The Ultimate Adventure costume

Over on the dw_cosplay forum, one of my readers has posted a very interesting and well researched investigation into the custom worn for the Doctor Who stage play, The Ultimate Adventure.

With permission, a shortened version is reproduced below, but you can read the full version here:

Six breakdown - Doctor Who:
The Ultimate Adventure variant

One costume which remains equal parts iconic and obscure is the redesigned stage version of the Sixth Doctor's costume, made for Colin Baker's run in the 1989 stage play Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure.

BACKGROUND
Various behind-the-scenes reasons have been given for the redesign of this costume from its original TV version. Some sources have suggested reasons of technical suitability for the stage; increased heat from stage-lighting as opposed to a television studio, and the physical action required by the Doctor in a stage production without stunt doubles, meant a more breatheable and freely-moving wardrobe would be required. Other sources, including Colin Baker’s website, indicate that Colin himself suggested the aesthetic changes simply because he had never been overly fond of the original, and finally had his chance to improve upon the design. Whatever the reasons, various changes were made to the costume on multiple levels. New fabrics were used, notably incorporating purples and blues which would not have been usable on television due to the CSO (blue-screen) effects. Existing patterns were modified, some wardrobe pieces were replaced with entirely different ones, and other tweaks and additions were made.

The main problem for costume enthusiasts like us where this costume is concerned is that there seems to be almost no substantial evidence of it in circulation anymore.

Six Fock Coat – purple test:the whole ensemble!

After a bit of a hiccup with making the cuffs, I have now finished my fully worked test for the Six Frock Coat!

I had an ideal opportunity this weekend to get some good pictures taken, which came out pretty good.

Cos I could see how it was coming out, I just had to go the extra mile by making myself a pair of complimenting trousers to go with the coat. I only finished them with a day to spare, but I think it was worth the effort.

I really like the cut and fit of the Five Trousers I make, so used the same pattern, but with some purple-dyed pillow ticking instead.

Sixth Doctor - Costume Index

Following their critique of Jon Pertwee’s costumes in the Costumes Index on my Third Doctor Costume Blog, as well as the Eleventh Doctor Costume Index, Trine-E and Zu-Zana flounced off in disgust when The Sixth Doctor made his costume choice.

So in their absence, here is my story-by-story breakdown of the combinations and variations of his costumes over his tenure as The Doctor.

Initially I didn’t think they’d be much to say about each story, but even this has surprised me. I’ve also included some pointers when unusual of rarely seen parts of his costume are visible.

NB. this breakdown covers as-seen costumes, and makes no distinction between multiple copies of garments made, or renewed costumes made to replace worn out pieces.

Cravats - for sale

After a lengthy process of Creating Artwork from the original screen used Six Cravats; prototyping the Yellow Star and the Polka-Dot versions, I am now finally able to offer them for sale.
I am offering all three versions:

Turquoise polka-dot cravat

The Twin Dilemma - The Mysterious Planet

This cravat is to the turquoise colour, which first appeared at the end of Season 21 in The Twin Dilemma, and was worn throughout the following season.
It was worn again during The Mysterious Planet for the flashback sequences.

Red polka-dot cravat

The Mysterious Planet - The Ultimate Foe

This red cravat made its first appearance at the start of Season 23, and was worn during all the trial insert sequences of The Mysterious Planet and The Terror Of The Vervoids. It was then worn throughout The Ultimate Foe.

Yellow star cravat

Terror Of The Vervoids

This cravat was uniquely worn during the flashback sequences of The Terror Of The Vervoids, and was made from the distinctive Yves Saint-Lauren fabric, which had the YSL logo embroidered on it along its length.

This has been faithfully reproduced on the cravat, as well as every detail of the coloured stars that form the design.






Each of the cravats are discreetly labeled with my mark, the yellow star one in a subtle in-keeping way! (see below)

The cravats cost £30 if bought singly.

Buy any two cravats for £55, 

or £80 buys all three together.

Global shipping is included in the price.

To order your cravats, please drop me an email at
 tennantcoat@me.com
with your colour choice and address.

Polka-dot cravats - prototypes

I have actually already ordered and made some prototype polka dot cravats, but although the pattern was pretty much spot on, I had some issues with colour on the turquoise version.
This has now been resolved, so I can now show you what I have been up to.

Spoonflower is great - don’t get me wrong, but it does sometimes struggle with achieving certain colours and tones.
This is ironic as they print with a multi-ink system, running cyan, magenta, yellow and black plus special green and orange which conciderably broadens the gamut of colour they can match.
However, though this is good for bright vibrant colours, they can have problems with richer or darker shades.
Their black, even at full intenstiy, reads as a dark grey, so they can never hit the depth needed to do a GAP pinstripe ala the Tennant Suit - believe me, I tried!
I have 20 years in the print industry before tailoring, so if anyone has an insight into colour, I think I have an advantage.

Yellow Star Cravat - prototype

At last, the first cravats tests from Spoonflower have arrived!

Some of the colours are very good, some less so. But it was always a learning process anyway, so it’s easy enough to put them right and more forward from here.

The first cravat I am going to have a go at making up is the yellow star version (see right).

The Yellow cravat is a little easier as it is cut with the grain of the fabric, unlike the polka-dot ones which are cut on the bias. The bias will be a little tricky to work with as it will allow the cravat to stretch and skew while I am sewing, so for now I am going to keep it simple.

ClassicDoctorWhoProps.com

Just wanna give you a heads-up about a great new website that has just been launched by a couple of friends of  mine.

classicdoctorwhoprops.com basically does exactly what it says in the tin, except it is more costumes than props, covering the Fourth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors.

Yellow Star Cravat - creating artwork

Creating the artwork file for the Red and Turquoise Polka-Dot Cravats was nice and straight forward. The yellow cravat needs a bit more work and is somewhat more bespoke.

The pattern repeat for the stars is far less distinct or identifiable, so I took high resolution scans of the entire length of both sides of the cravat, with overlaps to make sure I got everything (see right).

As a test, I patched the images for one side together in Photoshop and found there was a distinct curve to the cravat which had been caused by one of the long edges being hemmed and the other just folded. This gives a different tension which results in the curve (see below).

Polka-dot Cravats - creating artwork

As I mentioned recently, thanks to some friends, I have had unique access to an entire Six Costume and have been able to get pattern traces for a majority of items.

The first thing I want to have a go at making a set of replicas of are the cravats. I had access to the red and yellow versions (see right), from which I have taken detailed measurements, photographs and most importantly, direct scans of the fabrics.

I had previously handled a turquoise cravat at the Bonhams Auction in 2009, and took some decent detail images at that time (see left).

After comparing the images from the auction with the red cravat, I think I can use the same artwork for both, just choosing an appropriate colour match for each.

Timelash

Well, today has been a long, and very exciting day!

The week started with me finally finishing my Five Coat, and ended with personal access to some unique costume items.

A friend who commissioned me to make him a pair of Five Trousers was interested in having his own Five Coat to go with it, but was keen to see mine before ordering one for himself. So I agreed he could visit so he can see it first-hand.

During our conversations arranging this, it came apparent that he was more a fan of the Sixth Doctor and owned a number of screen-used original costume pieces worn by Colin Baker. Wow!
I tentatively asked if he could bring them along so I could maybe get pattern traces, photographs and detail scans of fabrics for reference, with a view to making replicas. He was most agreeable. Game on!

The pressure to get the Five Coat finished was on me two-fold: the sooner I could complete it, the sooner I could see the Six Costume.
So, this weekend he came by and after inspecting my Five Coat (which he was suitably impressed with) we turned to his collection of Six Clothes. And what a list it is. Fantastic!