Hi.
I'm the Green Cloak Guy. Or Cape Guy, or whatever people call me.
I wear a conspicuous green cloak around campus, whenever I'm there. Here's a poorly-cropped picture:
Over the four years so far I've been at NCSU, my cloak has helped drive my personal growth, and has become (if I may be so bold) somewhat of a symbol to the other students at NCSU. I'm graduating this December, and while I could take my cloak with me, I'm not sure if I want to.
My cloak has done what I made it to do - it's helped me overcome my own issues with social identity and awkwardness. I don't need it any more. So I want to pass the cloak on, so that it can help someone else the way it helped me.
Passing Down the Green Cloak
I want to help others overcome the same problems with self-identity and social interaction that I faced when I started college at NCSU. I'm looking for someone struggling with those issues themselves, to whom to pass on the cloak. It's not some magic cure-all that will just solve the problems - but it looks nice and it will hopefully give you the confidence and motivation you need to get better. Like it did for me, it will serve as a driver, or a tool, for facilitating your personal growth.
If you're a social butterfly, and think the cloak is cool, that wearing one is cool, then that's great and I appreciate that! But you're not the one I'm looking for. Not primarily, anyway. Instead, if you know someone struggling with these problems - a roommate, suitemate, friend, whatever - please direct them this way.
(The cloak has now been passed on.)
Below, I'll give some background on the history of me and the problems I've used the cloak to help me solve, as well as some background on the cloak itself. Hopefully it serves as some motivation, to encourage you or your friend(s) to inherit the cloak and strive for your own personal growth.
Background: Why I Wear the Cloak
Back in high school, I wanted to be memorable. My solution then was to acquire a five shirts that were all exactly the same, and always wear one of them, so that people would recognize me. This proved to be ineffective. Around the same time, I made a friend who, from time to time, wore a cape. An accessory like that sounded like a much better way to make myself memorable, both because it was unusual and because it didn't give the same impressions.
That spring, I purchased a costume pattern (see below) for a costume cloak, bought some fabric (see below), and began to cut and sew things together. I began wearing the cloak pretty soon after the year began.
Initially it was both inelegant and difficult to get used to - unlike some accessories that you can just put on and not worry about them, cloaks affect how you move around and they have to be actively managed. If you're not careful, the cloak ends up sticking to you in a way that makes you look silly; I needed to learn some subtle positioning and hand/arm movements to keep the cloak under control and looking as impressive as I wanted it to.
It also surprised me just how often people said something like "hey, nice cloak" or "cool cape" out of nowhere. Learning how to actually respond to those remarks, and how to hold a conversation about why I was wearing the cloak (or who I wasn't cosplaying as) really helped me to learn social interaction. One other interesting thing I found was that when I failed such interactions, it tended to give what I perceived as a "quirky" impression, rather than a "cool" impression. But this is a university campus - quirky isn't a bad thing.
The other big thing the cloak helped me do was focus on my presentation, on making an impression. While an accessory like a cloak does draw some attention away from some of the other aspects of your presentation, it also still makes you feel like people are looking at you. I learned to stand up straight, and to stay well-groomed and at least decently-dressed, and to smile.
In other words, if there's an impression you want to give, then the cloak is a great motivator to put in the work to give that impression.
I was successful in gaining some memorability. I did an AMA like three years ago, and more recently I've seen myself used as an example to illustrate how accepting NCSU is of diversity. A couple of years ago I did an internship in RTP, and when they put all the interns in a room and had everyone introduce themselves and state a fun fact, I mentioned that I was the green cape guy and like a quarter of the room (most of the NCSU people) visibly reacted in recognition, which was cool.
But at the same time there are plenty of people who haven't noticed me, or haven't even heard of me. I'm a psychology major, and one of the things I've learned there is that people think others pay a lot more attention than they actually do. It's called the spotlight effect, and it doesn't end there - exactly what people remember also varies. They don't remember the mistakes I've made, the things I thought were kind of dumb; all they remember is that I have the guts to wear a cape. Internalizing how the cloak affects what people notice about you and how they think of you, can be a huge boost to your self-esteem.
To this day I've continued to wear my cloak both as a symbol and as a vehicle for my own personal growth. I want to pass it on to someone who could benefit from it, for both of those reasons.
Background: About the Cloak
Tailoring Details
My cloak is handmade. Here's what went into it:
- Fabric: ~7yd of Faux Suede / Green Microsuede.
- This is produced by a company called Sew Classics, if you want to try procuring it from source (the number '10486835' should get you some color). I purchased it at Joann Fabric. When I visited a few weeks ago, I found the fabric in red, orange, yellow, and brown, though I'm sure you could have them order some in whatever color you need.
- Costume Pattern: McCall's Costumes #4139. This is a pattern for a costume cloak (it has a vampire costume on the box). If you are the one to inherit the cloak, I will also give you the costume pattern so that, if necessary, you can reconstruct it or make repairs.
The cloak is machine-washable, on Delicate settings and in Cold water for best results.
The winter of my Freshman year, I wore a hoodie underneath my cloak, because it isn't that warm. This resulted in me having two hoods, which looked kind of silly (I didn't own any non-hooded sweatshirts at the time). For the following year, the cloak had been successful enough that I decided to have another one made, by a professional this time. It's bright red with black fur trim and an inner layer of fleece. I'm keeping that one for myself, as it still makes a functional and (I think) stylish winter coat.
Uses
The main uses, I've outlined in more detail above:
- Looks cool
- Helps me focus on how I present myself
- Helps me practice social interaction, via responding elegantly to quick questions
- Boosts self-esteem and confidence
However, there are also a number of fun side-benefits:
- Good impromptu pillow, for when you feel like taking a nap
- Decent impromptu blanket, when you end up right below the air vent in class and need warmth
- Decent protection from light to medium rain
- Quick indicator of which direction the wind is blowing
- Draws attention away from unflattering aspects of my appearance, and can even cover them up
Fun Facts
- It is a cloak, not a cape. I'm usually not pedantic about it (especially since my cloak is light enough to flap behind me as a cape - intentionally, mind you), but the difference is that a cloak goes over the shoulders and covers most of the body, whereas a cape generally doesn't.
- The cloak is green, because when I bought the fabric I didn't know which school I was going to yet (wouldn't do to get a Carolina Blue cloak and come to NCSU, after all, or a bright red cloak at UNC or Duke). Green was a neutral color.
- The green cloak has two "clasping" methods: a frog clasp, and a pair of ribbons that can be tied together. It began with just the ribbons, but since tying them was tiresome, I put on a metal clasp. But those broke, so I sewed on a frog clasp instead, since they're more flexible and durable. When I had my red winter cloak made, I had a similar problem - started with a nice metal clasp, and then when that broke fairly quickly, put on a frog clasp instead, which has worked ever since.
- While you can wear a backpack underneath a cloak, it has to be fairly small and the cloak needs to be billowing somewhat, or else it looks kind of silly. I actually use a messenger bag instead of a backpack for this sole purpose, despite the many disadvantages (mainly in terms of capacity).
Further Questions
Someone has made a post in /r/ncsu linking to this. Click here to view that. If you have questions/comments then that's the ideal place for them. Otherwise, though, you're welcome to contact me at ljacobo@ncsu.edu, and I'll try to respond promptly.