Costume index - appendix

With filming well underway for Series Six, I thought it was time to catch up on a couple of Eleventh Doctor appearances which have happened since the end of Series Five.

Doctor Who BBC Prom

Jacket Harris Tweed in Mackenzie two-by-two dogtooth weave

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan
NB. These jeans can be quickly identified by the visible metal waistband button at the top of the fly (see left)

Boots All Saints Layer boots

Doctor Who Live

Jacket Harris Tweed in Mackenzie two-by-two dogtooth weave

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots All Saints Layer boots

Death Of The Doctor
(The Sarah Jane Adventures)

Jacket Donegal Tweed

Shirt Pale Blue contrast dress shirt from TopMan

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots All Saints Layer boots

Paul Smith reissue shirt - the review

Well, my reissue shirt arrived yesterday, and I’ve now had a good chance to look it over and can venture some opinion on how it looks, and it’s not entirely positive I’m afraid.

I had high hopes for the shirt, and to be honest I’ve been left a little disappointed. If someone knew the exact cut and details of the shirt, it would be Paul Smith, but sadly they seemed to have missed a trick here.

Now, it’s slightly difficult to do a true like-for-like comparison, as to my knowledge no-one ever found a perfect, as screen-used shirt. Several flavours of the Scroll Striped shirt surfaced, each showing one or more of the key style features, but not all of them. I am therefore going to do a side-by-side with appropriate shirts as needed, as well a reference images from the broadcast episodes. The reissue shirt is always shown on the LEFT.

FABRIC

At first glance the shirt is made from the right stuff, with the correct design, but again, looking closely and putting it side-by-side with an original release shirt, it is not quite right.

The fabric used is much whiter, where first time round it was a more natural Colour with a sight yellow cast to it (see left).

The printed pattern is now much sharper and the scroll lines are thinner than before.
The distressing on the lines also appears to be slightly different, which is curious. It is almost like a redrawn copy rather than the original artwork reprinted.

BREAST POCKET

This is the easy one - the JohnAnthony shirt was the only version seen with a breast pocket, and the reissue shirt correctly does not have one.

CUFFS AND PLACKET

At first glance the cuffs are great, with the stripes, but once you start looking a bit deeper, things are a bit amiss here.

The cuff is a good 15mm narrower than my Mobi shirt (see above) and as a result means only four stripes are visible (though my blue shirt would have had five, if the fabric had been placed better!).

Matt’s shirt clearly showed five full stripes (see left).
Also, if you look very closely, the buttonhole in the placket is red rather than white, but more on that later.

While we are here, also note that only one of the cuff buttons is done up. Now I thought this was down to The Doctor’s haste in getting dressed, but I have noticed that in Flesh and Stone he wears the shirt in the same way (see right).

Could this be a little quirk matt introduced to make how he wears it unique?

BUTTONSTAND

The buttonstand is an odd one here. The screen used shirt has a single line of stitch on either side of the stand, a few mm from the edge – here we have two parallel lines, firmly holding the edge down.

It is also not an accurate three columns of scrolls wide (see left).

BACK TAILORING

The shirt Matt Smith wears is one of the tailored fitted versions. That is to say there are two darts either side of the back and the pleat running the height of the centre back is sewn top to bottom. This pulls the shirt in by a good 4 inches.

The reissued shirt has the darts, but the back pleat, like the buttonstand, is sewn so it ain’t going anywhere, with two parallel lines of stitch at the pleat’s edge (see right), making it into almost a surface sewn strip of fabric, like a faux pleat!

COLLAR

The collar on the reissue shirt is some 5mm shorter at the collar point compared to an original (see left).

The collar stand is also noticeably shorter.

PAUL SMITH DETAILING

There are a number of tiny design points that are often included in a genuine Paul Smith shirt, and the screen-worn shirts show a number of these.

Ribbon Loop
On the back of the collar stand is a 2 inch loop of crimson ribbon (see above, right). this is sewn with red thread, and shows through to the inside of the collar.
This is totally missing in the reissue shirt.

Hanging Loop
The original shirt included a detail often seen in shirts: a small loop sewn into the centre of the yolk back, at the top of the pleat (see above, right). The reissue shirt simple does not have this (see above, left).

Red Button Hole
Some Paul Smith shirts have the button hole on the right placket sewn in red, rather than white (see screen grabs with Cuffs And Plackets, above).

Embroidered PS Motif
As an alternative to the red buttonhole, some Paul Smith PS shirts have a red PS motif sewn on top of the right placket (see above, left & centre) or a bar of red embroidery on the bottom hem (see above, right).

EXHIBITION SHIRT

Interestingly, someone has sent me some images from the official exhibition display at Newcastle of the Matt Smith costume, and the shirt on display is a little surprising (see left).

Displayed under the tweed jacket, it mainly obscured, but what is visible of the shirt is a bit odd.

The cuffs do not match each other! (see below)

The lines of scrolls between the stripes are clearly a burgundy colour, not black as they should be; plus they are spaced from the stripes, where they should clash and be slightly covered by the stripes.

If you look closely, the stitching on the cuffs are not consistent: the leading edge has its line of top-stitch in a different position, as well as the width of the stripe on the edge being a different width.

Looking around the bow tie (see left), it is possible to see that the scroll lines do not show any of the distressing on the Paul Smith shirts – the lines are unbroken and clean.
Those aren’t Paul Smith buttons either.

Could this be a cheap copy? On display as screen-worn?????

Discuss. . . . 

Paul Smith shirt - going, Going, GONE!!

Yesterday I managed to grab myself a Paul Smith shirt in XL.

Someone had emailed me to note that only the Small and XL were left, with the rest all out of stock. It was a lucky tip off, since after I placed my order in the morning, the entire supply of shirts was listed as out of stock.

We’ve been told that the shirt was coming back as a limited run, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so limited! The advice to grab them while you can appears to have come to fruition.

I hope everyone who wanted one grabbed one in time.

Paul Smith shirt - Floral Street trip

With the Paul Smith shirts at long last in stock, I obviously now want to get myself one.

When I got mine first time round, I wanted an XL, but annoyingly they were sold out, so I had to buy an XXL. As it happened, the shirt was a very slim, tailored fit, and the XXL fitted me fine.

This time round I thought I should get the same, but despite going online on the first day they were available, the XXLs were sold out.

I had heard that the Floral Street branch in London’s Covent Garden (see above) was due to be the only retail outlet for the shirts, so I went down then to take a look.

The shop is designed as a bit of a retro throw-back to a traditional gentleman’s outfitters (see left) with lots of dark wood and old fashioned rugs on the floor.

It took a bit of hunting around past the suits, jackets, formal shirts and jumpers, but hidden at the back of the shop, on a bottom rack, I could see a familiar striped cuff . . .
can you spot it? !

All that was left were two sized Large (see right), which would probably be a bit too snug on me.
Speaking to one of the assistants, I was told that an XXL could be ordered in for me, which as a relief.

The shop assistant also insisted on showing me a lightweight jacket in a tweed fabric, telling me this was the jacket Matt Smith also wore in the series.

I could blatantly see it wasn’t. Apart from being the wrong fabric, way too thin, the cut was wrong and it had patch pockets on the outside, not the welted with flaps as seen.

This is the same jacket that is listed alongside the shirt online, along with the £65 bow tie. It did feel like an opportunist piece of cross marketing – especially at £325.00!

It was a few days before I heard back, and it wasn’t entirely good news. Apparently, although listing the size, no shirts had been made to the XXL pattern, so I was chasing shadows.

Returning to the online shop, I found that only the Small and the XL were left in stock! So I hastily ordered an XL.

We shall see when it comes in the post . . .

Paul Smith shirt - BACK IN STOCK!!!!!

This week is one of the few times dreams come true for Doctor Who cosplayers!

The much demanded and anticipated Paul Smith ‘scroll stripe’ shirt worn by Matt Smith in series five is now finally back in stock, having been brought back by popular demand.

Paul Smith Shirt | ‘Scroll Stripe’ Shirt

Now, word is this is a very limited run, and will only be in stock literally, while stocks last!

So if you want one – grab one quick.

The webpage is accompanied by some great pictures of the shirt, and to preserve them when stocks are expired, I have included them here, at their full resolution (click on the pics to enlarge).

The shirt includes pretty much ALL the design details demanded: the buttonstand is three columns wide, with the buttons visible (see below); there is no breast pocket, as some found shirts had (see above).

The cuffs are striped, with two buttons on the cuff, though strangely there are three buttons in the placket, not one as screen-used.

The back is tailored (see below) as was the one Matt Smith wore, in the same way as the shirts that were available from JohnAnthony.com.

The photos do not show the red embroidered PS motif on the placket of the right-hand sleeve, but this may be a prototype and it possibly appears on the sale shirts.

The only sad news is that there will be no blue colourway to accompany this burgundy version.

Still, best not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Instead we should all offer a MASSIVE thank you to everyone at Paul Smith who made this happen – they have made a lot of Doctor Who fans very happy!

Paul Smith is cool!!!

Paul Smith PS shirt - reissued!

Great news has finally been confirmed for those wanting a Paul Smith PS shirt identical to the one worn by the Eleventh Doctor.

Paul Smith announced this week that the shirt has been brought back by popular demand and will be available via their Internet store and in the Floral Street branch in London's Covent Garden.

There had been number of versions of the shirt discovered over the past year, none of which were 100% right. Some had the right fitting, but lacked the striped cuffs; others had the cuffs, but had concealed buttonstands; and another had the right butonstand, fitting and style, but had French style double cuffs, though striped.

There has been a photograph issued of the shirt, and it looks perfect in every regard. It has the right cuffs; visible buttons; looks to be a tailored fit; and does not have a breast pocket, that appeared on a couple of the version of the shirts found.

The shirt will be on sale from mid October 2010, and it is not known how long they will be available for, or what quantities have been made, but it has been described as Limited Edition – so grab one quick when you get the chance.
The shirts are to be priced at £119.

To find it quicker, the shirt has the item code PCXD/164H/WHO-P, and it should be findable with that code.

I will post a direct link to the shirt once it appears online.

Other news about the reissued shirt
can be read at TARDIS Newsroom
and Sabotage Times

eBay madness

Buses can be annoying – you wait for ages, then three come along at once!

Well the same can be said for Paul Smith PS shirts on eBay recently.
In July last year, when news broke that Matt Smith was wearing a Paul Smith shirt, everyone was frantically looking to find where to get hold of one. Supplies quickly ran out, and the old reliable fall-back of eBay came into its own when the occasional shirt did appear ever few weeks. Some went for reasonable prices, others a bit higher if two bidders went head-to-head.

But recently there have been fewer and fewer on offer, until a couple of weeks back.

The recent spate of shirts have all been of the blue flavour, and each has been interesting different from each other.

STRIPED CUFFS - SCREEN ACCURATE?

First to be listed, on 1st July, was a very unusual PS shirt (see below).

It was notable for having striped cuffs, but with a top-stitching unlike any I have seen to date; it also had a unconcealed button-stand; and a slightly fitted back.
It is the first shirt I have seen with a red buttonhole on the placket, which is visible on-screen, especially in The Eleven Hour. To date, this is the closest I have seen to the screen-worn shirts.

It had an amazing starting price of just £1, but sold after 28 bids for £250.

SLIM-FIT, PLAIN CUFFS

Then on 10th July another shirt appeared on eBay (see below).
This was a standard shirt, the same as the ones available from johnanthony.com last year.
It had a concealed button stand; plain cuffs; and is likely to have had a heavily tailored back and a breast pocket as the John Anthony shirts did, but it was not possible to confirm this from the photos.

It had a starting price of £40, and sold after 15 bids for £105, which is in line with the price of some new Paul Smith shirts.

STRIPED CUFFS

Finally worth mentioning, is another shirt that was listed on 13th July (see below).

This appears to be identical to a shirt I bought from tobi.com.

It has striped cuffs; an exposed button-stand; and looks to be the more generous fit.

This opened with a £10 staring price, but quickly spiraled out of control, and by the time it closed 10 days later, it had reached a staggering £650!!!!!

FRENCH CUFFS

In September 2010 Ryan put his unusual burgundy PS shirt with French cuffs up for sale.

There were some nice detail pictures of the shirt, including those cuffs.
From a starting price of $99, the bidding soon was creeping up, and by the end of the auction it had reached $350 (£226 to keep it in context with the other shirts above).

A bit of a hint – I can’t wait to see those cuffs at first hand . . .

Finally, as a reminder, here is a list of the variations I have seen in the Paul Smith shirts using the distinctive squiggly design.
If you have another variation not listed here, do drop me a line.

1. John Anthony
These were available in both colours; no button-stand, concealed buttonholes; plain cuffs; sleeve straps; slim fit, heavily tailored back; breast pocket; embroidered PS on sleeve placket

2. Tobi.com
Only available in blue; visible buttons, but no button-stand; striped starched cuffs; standard fitting, no back tailoring; embroidered PS on sleeve placket

3. Found by Ryan
Blue shirt; French double-cuffs

4. eBay - sold for £250
Very similar to (2) but top-stitching on cuff set much further in from edge; red placket buttonhole

Series Five costume index

A while back over on my Third Doctor Blog I ran a series of features about Jon Pertwee’s costume changes during his run as The Doctor.
I wrote it because I was curious to work out the transition from his first year when he wore the same clothes all season, through to his last where he rarely wore the same thing twice!

Matt  Smith’s costume appeared at the outset to be a fairly fixed affair, but as the series has progressed a number of subtle variants have emerged. What follows is an attempt to document these in one place.

All of the images below have been grabbed from the HD transmissions. Click on them to view in full resolution.

The Eleventh Hour

Jacket Donegal Tweed

NB: There is a minor continuity error in the closing scene, where a close-up shows The Doctor wearing the Harris Tweed jacket (see right) which does not appear for two episodes.

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan
NB. These jeans can be quickly identified by the visible metal waistband button at the top of the fly (see below).

Boots All Saints Layer boots

The Beast Below

Jacket Donegal Tweed

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots All Saints Layer boots 

Victory Of The Daleks

Jacket Harris Tweed in Mackenzie two-by-two dogtooth weave

Shirt Blue Paul Smith

Trousers Plain charcoal skinny jeans
NB. These jeans can be distinguished from the dogtooth jeans by their clean closure at the waistband with no visible button (see right).


Boots Unidentified brown boots

The Time Of Angels
Flesh & Stone

Jacket Harris Tweed in Mackenzie two-by-two dogtooth weave

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith
NB. The cuffs have two buttons (so it is not the French Cuff Shirt I featured last month - sorry Ryan), but Matt wears the shirt with only one of these buttons done up (see below, bottom left)

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan
NB. These jeans can be quickly identified by the visible metal waistband button at the top of the fly (see above, top left).

Boots All Saints Layer boots

Vampires Of Venice

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Blue Paul Smith
NB. The matching blue bow tie has an interesting woven knot (see above, top right)

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan
NB. Note the visible metal waistband button at the top of the fly (see above, top & bottom left).

Boots All Saints Layer boots

Amy’s Choice

Upper Ledworth scenes

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Blue Paul Smith
NB. The blue bow tie Matt wears, as well as being narrower than the burgundy one, appears to have a faint woven pattern in it (see above, bottom right). Bow ties are cool!

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan
NB. These jeans can be quickly identified by the visible metal waistband button at the top of the fly (see above, top left).

Boots All Saints Layer boots

TARDIS scenes


Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots All Saints Layer boots

The Hungry Earth & Cold Blood

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan
NB. These jeans can be quickly identified by the visible metal waistband button at the top of the fly (see above, top left and bottom right).

Boots All Saints Layer boots

Vincent And The Doctor

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Navy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots All Saints Layer boots

The Lodger

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Navy Paul Smith

Trousers Dark grey skinny jeans from Top Man

Boots All Saints Layer boots

NB. This episode has probably the best close-up of The Doctor’s watch (see right).

The Pandorica Opens

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots All Saints Layer boots

The Big Bang

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots All Saints Layer boots

If you spot a variant I have missed, please drop me a line at tennantcoat@me.com so I can amend my information.