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.

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!