Merry Christmas to all my readers!

I can’t believe a year has flown by since I last wished everyone a Happy Christmas.

Looking back though, a lot has happened and I’ve completed or started a number of amazing projects.

From updating my Tennant Coat; making a Five Coat or two; starting a replica Tennant suit jacket using original GAP Trousers; making a couple of Inverness Capes (must get round to writing that up!); as well as some smaller item such as Five Hatbands, Six Cravats and Seven Hankies.
However, I think the most exciting has been starting work on a replica Six Frock Coat, which I am so looking forward to getting done next year.

I hope you’ll join me in the following months as it starts to come together.

Radio Times - Christmas Doctor Who cover

Since 2006, the penultimate issue of the Radio Times before Christmas has had a Doctor Who themed cover, and this year is no exception.

In previous years it has been robot Santas (see below, far left), as well as Kylie (see below, left) and David Morrissey (see below, right), before David Tennant bowed out with a solo portrait last year (see below, far right).

This year’s cover show matt Smith in his revamped costume, with Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins sharing a ride in his shark-drawn (!!!!) sleigh.

SFX Magazine Special - bow ties are COOL!

Today saw the publication of the SFX Magazine, Doctor Who: A Celebration.

I particularly wanted to grab a copy as I knew it was to contain a number of costume related items and articles, and it hasn’t disappointed.

While I was on my way to Forbidden Planet to pick up my copy, it occurred to me that the free bow tie could turn out to be some cardboard thing with elastic at the back!
Luckily it is a pukka clip-on bow tie, though a cheap one (hey! what do you expect for a giveaway?)

Only downside is that it’s a child-sized one! (see right, top).

The magazine comes in a large card envelope (see left) which also holds the bow tie and two badges (see above).

From the costume point of view, there are a couple of highlights.

First up as a feature interview with Series Five costume designer Ray Holman.
The best part of this is a discussion on the matt Smith costume, and a reproduction of the design itself! (see below - click to enlarge and read)

Radio Times - first good look ofMatt’s refreshed costume

Today a new copy of the Radio Times dropped through my letterbox (see left).

With Christmas coming soon, this was not actually next weeks issue (that arrived on Tuesday), but the one after, covering the 4th to 10th December.

Right at the very back is a preview of the following issue, being the week before Christmas itself (see right).

Part of the features in that will be inevitable coverage of the Doctor Who Christmas Special, and it’s accompanied by a nice festive portrait of Matt in costume.

As far as I am aware, this is one of the clearest photos I have seen to date, showing the refreshed costume (the paparazzi photo taken during filming were distant and blurred, and official stills to date have been equally unclear).

Eleven TARDISES for Eleven Doctors

If you’ve been reading my other blogs, you’ll have seen that I’ve met up with a number of fellow Who fans and taken them on guided tours of London and the sights to see Who-related.
Amongst my regular stop-off points are the Earls Court Police box and the two Police Posts at Picadilly Circus and St Martin Le Grand.

I always knew of the Picadilly one, but it was some time before I found out about the one near St Pauls. With little other information, I always assumed (the eighth deadly sin) that that was that was left.

But following my latest write-up about the tour with Mark Ferris, a friend contacted me to let me know he had spotted another one, this time in Grosvenor Square, a stones throw from the current American Embassy. What?? There’s THREE? Sure enough, after looking it up on Google Street View I found it.

That got me thinking and so I did some digging on the net and discovered - to my amazement - there are actually ELEVEN surviving Police Posts in the Greater London area. This needed further investigation, so I have been to visit all of them, and here ther are:


View London POLICE POSTS in a larger map

SFX Magazine in free cosplay giveaway!

This posting is quite timely, following my write-up on accessorising your Eleventh Doctor cosutme with Bow Ties and Braces.

I just got my latest subscriber’s issue of SFX Magazine (with a free Tron Legacy Video-CD - YES, video CD - I didn’t think anyone made them anymore!!!!)

Anyway, hidden away on page 113 is a full page advert (see below) for a forthcoming SFX Special Issue, called Doctor Who: A Celebration.

I’m looking forward to getting it when it is out on November 30th, but what caught my eye was the fact it comes with a free Bow Tie!!!

Not only that, it is the blue one (see right) rather than the more obvious burgundy version.

Nice one SFX!

Further details of the speical will be posted on the SFX website, though at time of writing the page istn’t live as yet.

Doctor Who: A Celebration

Accessorise!

I’ve been asked by a number of people recent, “Where is the best place to get my bow ties and braces?”

Well, after hunting around a bit, I have found that it is possible to get everything from a single source, at a good price – and pretty screen accurately too!

Swagger & Swoon, from where I recommended an Alternative Tennant Tie, also stock bow ties and braces.

Their bow ties are £12.99 for the burgundy, and £16.99 for a navy one (see below).

Burgundy Narrow Bow Tie

Post Series Five costume index

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

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.

Paul Smith shirt - going, Going. . . oh no, back in stock again

No sooner had the Paul Smith shirts come back in stock last week, they were sold out in THREE DAYS!

We were warned that there were just a limited reissue, so once they were gone – they were GONE!

Well, in a curious twist of fate, they are back in stock – AGAIN!

A word of advise: from what I gather, there were no XXLs made for any of this reissue, so if you are hanging on for that size don’t wait around – grab an XL as this is the biggest they will be making.

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.

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

Death Of The Doctor - BFI preview

It’s only been a couple of days since I went to the Doctor Who Live show, but last night I was at the BFI South Bank to see a preview of the Death Of The Doctor episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The Greatest Show In The Galaxy...?

It’s Saturday night, and I’ve just got back in from seeing the Doctor Who Live Show.

Hummmm

It was at the Wembley Arena (see right), which thankfully is only 30 minutes drive from where I am. We hit a bit of traffic, but we got there pretty much in time.
Parking was £22, which for only a couple of hours is a rip-off - but where are you gonna park, if you don’t know the area?

Doctor Who On Ice - the hype

Last night saw the first performance of the Doctor Who Live show.
It premiered at the Wembley Arena, before touring the country, taking in nine cities in four weeks!

I’m going tonight and am really looking forward to seeing what it’s all about.

To drum up some interest, there has been a flurry of press and media activity, with Matt Smith doing a live interview for Sky News.

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.

All change!

I’m not referring to the Number 11 bus – but the Number Eleven Doctor!

The new series of Matt Smith episodes is currently in production, and some on location pictures have emerged, showing The Doctor’s NEW costume!

Some pictures were knocking around when the Christmas special was being lensed, but they were quite distant and not top quality. These new ones, however, have been taken by paparazzi and so are much higher res and show a lot more detail.

What they do show are the complete change of costume assembled for the new series. Now, it doesn’t at first glance look that different, but like the season 19 vs season 21 Fifth Doctor chance, it is a revisiting of the constituent parts.

So, what’s changed?

Return to the Proms

Today was a busy and exciting day. It was the latest Doctor Who Proms, plus I was unexpectedly working freelance, which meant everything was a bit more rushed than I’d like.

MY DAY
When I’m not tailoring, I do occasional days of freelance work doing partly what I did prior to being laid off work last year. For over 20 years I have worked in art studios of either design or advertising agencies, as well as pre-press houses, preparing artwork for print.

The past couple of days I have been at Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the most famous advertising agencies in London. In the 1970s and 1980s they did some iconic advertising work.

Two of their most famous was for the Conservative Party prior to them beating Labour in our 1979 election.

Their poster, “LABOUR ISN’T WORKING” (see above) has been aped many a time; and their poster for anti smoking poster for the Public Health Department, depicting a pregnant man (see right), has also gone down in advertising history - and it was a public information poster, not some high profile multiple-national company. In fact the in house bar/pub at Saatchi's is called The Pregnant Man.

Working at their office is quite inspirational. Across the threshold is carved the words NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE..... (see left)

Anyway, so after telling them I HAD to be out the door by 5pm, we headed down to Kensington and the Royal Albert Hall.

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

The Tour Of Doom

This is one of my delayed entires.

I should have posted this at least a week back, but due to my vertigo attack, I was unable to finish writing it. Here it is at last.

Here is the list of my week:

23rd June - BONHAMS AUCTION

24th June - CARDIFF TOUR

26th June - LONDON TOUR

27th June - SIX COAT (Cloth Ears)

So, it was the 24th of June, and day two of my week of who events. this time taking me on a guided tour of the Cardiff locations used in the new series.

Vertigo!

Blimey!

If you’ve noticed that the updates on my blogs have been a bit lacking the past couple of weeks – there is a reason.
I am just now getting back on my feet (literally) after having an acute attack of vertigo.

Now, this is not the cliched fear of high buildings a la James Stewart in Hitchcock’d classic 1958 film. What I had was an inner ear infection which brought on a strong giddiness one morning, and before long the room was spinning and I was throwing up.

I found I could not even keep my eyes open – so like Amy Pond in Flesh and Stone, I had to keep them tight shut for fear the sensation would return.

The best way I can describe the sensation, was to think back to when I was a kid at school and you do that mad spinning round on the spot until you can’t stand up. It was just like that – but without all the irritating need to do the spinning. Oh, and the effects were 24-7.

After the doctor was called out (not The Doctor, just A doctor) the following day, I was confined to bed for over a week, and was barely able to open my eyes the entire time.

Anyway, back on the mend now.
But if I am currently in the process of making you something, I’m afraid my schedule has been somewhat disrupted, and may remain so until I can get back on track. I also need to catch up on some exciting blog entires I had been writing before I was struck down, so look out for them soon.

Normal service will be resumed.

The Panbaftica Opens

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!!!!
Sorry about that. I'm just too excited.

Tonight I was priveliged to attend the Bafta preview screening for the penultimate Matt Smith episode, The Pandorica Opens.

Public BAFTA Event -
The BAFTA site

The Doctor Who News Page:
The Pandorica Opens - Preview

I arrived at Bafta in good time, but had apparently missed the arrival of Matt and Karen.
The street outside was packed with fans, a few of whom had managed to grab a rare autograph from the stars.

Looking around a spotted a familar little face, a face familiar too to anyone who reads my blog: Jack, the youngest Eleventh Doctor cosplayer I know!

I went up to him and said 'You must be Jack!' he looked at me confused, but his started to smile as he noticed my shirt. 'Matt Smith wears a shirt like that!' he exclaimed.
I introduced myself to his father and Jack and I started exchanging compliments about our costumes, mine incomplete as it was too hot to wear my tweed. 'Where's your bow tie?' he challenged me. I pulled it out of the pocket of the tweed I was putting on.
'Bow ties are cool!' we agreed.

'But you haven't got braces like mine!' Jack exclaimed. The other pocket of my tweed soon put that right. Though I had foolishly left my sonic at home, so I was truely trumped on that one.

I had only been in full costume a few seconds before someone approached me and ask if I knew of the Eleventh Doctor costume blog, or the Tennant Coat one too. I was rumbled! We had a nice chat, interrupted by the arrival of Steven Moffat, who stopped to sign numerous autographs. Jack was taken to see him and as he passed he complimented him on his costume. Jack took it in his stride.

Less could be said of Arthur Darvill who swished past without signing or stopping for anyone. A round of boos and hisses convayed the crowds sentiments there.

Entry was by ticket only, and I managed to nab a couple through eBay - at hyperinflated prices, but ho hum.

Bafta were not issuing tickets before the event, instead working it as a names-on-list affair, so it wasn't until my seller could collect his own ticket before I could have mine.
The rickets themselves were a very dull and boring thing to hold, just being yellow pieces of paper with the Bafta logo on it. I was hoping for a nice momento of the evening, but I'll have to look elsewhere for that.

Going in we found some good seats, as it turned out immediately in front of Ian Levine and Warris Hussein, the director of the first ever Who story back in 1963.
Also entering we saw Susan Hampshire. Yes, I didn't work that one out either!

The audatorium was packed, and after squeezing in the final few, it was time to start the proceedings.

Junior Doctor

If you are familiar with my Tennant Suit Blog, you will know of an occasional thread I run there called Me And My Tennant Suit. I featured a number of suit owners, all proudly displaying their prized suits.

There have been a number of cosplayers who have assembled some awesome Eleven outfits to date, but I just HAD to share the one below as he is undoubtedly the most endearing and inspirational I have ever seen!

His name is Jack and he is six and a half.

His Dad helped him get this amazing pint-sized costume together.

The jeans and braces came from H&M, the shirt is from Adams and the rest was picked up on eBay.
His Dad said, “The tweed jacket was the hard find, not many kids tweeds come up, and when they do the chance of getting a good colour, two button is slim. So bit of luck with that!” And he only paid £20 for it too!

The shoes were bought for 99p and are actually in the style of Converse All Stars, but by a different maker. I tiny touch of Tennant there!
The bow tie was also a snip at 99p!

His dad says it’s great fun having him run about the house being The Doctor. “It takes me back to my childhood, wearing the long 4th Doctor scarf my gran knitted for me and a hat my grandad gave me!”

The Tweed jacket

I had held off posting anything about the jackets Matt Smith has been wearing, mainly because I wanted to find a definitive way of obtaining just the right type rather than give vague, unhelpful info.

So far Matt has been seen wearing three distinctly different jackets:

Season Five

Harris Tweed

The first jacket Matt was seen wearing (for location scenes shot in July 2009 for The Time Of Angels) was a fine-checked Harris tweed (see left).

This was widely publicised at the time and soon after, included in a double-page spread in the Radio Times (see below).

It has since been revealed the fabric is a Mackenzie two-by-two dogtooth (see some of the online articles in the links at the end of this entry).

Click here to download a high resolution copy of the article: Radio Times.

The jacket has a two button closure with holed buttons; two outside pockets and a single vent at the back; as well as dark elbow patches.

This jacket was worn in: Victory Of The Daleks, The Time Of Angels, Flesh And Stone
It was also worn for the 2010 BBC Prom Concert.

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 with matching burgundy bow tie

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 Replica All Saints Layer boots

Meanwhile In The TARDIS

Disc 1 of complete Series Five DVDs

This bridging scene, which links The Eleventh Hour directly to The Beast Below, maintains perfect continuity between the two episode.

Jacket Donagal Tweed

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith with matching burgundy bow tie

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots Replica All Saints Layer boots

The Beast Below

Jacket Donegal Tweed

Shirt Burgundy Paul Smith with matching burgundy bow tie

Trousers Dogtooth design skinny jeans from TopMan

Boots Replica All Saints Layer boots 

Victory Of The Daleks

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

Shirt Blue Paul Smith with matching navy bow tie

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