I was very kindly invited by Kat Paylor-Bent to see her first catwalk collection at The Future of Fashion Show. Kat would be making a collection of accessible clothes that would be worn by disabled models, and they would be featuring braille descriptions – a UK first.
I was incredibly excited for her (and also for me), as I’d never been to London Fashion Week before and so started to think about what I should wear.
As London evenings in February are not the warmest, I decided I would definitely want something to go over my dress. ( I didn’t think it was acceptable to rock up in my dog-walking coat) so started looking for something smarter. I wasn’t sure if there would be anywhere to leave coats, so I felt a cape would be a great solution. It would be easy for me to take on and off myself without assistance, and it would be compact enough that I could store it in my wheelchair bag.
I found Vogue V8959 and thought it would be perfect. It had just the right amount of formality with its collar but simple lines which kept it unfussy. Minerva very kindly gifted me some absolutely gorgeous vegan coating fabric together with their anti-static lining. Some Chinese button frog fasteners would complete the look.
I had originally planned on making a red dress and so chose the red lining fabric for my cape, but unfortunately, this didn’t go to plan because my dress fabric then didn’t actually make it into stock in time, so at the last minute, I had to choose something different. I had already made my cape by this point, but thankfully, I don’t think the final dress and cape look too mismatched.
The cape was actually really easy to construct, and the vegan coating fabric was a dream to work with. I opted for view A, which was the perfect length for my wheelchair.
After wearing the cape, I think I’m going to add some magnetic fasteners, as although the frog fasteners look stunning, they were surprisingly difficult for me to manage with my numb fingers (MS), and so I did end up having to be helped with them.
I’m very pleased with the cape though, as it certainly did a wonderful job of keeping me warm.
(Image description: there are five images taken from different angles showing Yvonne sat in her wheelchair wearing a short black cape with a red lining)
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