Hide and seek

The days of off-the-peg items for The Doctor’s wardrobe sadly seem long gone now.

His TopMan jeans from series five, with All Saints boots and Paul Smith shirts have been replaced with G-Star RAW jeans, but with custom-made boots, and hand-made shirts.

Since you can’t find the shirt on your local high street, finding something similar, or a fabric to use to make your own is always a challenge.

We thanks to one of my eagle-eyed readers, he has found what appears to be THE fabric used to make Matt Smith’s shirt as seen in the episode Hide.

It comes from a shop call MacCulloch and Wallis.

Located just off Oxford Street on the north side, it is not so far from the fabric shops of Soho where many of the fabrics the likes of Louise Page found to make her many costumes in the Tenth Doctor era.
In fact the orange silk trim for the Tenth Doctor’s inside overcoat pocket came from this very same shop.

MacCulloch and Wallis - Striped Shirting

SOLD OUT!

The fabric he has found - and more importantly the shop where it has been sourced - fits in very much with my own knowledge of where the costume was made.

Looking at a good publicity still of matt in costume I must say it is a pretty good darn match for the fabric used.

If it isn’t THE fabric (which I am very confident it is) then it is the BEST substitute on offer.

National Bow Tie Day!

I gather today is National Bow Tie Day - another one of those spurious days to raise awareness of whatever, which dilute the days celebrating things much more worthy.

Anyway - HAPPY NATIONAL BOW TIE!

National Bow Tie Day - Reuters

National Bow Tie Day - PR Newswire

National Bow Tie Day - Examiner.com

Celebrate National Bow Tie Day With 25 Famous Wearers

National Bow Tie Day - Yahoo! News

Bow ties are getting cooler!

A little while ago I showed you a company called Mrs Bow Tie, who carry a small range of “tribute” Doctor Who bow ties.

They are made from printed silk, and although not perfect they are very functional while we wait for a decent woven alternative.

You can see the range they have in my review here:

Bow ties are cool!

Well, a good friend of mine has found another place to get similar replica bow ties from a seller on Etsy.com, called TheDirectorsCabin.

They do a range, including Fourth, Fifth, Tenth and the Eleventh Doctors.

The No. 11 Matt Smith
Tribute Freestyle Bow

The bow tie is self-tied and comes in two widths as a “batwing” (see above) or “butterfly” (see right).
They have an adjuster at the back, so one size fits all.

They also do a range of novelty Doctor Who based bow ties, based on a mixture of abstract patterns and replica fabric such as the Tenth Doctor pin striped suit and Fourth Doctor scarf.

All Saints Layer Boots on eBay

Can’t say I’ve seen many of the original All Saints Layer Boots on eBay for a while, so I thought these worth flagging up if anyone needs a pair of size 11s!
Their price, £250, is very much on the upper limit of what I’ve seen them go for - but demand dictates I suppose.

All Saints Layer Boots

These are the boots worn by Matt Smith in Series 5 of Doctor Who, and are now the holy grail of Doctor Who cosplay.

Since going of the shelves in store they have become almost impossible to find, which has also made them more valuable.

I’d love to be wearing them myself but they are way too big for me.

Cashmere heaven

Over the past few months I have had a number of people contacting me about Matt Smith’s latest costume with the purple Cashmere Frock Coat.

Although it is a pretty standard frock coat pattern, the fabric used is somewhat expensive and exclusive, having been sourced from W Bills in London, where the Shetland Tweed was found for the series six jacket.

There was only ever one bolt of fabric, and after I managed to secure enough to make my own coat, the BBC had the remainder of the bolt on permanent reserve in case they needed to make additional copies of the coat.

Well now Matt’s replacement has been announced - and there is speculation he has actually already shot his final scenes - the need for the fabric has passed. W Bills have therefore released the fabric for sale.

Being their single biggest buyer of Doctor Who material, they have given ms first refusal on this precious supply of premium cashmere.

This really was an opportunity I could not pass up. Not only is this THE length of fabric used to make Matt’s elegant frock coat, due to availability of yarns, this will never be rewoven by the original makers, meaning this is one serious one-off.

The supply I have is enough to make two, possibly three coats - so if you are serious about wanting one made - get in touch ASAP.

I say serious, because this fabric retails for over £300 a metre, so the bulk of any commission would be made up purely of the cost of this amazing quality material.

Get in touch quick - like Matt Smith himself - it won’t be around for long!

If you are interested in a having a
Cashmere Frock Coat made, please mail me at tennantcoat@me.com 
and I can send you details.