The return of St George

I’ve spotted something on eBay that has become a rarity compared to a year or two back - an original St George by Duffer tie, aka Tie Ten from my Tie Index.

This was one of the few ties that seemed to pop up form time to time, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen one for sale.

The US seller seems to be a Doctor Who fan, as he knows the provenance of the tie and its value.
That said Magnoli does do a passable replica, so the demand for this particular tie has been satisfied elsewhere (though it is currently out of stock).

At time of writing it has a BuyItNow for US$320 - which frankly is not beyond what these ties have gone for in the past - so if you want one NOW’S YOUR CHANCE!

St.George by Duffer Doctor Who Necktie David Tennant Costume Cosplay

Auction is for one St. George by Duffer necktie, as worn by David Tennant’s 10th Doctor in three episodes of Doctor Who - Utopia, The Sounds of Drums, and Last of the Time Lords, at the finale of season 3.

This item is long discontinued and extremely sought after by Doctor Who fans. Tie is a delicate blue floral pattern on a chocolate brown background. This is also an extremely interesting little tie in it's own right, and goes beautifully as an accessory to your brown suit! One of these ties was worn by John Simm in Life On Mars.

As bidding often becomes competitive for "as-worn-by" Doctor Who items, we have included a buy it now option so you can snap this tie up.

Replica Giorgio Armani Tie - Magnoli Second Incarnation

This month sees the release by Magnoli Clothiers of a second version of their Giorgio tie - a replica of Tie Seven (the Giorgio Armani).

Here is my review

This month has seen the release of a third, and much improved Swirly tie from online costume makers Magnoli Clothiers. It’s a very popular tie with fans, so great to see a decent replica widely available.

Previously they have gone through as many drafts of their replica of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter).

This demonstrates a level of dedication to review and revise their ties, each being a step up from the previous.

I wish I could say the same for the latest version of Tie Seven (Giorgio Armani) which has taken a bizarre route from the first draft.

Previously a replica had been made, copied directly from an original Giorgio Armani tie, though the source was a different colourway option in blue.

The weave was pretty much bang on, but for some unknown reason the two shades of brown were transposed, making the dominant colour a lighter, warmer brown.

So when I heard on the grapevine a new version of the tie was already in the pipeline, I was excited to see what had been done to improve on it, as only switching the browns would be enough to make it very near perfect.

I ordered my tie, and when it arrived I was what I can only describe as perplexed. The weave is the same as before but the colours have been changed to a dusty blue - just like the colourway option the first tie had been copied from to get the weave correct.

Why on earth this tie has been made I do not know. Maybe someone can enlighten me. But it is a backward step and further from the screen-worn tie than ever.

It’s a same the first draft tie is now out of stock as I would recommend sticking with that.
Sorry to be so negative, but even at US$45 it is not worth the effort to buy it.

I’ll wait to see what draft three brings...

Replica Christian Lacroix Tie - Magnoli Third Incarnation!

This month sees the release by Magnoli Clothiers of a third, and improved version of their Swirly tie - a replica of Tie Four (the Christian Lacroix).

Here is my review

Aside from trawling eBay for the occasional hotly fought as-worn ties; or finding something that is evocative or similar to the tie you are looking for, there is another option – a rewoven copy by online costume maker Magnoli Clothiers.

Over the past four or so years Magnoli has produced copies of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter); Tie Four (Christian Lacroix) Tie Seven (Giorgio Armani); and Tie Ten (St George by Duffer).

It has taken several drafts to get the ties to something near screen-accurate.
The earliest version of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter) was printed, and though was replaced with a woven version the pattern was not changed. The latest incarnation is to a better pattern, but is not quite the right colours.

Tie Four (Christian Lacroix) has gone through two drafts to date, though the latter was a woven version of the appliquéd copy seen in The Eleventh Hour, so wasn’t quite right on several levels.

But this month has seen the release of further update to Tie Four, this time replicating its main original appearance in The Girl In The Fireplace (it did appear briefly in other episodes, but since Louise Page herself regards The Girl In The Fireplace as its main use, I see it as that too).

Since February this year, when I found my original colourway version of the Christian Lacroix tie, the pressure has been on to make a more faithful version.

The second draft Magnoli had improved the pattern, but it was out of scale with the real thing, something that was difficult to match without having an original in-hand to work to.

So, using the images from my posting a new version has been redrawn from scratch, correcting many of the errors in the pattern seen in the previous version.

The colour has also been improved, though I’m of the opinion it has gone a bit too far.

Louise Page - School Project review

If you watched the recent Louise Page interview on my Tennant Coat Blog, where she revealed the background story to the development of the Tenth Doctor’s costume, you will have heard mention of her ‘School Project’.

This was a pitch document she put together to show Russell T Davies and Phil Collinson when she applied to be Doctor Who costume designer. It contained her initial thoughts and ideas for The Doctor’s new look, and gives a unique insight into that moment of development.

Louise kindly granted me special access to this document, and it makes very interesting reading.


It opens with her first impressions of The Doctor through the history of the series. She identifies the motifs that distinguished them and their clothing style.
She sees the incoming Doctor as being more funky and flamboyant, compared the the contemporary, tough style of the outgoing Christopher Eccleston.


To quantify her thoughts she created a word cloud with all the key aspects she wanted to bring together.

From here she breaks the possible looks for the new Doctor into three main design routes.

1. Military Inspired
The key points in the Military Inspired look include jackets and coats with good pocket and trim details; soft, worn in trousers; a sweater with texture; unusual buttons and pocket details; a mix of fabrics, colours and textures; great looking boots; a colour range of browns, fawns and sludge greens.

This puts me in mind of the plum coat of Tom Baker’s final season, apparently based on a Russian greatcoat.


2. Boho Romantic
The next look put forward, the Boho Romantic, is a eclectic mix of design and fabrics.
Louise outlines it as long coats or jackets in soft unstructured fabrics, possibly from suede, with unfinished raw edges.
The costume would comprise a shirt; a polo neck with a cravat type scarf; sort, worn in trousers; a waistcoat with unusual double breasted button details; boots.

The outfit was to have a sexy, grungy but romantic quality, coupled with a flamboyance and interesting detail, but keeping it very masculine. There would be a mix of textures, using a layered look.


3. Young Eccentric
Finally the Young Eccentric look brings the option of a much more colourful Doctor.
A mix of heavy checks (including tartans), as well as strong patterns. A tie or scarf would be a key accessory, suggesting a connection with previous Doctors. A waistcoats would round off the look, adding layers to create bulk and texture.

From the description I cannot get the colour-explosion costume worn by Colin Baker in the 1980s, though the magazine clipping show a more vintage clothing look, carefully selected but appearing to be thrown together.


The folder is rounded off with some footwear options cut from a catalogue.
At this stage it looks like thinking was a heavy military style boot, rather than the lightweight Converses screen worn.



To read the School Project in fill, click the headline below to view a PDF online.

Louise Page’s School Project

Me And My Tennant Suit - Michael Davis

I’ve recently kick-started my occasional series, Me And My Tennant Suit, with Dan Neumann sharing his Baron Boutique suit with us.

Now I have the youngest ever contributor to my blog, 13 year old Michael Davis.

PROFILE
Name Michael Davis
Age 13
Location Woodhouse, Sheffield
Favourite Doctor Tenth Doctor
Maker of my suit K.R.Collection
Colour of suit Brown Suit

I got the suit and coat way back in July 2010. After looking for 6 years I had finaly found one on eBay. Believe it or not it’s just a wedding suit, with blue and white pin-stripes – but it’s still awesome!

The reason I wanted a suit was because I saw Tennant and I loved his dress sense and I thought it would make me look very snazzy and because I saw Tony Coburn’s impression on YouTube and I wanted to do the same. So I begun my long search.

My first suit was a Blue suit jacket, with red pin-stripes (which is no longer with me). But I was mainly looking for a brown suit and considering my age I wanted the best I could get. and the brown suit I have now is as good as I can afford, for now atleast, in the future I hope to get a close match.

When I first bought the suit I made sure there was room for me to grow, so it didn’t brilliantly at first, infact the trousers were a pain, but as i’ve grown it’s got better.

Costume Station Zero - Tennant Suit chit-chat

My good friend Bob Mitsch in the US has recently started Costume Station Zero - a free podcast dedicated to all things cosplay.

It was launched on September 13th, exactly thirteen years to the day since the moon was torn out of Earth orbit in the classic 1960s series Space: 1999!

Although not strictly limited to Doctor Who, with Bob’s fascination for the series it will inevitably have a heavy Who orientation.

Already a number of episodes have been posted, and the current download has some Doctor Who content.

EPISODE 4

2nd October 2012

This episode is of particular interest to readers of this blog, as it features Kevin Coppa, who commissioned me to make The Ultimate Tennant Suit.
He also talks about 10th Doctor Cosplay, his Vespiform, Scaroth and more. Find out more about Kevin at his DeviantArt page.

Episode 4 - 10th Doctor Talk

Dinosaurs On A Golf Course - facing extinction!

Earlier this year when my friend Kevin Coppa visited the UK, wedding a photoshoot at a local golf course. But not just any golf course - a DINOSAUR golf course!

We had a great time and got some brilliant pics.

Well, I’ve just read in my local paper that the dinosaurs are in danger of extinction - not by Adric crashing a freighter into the Earth a la Earthshock - but from the Hertsmere county council who didn’t give permission for their installation.

The course borders the side of the A1, a major multi-lane road, and the imposing dinosaurs can be clearly seen by passing motorist. This in the view of the council could lead to rubbernecking the ironically rubber monsters, casing potential accidents.

Suffice to say no such collisions have occurred since they were erected a couple of years back.
Personally I quite enjoy glimpsing a 40 foot long Diplodocus and T Rex as I’m heading out of town, so long may they stay.

Borehamwood Times
Do-you-think-he-saurus?
The planning inspectors did!

Ask Louise Page - episode ten

We’ve reached the final week of Ask Louise Page, and we have two interesting questions to finish on.

Firstly we get the inside story about the Tenth Doctor’s footwear.

I’m not quite sure where this myth came from, but it was rumoured he was due to wear Japanese army jump boots.
Louise answers this puzzler and reveals the truth about the Converse All Stars!

Then finally she gives succinct advice to any budding costume designer out there with aspirations of getting into the film or television industry.

Question 19

Question 20

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sparing the time to answer all your questions

Ask Louise Page - episode nine

We’ve reached the penultimate week of Ask Louise Page, and the questioning has turned to the background process of realising the costumes from the script descriptions. Louise explains to us the multiple episodes and meetings all taking place at once. How she kept sane, heaven only knows!

She also tells us about the Upper Boat studios where to date much of the new series of Doctor Who has been shot.
It recently closed so the production could move to new purpose-built facilities in Cardiff dock, and she looks back on her time there – though don’t expect to hear about the glamour lifestyle of film stars and directors!

Question 17

Question 18

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sparing the time to answer all your questions

Ask Louise Page - episode eight

We’ve reached week eight of Ask Louise Page, and this time we have a two questions regarding the accessories worn by the Tenth Doctor.

Firstly we wil hear about the shirts David Tennant wore and discover there was a distinct methodology to their choice of colour.

Then we will hear the definitive answer that been the casue of much debate amongst Tenth Doctor fans - where did the glasses come from?
Louise give us the full history and origins of the glasses used, revealing for the first time their maker, which until now has been a closely guarded secret...

Question 15

Question 16

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sparing the time to answer all your questions

Ask Louise Page - episode seven

We’ve reached week seven of Ask Louise Page, and we have a very interesting question and answer relating to James Bond appearing in Doctor Who . . .

Question 13

Question 14

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sparing the time to answer all your questions

Ask Louise Page - episode six

We’ve reached week six of Ask Louise Page, and some interesting questions are starting to come though.

The first is something that was hotly debated on the forums a few years back, when someone noticed Tie Ten from my Tie Index was worn by John Simms in the popular series Life On Mars.
Was it deliberate? After all, the tie concerned only appeared in the Master story arc that Simms starred in.
Or was it just a co-incidence?

Time to find out...

Question 11

Question 12

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sparing the time to answer all your questions