulders slope down too much (and I move too much) to make it stay on. What’s the secret?
Double stick tape.
Me too–I can’t keep a purse on my shoulder either. Sloping shoulders syndrome!
I have worn my blazer like a cape, often at work because I’m a bit fussy with the temperature. I get too hot with my arms in the sleeves, then I get too cold if I take the whole thing off. So while I’m working away at my desk, I just drape my blazer on my shoulders.
I really want to get myself a fuzzy wuzzy cape.
Now that you mention it, Leah, yeah it is a trend. I saw it, but didn’t “spot” it, (if you get my drift – ie Leah, that is why you are a fashion journalist and I read your postings to interpret what I have seen but not noticed).
If you have read Garance’s post about the beauty, yet impossibility of carrying a shoulder bag when you are wearing a cape, you can see how jacket draping could be the answer to this conundrum. It looks a bit like a cape but leaves your arms fairly free. Also if you have spent a bomb on your outfit and accessories and want to show them off, it does the trick.
From my perspective, if the weather heats up a bit, it is easier to wear your jacket draped over your shoulders rather than crumpled up over one arm. Especially if you like talking with your hands.
I like this style too..
I like this style too..
Not putting your arms in is so much more work! I hate looking uncomfortable and fussy, and I know I would fuss with the jacket all day long!
Not putting your arms in is so much more work! I hate looking uncomfortable and fussy, and I know I would fuss with the jacket all day long!