Series Six Part One costume index

Last year I wrote a well-recieved Costume Index for Series Five, as well as an Appendix for the minor appearances since at the Proms and such like.

A Christmas Carol

The Christmas Special marks the first episode of Matt Smith’s second season, for which a new costume designer took over from Ray Holman, who had created the initial look for the Eleventh Doctor.

With a new set of eyes in control, the costume has gone some radical but subtle revisions.

Jacket Shetland Tweed jacket, with three-button fastening
NB For this episode only, this jacket did not sport the leather elbow patches seen during series five (see right)

Shirt Window pane dress shirt with mitred cuffs

Trousers G-Star RAW Blade jeans in Spark Denim (waxy look)

Bow Tie Self-tied burgundy plain woven silk

Boots Black, unknown brand

Accessories The Doctor is also briefly seen sporting a furry Christmas Santa hat (see left, top), and then the trusty fez (see left, middle), before wearing a Tom Baker style striped scarf (see left, bottom)

Also seen wearing For one scene set in 1950s Hollywood, The Doctor wears a classic white tuxedo, with a black self-tie bow tie (but untied) white dress shirt and black trousers (see below)

G-Star RAW Covent Garden store

I had a days work at an advertising agency in Covent Garden in London this week. Not particularly exciting stuff, but they like my work so regularly ask me back.

While in the area I took advantage of the opportunity to drop by the G-Star RAW store on Shorts Garden, only a couple of streets from the Paul Smith store that stocked the Reissued Shirts last year.

The G-Star RAW store is the largest retail outlet for their clothing, so the perfect place to look and make some face-to-face enquiries.

Looking around there are a dazzling array of jeans on offer, but I couldn’t see what I wanted.

I spoke with the manager, who was very helpful and up for the challenge of working out what I was trying to find.
He did explain though, the day I walked in was official the start of their summer season, and of 25 variations of jeans in stock, 23 were discontinued!

A REAL alternative to the All Saints boots

I have often reported on alternatives my readers have found to the elusive All Saints Layer Boots, from the popular River Island Double Eyelet Boots; passing the TopMan and Aldo look-a-likes; to the more recent Peacock Boots; before coming full circle back to All Saints.

Well, Magnoli Clothiers in New Zealand have gone the extra mile by producing a replica boot especially for Eleven cosplayers!

Blue Paul Smith shirt for sale

It’s been a while since there has been the eBay Madness that we saw this time last year, so I thought it worth mentioning a friend of mine has a blue Paul Smith shirt for sale.

The shirt is an XL, so too large for my friend, but before throwing it open to the world to bid on through eBay, he’s trying to find a interested fellow Who-fan.

The shirt is one of those from tobi.com. You can see more details about it under Postscript to PS Shirt.

Matt’s been framed!

I’ve been spending quite a bit of my time recently making Tweed Jacket!

As a result I have been back and forth to W Bill in London a few times now, and have gotten to know Ray Hammett, who I deal with a lot, quite well.

A few times now we have chewed the grass over the state of the fabric industry and he has told me of the problems getting good quality wools to weave these prestige fabrics from.

During our chats Ray did ask me to email him a couple of photos of Matt Smith wearing the jackets made from the fabrics he sells. So I picked out a couple of good images, and especially one of Matt wearing the Shetland Tweed Series Six jacket (see right).

After sending the images over, I thought I could go one better, especially since Ray had been so helpful to me over the past few weeks.
So I got him a nice framed version of the picture and presented it to him on me last trip to buy some fabric (see below). Ray was thrilled. He doesn’t often get such attention for a length of tweed!

If you look closely in the photo, you can spy THE roll of fabric from which Matt’s jacket was cut . . .

A Good Man Goes To War - costume portrait

The BBC have issued the publicity stills for A Good Man Goes To War, and it includes a good portrait shot of Matt in costume.

Not to sure about the quality of the Photoshop cutting out though.

Eleven degrees of separation

Last year Matt was seen wearing the iconic All Saints Layer Boots (see below).

Along with the Paul Smith shirt, they set a trend of being easily obtainable off-the-peg items – which went out of stock the moment they were identified!
I managed to nab pretty much the last pair in the south of England before the scramble was on to find them.

Lots of people missed out on them, so the hunt was on for something that could be worn as a next-best option.

First up was the River Island Double-Eyelet boots, which had the distinctive layered leather ankle. Unlike the All Saints boots, they also had a second set of eyelets (as their name would suggest) which some people found distracting.

The also had a distracting zip on the instep of the boot, which made them easy to slip on and off without fussing with the laces.

Nevertheless, they were the best alternative, and as you can see from the comparison photo (see right), they certainly filled the hole left by the All Saints originals.

These had just come onto the River Island range, so were widely available and easy to find. However, they have now been discontinued.

So what alternatives are there now to the All Saints alternatives?

TARDIS spotting

Last year I ran a piece on the various surviving Police Posts & Boxes that can be found around London.

Well, this weekend I was watching a rather kitsch Hammer film from the 1960s called The Anniversary. It’s not one of Hammer’s finest, but it does have an amazingly over the top performance by Bette Davis, who’s entrance in the film has to be seen to be believed!

It was shot at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood (less than a mile from where I live) in May 1967 with a scene filmed inside a shop on the local high street.

The Anniversary

It was during this scene I suddenly realised that in the background, on the opposite side of the street, was a full sized original Metropolitan Police Box, just the same as Matt Smith’s! (see right, right side of frame)

Annoyingly it is part obscured for its brief appearance, but it’s there nevertheless!

Smaller on the inside

Blimey - talk about getting things out of perspective and getting the wrong end of the stick!!

You’ve probably seen the news about the discovery of the screen-used tweed fabric for Matt Smith’s latest jacket.
It quickly caused a real buzz and was the talk of the forums.

I went to get my own supply from W Bill in London, and saw for myself the Aladdin’s cave of genuine Scottish tweeds and tartans that filled their warehouse to the rafters. I asked how many they offered, and it was estimated to be around 10,000 to 15,000 designs, not necessarily all held in-hand, but available to order.

The fabric used for the season six jacket is a genuine 100% new wool, woven in the Shetland Isles (see left).

So it was to my jaw-dropping amazement that I read the story on the Irish Independent website about how Harris Tweed Scotland were in ‘FURY’ – as the headline would have us believe – that the BBC had used an acrylic mix made in China for the jacket!!!

I’m 100,000 hits old today!

Today was a bit of a landmark day for this blog.
At precisely 19:59 GMT today I had my 100,000th hit!!!!

Since I started my first blog for my Tennant Coat back in March 2009, I didn’t know where things would lead.
I started covering costumes for other Doctors, and soon had to spin them out into other parallel blogs.

Before long I had EIGHT costume streams – all covering my various clothing endeavours!

The blog you are reading has proved by far to be the most popular and read – the 100,000 hits is testament to that. But what it doesn’t really reveal is the daily hit-rate I have been having.

Season Six Tweed jacket –Prototype jacket

I said last week I wasn’t gonna wait around to make myself a Season Six tweed jacket – and I meant it!

Over the past six days I have drafted my pattern; cut my cloth; sourced the perfect elbow patches, buttons (see right) and lining; and hand-tailoered an initial prototype jacket.

Here it is – do let me know what you think!

I am very happy with the elbow patches I have sourced – they really are a good quality and just the right colour.

When I took a look at the buttons used for the jacket I couldn’t believe my eyes! They are the same buttons that had been used a few years ago on the Jackson Lake frock coat in The Next Doctor. I had sourced them a while back, so already had a supply in -hand.

The Doctor’s Wife - costume portrait

The next episode, The Doctor’s Wife, has its publicity still released this week, and there’s a nice full length portrait of Matt in costume.

The boots, although they are the black version worn all season, do look a different colour due to the mud from the location filming.

If you look inside the jacket you can just see there is a label below the pocket. I wonder what it says?

Curse Of The Black Spot - costume portrait

This weeks costume portrait for Curse Of The Black Spot shows the costume little changed from The Impossible Astronaut and Day Of The Moon.

Not the best photo. Would have been nice if it was in focus!

The good news keeps coming

If you follow the latest cosplay updates on the various Doctor Who forums, you’ll know what this past week saw the breaking of some great news for Eleven Doctor fans.

After identifying the Series Six Trousers exclusively on this blog, a fellow dedicated fan in Los Angeles has tracked down the exact tweed used for the Series Six jacket!

And just to confirm it is the right one, he found it from the fabric broker who supplied it to the Doctor Who costume department! No doubt there then!!

I has been tipped off about it a little while back, but kept the embargo on it until news was made public.

The supplier is W Bill in central London, and I recently went to visit their basement warehouse to see it for myself and get some of the precious fabric.

Currently located on New Burlington Street, just off Regent Street, the company was formed by William Bill in 1846 supplying haberdashery for funeral clothing. After moving to Bond Street, they expanded their range and became a specialist tweed stockist selling all round the world.
I met with Ray Hammett, who has been working there since 1946.

He had prepared for my visit by digging out the bolts of Doctor Who tweed: the Donegal used for Series Five and the Shetland Tweed that is seen in Series Six.

It’s always a great buzz to see the fabric you have been seeking right there in front of you.
The price is fixed – nearly GB£60 a metre – since it cannot be sold cheaper than the retail price charged by the stockist it is sold to, so after biting the bullet I bought enough to make myself and a couple of friends a Series Six tweed jacket.

Check back real soon, cos I don’t intend to hang around on this one!

Series Six - costume portrait

With series six about to start on tv, the BBC have released a raft of publicity stills, including this costume portrait of Matt Smith.