Capas de La Niña – Dresses and Capes for Santísima Muerte

 

When I first opened Manticore’s Den years back, I had a small Etsy shop where I worked alongside my mother to offer custom dresses for Santísima Muerte. Every statue is different, every figure carved in its own way, so each client would send measurements and my mother would bring the dress to life by hand.

That service wasn’t just sewing — it was spirit-led. My practices were deepening, and I was forming alliances with spirits along the way. Santísima Muerte is one of those forces I don’t speak about often, but the relationship has always been there. I used to talk with my mother about my ventures into the occult, and it was Santísima herself who sparked an image in my mother’s mind: the vision of a dress. That first dress was beautiful, unique, alive.

After that, friends who worked with Santísima began asking for their own. Each dress followed the same rhythm: contemplation, vision, creation. My mother always started with her personal statue, dressing it as the model, and from there the piece would come to life. What began as a small service turned into a bond between Santísima and my mother, stitched together through labor and love.

Over the years, her work has reached far. She was commissioned to dress a full human-sized statue in a Houston temple, part of a devotee’s offering. Sorcerers and devotees from the Northeast to across the US have sought her work, in every size and style imaginable.

This season, I asked her to create something new — handmade capes designed to fit traditional one-foot statues of Santísima Muerte. Along with them, she’s made two dresses, each as unique as the last. These aren’t mass-produced, they’re not stitched from templates. They’re born from devotion, vision, and craft — one-of-a-kind.

This Saturday, October 4th, these capes and dresses will be available at Hallowstide Market in Peabody, MA. The market runs from 5–9 PM at Mills 58, Building C, 58 Pulaski Street. A curated gathering of oddities, dark art, and witchery — the perfect setting for Santísima’s cloaks to be unveiled.

Whatever remains after the market will be made available online through Manticore’s Den. But once a piece is gone, it won’t be repeated. Each cape and dress stands on its own.

Capas de La Niña — vision, devotion, and craft brought together to honor Santísima Muerte.

— Gary zNoriyuki / Tata Ezundu

Manticore’s Den