When is a cape just a cape? Rarely, as proven by Ben Mendelsohn’s baddie in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In his role as Director Orson Krennic, a middle-management imperial lackey, he has turned the off-white cape into a real takeaway from the new film.
It’s worth restating the obvious at this point: Star Wars bad guys usually opt for black. But, rather than blindsiding us with its political correctness, the white cape is actually a triple power move. The colour is Cornforth White from Farrow & Ball, a mid-tone, off-white shade, which was the colour of 2016 for people in positions of power. It’s what Hillary Clinton chose for her final-debate pantsuit, is a similar shade to Melania Trump’s jumpsuit worn to her husband’s victory speech and is Michelle Obama’s favourite dress colour. Also, capes are the root of shoulder-robing, that peculiar frow-friendly trend for wearing your coat on your shoulders, leaving your hands free to text or wield the lanyard to the Death Star. And they have been a consistent coat trend for the past five seasons, worn by Solange to her 2014 wedding, and most recently seen on the Gareth Pugh catwalk. The giveaway here is that the model wore sunglasses indoors while modelling.
As Mendelsohn has explained, it is significant as a performance tool as well as a prop: “It gives you a dignity and an uprightness that you might not have had otherwise. It’s the sign of a great costume.”
