My New Journey

Hello, fellow Whovians! 

Right, this is my first ever blog, and I thought I would write about various Doctor Who Costumes, share some photos and information about separate parts of the costumes, and, hopefully, soon, I will be offering some exclusive screen accurate fabrics and items! But more on that later on :)

For now, let’s talk about something different. As you may be aware, the upcoming Doctor Who Festival is not too far away now, and I imagine most people are planning to go in costume. My goal here is to hopefully provide some helpful information, post pictures of screen accurate items, try to find the best alternatives, and, when possible, give you a chance to grab yourselves a screen accurate item or fabric! I’ll also be posting some extra goodies from time to time. 

As I myself will be going to the Festival as the 12th Doctor, until November I’ll mainly be covering  his costumes, but I’ll be trying to post other costume pieces as well. I’ll start with one of the most important things - the coat.

Many people call this coat a Crombie, but as you may know, Crombie did not make the coat, although for a while, people theorised that the coats were custom made with the “Bespoke made Crombie service”. 

As far as I know there are two different versions of the coat, made with two different fabrics. Both of these fabrics are from W. Bill in London.

W Bill are fabric sellers, not far from Regent Street, recently bought out by Harrisons of Edinburgh, specialists in Pure Cashmere suitings and coatings.

The first fabric to be used for series 8 was a dark navy wool and cashmere blend.

This fabric is unfortunately now out of stock. I have been told at W Bill that this particular fabric will not be remade, and all the fabrics at other fabric merchants are only a “close substitute”.

So as far as the series 8 fabric goes, in terms of acquiring enough to make myself a coat - I’ve hit a dead end!

In the process of filming the costume designer added a waistcoat to the Doctor’s look. This waistcoat, although thought to be black, is in actual fact a dark blue. This is the fabric used - 

This is a pure Camel hair fabric, and VERY expensive, going for about 240-260 pounds a metre. This fabric, first used for the waistcoat, was then used to make a new batch of coats. This is the reason people seem to confuse the colours of the coats in various episodes, as they are in actual fact different fabrics! I have been told that the BBC recently placed an order for 20 metres of this fabric. So although it is still available, it may soon be gone! I do have a supply of this fabric, and can get samples if requested! 

Here is also a photo, comparing the two fabrics (the first used on the left, and the darker “waistcoat” fabric on the right.

By far one of the best replicas of the coat is one made by a seller on eBay - Tssy2005 -

For the price, this coat is custom made to your measurements, the right colour, and the red lining goes right up to the edge of the coat, something that many coats do not feature. 

For my cosplay, as I will be doing certain modifications, I will be choosing this alternative, as I currently do not have the funds to make myself a coat using the screen-used Series 9 fabric -

The pattern is quite good, and the lapel shape seems a good match. The outer seams are also flat felted, just like the actual coats. The collar also is a good length, as the original has a surprisingly short collar. The buttons seem to be quite good, but I’ll be getting replaced with the screen-accurate horn buttons later on.

As you look at this alternative, you’re probably thinking one thing - the lining is not red.

Yes, I have obviously noticed, but I have a specific reason for this, and a very exiting reason too! 

In the next couple of days I’ll do a separate post on the lining, as well as announce something that will be available EXCLUSIVELY from this blog! But for now, here’s a small teaser…

‘Till the next time :)