Feature
The WellDressed Doctor
“Revelation of the Daleks”), he has worn
clothing that has always been different for
the place and time he was in.
Christopher
Erickson
This article will present the basic
outfits that each Doctor is known for with
some resources for putting together the
costume.
Here is an essential
guide to the costumes and accessories for
all the incarnations of Doctor Who by a
renowned cosplayer of the genre, including
hints on where to locate those hard-to-find
items.
With the recent 50th anniversary of
Doctor Who, there has been new interest in
recreating the costumes. With both doubledigit Doctors and a number of companions,
there are wealth of costumes to recreate. I
am going to focus on the most typical outfits
for each Doctor and a general outline for the
different types of companions (people from
the past, the “present” and the future).
The Doctor’s outfits (except for the
Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccelston) have
served to highlight that he is a man from
another time and another world. His outfits
have never quite fit into the time period he
was on nor the planet he has been on. Except
for a few times when he has changed
clothing to match the era and planet he was
on (such as when he wears a cowboy hat in
“The Gunfighters” or when he wears a blue
cloak as was custom on the planet Necros in
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
Copyright © 2010 Silicon Web Costumers' Guild
The First Doctor
The very first time we meet The
Doctor, he is hiding out in a scrap yard in
1963 London. His outfit is that of an
Edwardian or Victorian gentleman, not the
suits or sport coats that were in fashion even
for older men at the time. As recently
described on the TV movie about the first
few years of the show, An Adventure In Time
and Space, the outfit could be described as
similar to the Wizard of Oz.
The basic outfit is dark checkered or
houndstooth pattern pants (grey as the basic
color), a wing-tipped collared shirt (or a
shirt with a smaller collar), a vest (a
houndstooth pattern, checkered or solid
color in beige or cream would work best),
black frock coat and ribbon tie are the basic
items that are needed. Shoes are simply
black dress shoes. The pants and vest can be
located at thrift stores or in most men’s
departments of any store that sells clothing.
The wing-tipped collar shirt could be
purchased at any tuxedo store or online
tuxedo shirt sellers. I purchased mine at Buy
The first eleven Doctors: William Hartnell (1963=1966), Patrick Troughton (1966-1969), Jon Pertwee (1970-1974),
Tom Baker (1974-1981), Peter Davison (1981-1984), Colin Baker (1984-1986), Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989, 1996),
Paul McGann (1996), Christopher Eccleston (2005), David Tennant (2005-2010), Matt Smith (2010-2013).
-6ISSN 2153-9022
February 2014
For Less Tuxedo. A frock coat can be found
at any seller of Victorian fashion. I
purchased mine through the Gentleman's
Emporium. The ribbon tie can just be a
simple black ribbon purchased from any
fabric store or could be made from a strip of
dark blue or black satin fabric.
Essential accessories for the
First Doctor are a cane
and monocle tied with
black ribbon. The
cane is of the twisted vine
style and the monocle is worn
around the neck. Other
accessories can include a
pocket watch, a pen light and a
handkerchief. For the cane,
check any stores that sell
canes (such as a
walking store) or
online stores or even
Ebay. A monocle or
pocket watch can be
purchased at
Gentleman's
Emporium or Ebay. A
penlight can be found
at any hardware store
or car parts store.
Any handkerchief
will do.
Right: William Hartnell as the first
Doctor (1963-1966). Above: First
Doctor's signature spiral cane with
elk horn handle.
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
The Second Doctor
The Second Doctor was described
as a “clown” (by the First Doctor) and a
“space hobo.” His outfit reflects his
foppish nature and behavior. The main
look is a pair of baggy black-andwhite checked pants, light blue
button shirt, polka-dot bow tie
(pinned onto the shirt), and
baggy cutaway coat (also
known as a morning coat).
A paisley-patterned scarf
pinned to the
handkerchief pocket of
the coat is the main
accent that is
necessary for
the look. Basic
dress shoes
that are slightly
scuffed will
complete the
look. The one
item that is not
always seen is the
suspenders that he wears.
It is a red pair with
yellow fruit and flowers
on them. A basic red
pair will work.
Resources for the
shirt and scarf can be
any thrift store or store
that sells clothing. The
checkered pants can be
found at thrift stores or traditional
chef’s pants with a
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button closure can be substituted. There
are numerous sites for chef’s pants,
but three good resources are Chef Works,
Happy Chef Uniforms, and Chef
Uniforms. Make sure that you buy a pair
that is one to two sizes larger than what
you would normally wear. The
cutaway coat can be found at
tuxedo sites such as Buy For Less
Tuxedo and Gentleman's
Emporium. Another good source
is to find out when a sale
happens at a tux rental store.
Before purchasing the coat,
make sure to identify your size
and buy one or two sizes
bigger to get the proper baggy
look. A basic bow tie will
work. Cut off the collar band
and sew on a safety pin to the
back. A good source for
suspenders is Suspenders.
The one required accessory is
the light blue recorder. Other
accessories include his sonic
screwdriver (he was the first one
wield it) and the 500-year diary. The
recorder can be found at most music
stores or on Ebay. The sonic
screwdriver is just a basic
penlight that was mentioned
earlier in the article. The 500-year diary is a
licensed product as a journal or notebook
and is available at Amazon and Ebay.
Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor (1966-1969) –
shows tie, handkerchief and checkered pants.
February 2014
The Third Doctor
The Third Doctor was a gadget lover
and more action- oriented. With the show
finally being broadcast in color for the first
time in 1970, he was given a colorful
dandyish wardrobe. The outfit is best
described as a 1970s mod fashion with
inspired Victorian touches. He wore a
velvet smoking jacket of varying colors,
large, frilled shirts (both the chest and the
cuffs were frilled), and often bow ties. The
pants were also varying, but were
more subdued compared to the rest
of the outfit. He was also
known to sport a short opera
cape with a colored
lining.
The velvet smoking
jacket can be found at thrift
stores or at the men’s
department of most stores
when in season. Victorian
smoking jackets can also be
found at the Gentleman's
Emporium or at other
Victorian clothiers. Vintage
1970s tuxedo shirts can be
found at some thrift stores or
at costume stores as well as
on Ebay or Amazon. A tailor can
also design one for you if you are
looking for a specific color. The
cuff ruffles might have to be
created by a tailor as well if they
Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor
(1970-1974).
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
are not part of the shirt if you are looking
for more authenticity. The larger bow ties
are hard to find, but they might be located
in a vintage clothing store or thrift store.
Costuming stores or tuxedo stores might
also be a location to find them. If
an oversized bow tie can’t be
located, a standard bow tie in
a contrasting color such as
black, brown or blue
would suffice. Pants can
be any type of dark
dress slacks or pants.
Shoes should be dress
shoes in black or
brown. The
opera cape
could be made
if a pattern is
found, but I had
difficulty
locating a
pattern. You might
want to have a
friend help draft a
pattern. Another
idea is to purchase
a Victorian-style
opera cape and
have a lining put
in and the cape tailored
shorter.
The main accessory is the third
Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver (it has
the yellow-striped stem). This
accessory can be found on Ebay and
Amazon
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The Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor had the most
bizarre costume to reflect
his wacky outlook on life.
His outfit has been
described as Bohemian.
The main part of the
outfit was the multicolored scarf that he was
known for wearing. The rest
of the outfit went through a
number of changes while
retaining the overall look. The jacket
he wore could be a reddish half-coat
or blazer of a softer material or a
brown or grey overcoat. He usually
wore a white collared shirt with
either a red cravat or a black
Edwardian tie with a brown
square patterned vest or a green
scarf as a tie with a brown
argyle cardigan sweater. Pants
and shoes could widely vary, so grey
or brown khaki or wool pants would
work best with brown boots or dress
shoes. Resources for most of the
clothing items would be thrift stores,
men’s departments or Victorian
clothiers.
The scarf has a number of
resources. For those who want to knit the
scarf, Doctor Who Scarf and Witty Little
Knitter are the best resources for patterns
and explanations of the various scarfs.
Knitting-and is another site with just the
Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor (1974-1981).
February 2014
basic pattern in a text format. A basic search
for “doctor who scarf pattern” on Google or
Yahoo! Search will yield a number of other
results that are helpful as well.
For those who do not want to knit,
there are two choices: The officially licensed
BBC replica at Lovarzi (this is a UK
website, so shipping will be from the UK)
and the replica 12-foot scarf available from
Amazon and ThinkGeek among other
places. If a “close-enough” look works, you
can find sellers of available multi-colored
scarfs in the proper length. The basic colors
would have to consist of brown, tan and red.
The amount of accessories for the
Fourth Doctor
is staggering.
The basic
accessories would
be a bag of jelly
babies and the
sonic
screwdriver.
For jelly
babies, you can
check candy
stores such as
Powell’s Sweet
Shoppe or
places that
carry British
candies or purchase them from specialty
online stores such as JollyGrub or the
English Tea Store. Put the jelly babies in a
white or brown paper bag that is cut in half
and the top rolled down.
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
The sonic screwdriver is
available at Amazon or Ebay (choose
the one without the yellow stem or do a
keyword search for “fourth doctor
sonic screwdriver”). Other
accessories that were
common to this Doctor
are a plain wooden yoyo and a large battered
brown felt hat. A
wooden yo-yo
can be found
at small toy
stores or
online.
The felt
hat can be found at
any store that sells
hats or any of the
online stores such as
Village Hat Shop or
Hats in the Belfrey.
Make sure to purchase
one with a cloth or
ribbon band instead of
the leather band. Any
number of other
whimsical items could
be used as
accessories such as
rubber balls, rubber
ducks, false
nose/eyeglass
combos and even
tools such as pliers
or wire cutters as
well.
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The Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the first of the more
complicated outfits to put together. His
outfit consists of a red trimmed tan
Edwardian cricketer’s jacket, a white
cricketer’s sweater, a dress shirt with red
question marks on the collar, red and tan
vertical striped pants and white canvas
hightop shoes. Red socks are also worn as
part of the outfit. A cricket sweater can be
found at a store where cricket supplies are
found or also at online sellers. The Doctor
Who Cosplay group on Live Journal will
also have production runs for the sweater.
The pants would likely have to be sewn
with a pattern. Patterns can be found at
Laughing Moon. The fabric would have to
have equal sized stripes. The fabric can also
be found on Spoonflower. The basic jacket
can be made from Simplicity pattern 2581
(Edwardian driving jacket) with some
modifications. Other patterns may be
available. The shirt can be any dress shirt
with a red question mark sewn into it.
The other item is a stick of celery that
was worn on the jacket lapel. There are
several places where fake celery can be
found at Barnard Ltd., Just Dezine It, and
Fake Food Online. Some modification may
be needed to include leaves that could be
found at a hobby or craft store. One could
be made out of moldable plastic, such as
Plastic Make. An example is their
celery brooch.
Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor (1981-1984).
February 2014
Accessories can include a sonic
screwdriver (the Fourth Doctor sonic
screwdriver suffices), a red cricket ball
and a fedora style roll-up panama hat
with a red band. The cricket ball can be
found at cricket suppliers. The panama
hat can be found at hat stores, fancy suit
stores or online hat sellers. The hat
band fabric can be found on
Spoonflower.
The Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor has the
most complex outfit, a brightly
colored patchwork coat,
yellow pants with blue
pinstripes (this material also is
the cuffs of the jacket), a white
collar shirt with red question
marks (similar to the fifth
Doctor’s shirt), a blue or red
with white polka dot cravat tied
in a very large bow and a vest
that changed over the course of
his run on the show.
The pants and cuff fabric
can be found at fabric stores or
quilting stores or online at
Spoonflower. The cravat fabric can
also be found at fabric stores. The
vest can be a simple cardigan
without the sleeves in a dark blue
color. Another vest style is a bright
red tartan. The coat is the hardest
part to find. Replicas can be
Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor (1984-1986).
Cat lapel pin (right)
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
purchased online but tend to be expensive. A
mockup of the coat can be found at the
Doctor Who Cosplay group at Live Journal.
There is a specific breakdown there that
will help explain the coat construction.
The shoes were green with orange
spats. Green boots or shoes would work.
The shoes can also be made green
with Nu Life Leather Spray.
Good tips on the type and color
of the shoe can be found at the
breakdown link. A quick
word search for “spat
pattern” provides a pattern or
DIY sites for making spats.
The necessary accessory is
a cat pin for the lapel (right). Any
pin with a cat would work but
the best choice is an enamel pin.
The other accessory is a rainbow
patterned umbrella. This can be
found at most stores that sell
umbrellas such as Target.
The Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor had a
country gentleman’s look. His
ensemble consisted of a colonial style
roll-up panama hat with a red paisley hat
band and the brim rolled up, brown or
white sport coat jacket, a paisley silk
scarf under the collar and lapels of the
jacket, a yellow pullover sweater vest
with red question marks, white dress
shirt, red paisley tie, grey
houndstooth pants and saddle shoes.
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First brooch was china tortoise shell cat, introduced in
“The Twin Dilemma” and worn through to “Vengeance
On Varos.” See “Sixth Doctor” on Blogspot for more info.
February 2014
The jacket, tie and pants can be found
at thrift stores. The panama hat can be
found at the previously mentioned
online hat stores. The saddle shoes
can be found at many shoe sellers.
There is a knitting pattern for the
vest at Witty Little Knitter or a
licensed replica can be bought
from Lovarzi. The Doctor
Who Cosplay group at
Live Journal will also do
production runs from time
to time for the vest.
Another way to
make the vest is to take a
knit yellow vest and use
red fabric paint to make to
question marks. The jacket
scarf can be made from a
silken red paisley fabric that
can be found at fabric stores
or a licensed replica can be
purchased from the same
site as the Fourth Doctor
scarf or the vest. The hat
band can be made from
the same fabric as the
scarf or can be
found on
Spoonflower. A
hatband can also
be made from a
headscarf by
rolling it up
and tying it.
The main accessories are a pocket
watch and his umbrella. The pocket watch is
tucked into the handkerchief pocket of the
jacket and looped over the scarf and
hooked through the buttonhole in the
lapel. A black umbrella with a curved
bamboo handle is the easiest one to find.
The orange question-mark handle umbrella
is a hard find. Some do come up
on Ebay or replica runs are done
by the Doctor Who Cosplay
group at Live Journal. One can
also be made from the
instructions found on this
group.
The Eighth Doctor
The Eight Doctor has a
Victorian gentleman’s outfit
consisting of a green velvet
frock coat, a double breasted
brocade vest, wingtip collar
shirt, simple grey cravat in
a silken material with a pearl
stickpin. Pants were simply
beige dress pants and simple dress
shoes. The frock coat may be
found at Victorian clothing sellers
or can be made from a frock coat
pattern. A good pattern can be
found at Laughing Moon.
The wingtip collar shirt
can be the same as the one
for the First Doctor. A
substitute vest can be single
breasted from Victorian
clothiers with the lapels or
Sylvester McCoy as the seventh Doctor (1987-1989, 1996) can be made from a
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
modified pattern. The cravat can be a simple
strip of cloth six feet long and about six
inches wide. A stickpin can be found at
online sellers.
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Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor (1996).
February 2014
The War Doctor
The War Doctor from the
50th anniversary special (The
Time of the Doctor) has a
simple outfit. It is a
battered leather
jacket (very scraped
up and destroyed), a
double breasted
dark brown
Victorian style vest,
a red and tan scarf
and black pants and
boots. The vest can
be found at the
previously mentioned
Victorian clothing
sellers, the jacket can be
found at a thrift store and
the scarf could be found
at most stores. His one
accessory is his sonic
screwdriver. This can be
found at Amazon and
ThinkGeek.
pants and black boots. The
cut of the leather jacket is
one with a fold-over collar
with lapels and buttons. A
decently worn-coat can
usually be found on
the rack at a thrift
store. The v-neck
shirt can be of
almost any solid
color (no patterns),
but red, green and
blue were the most
common colors.
Most men’s
departments have
a variety of these
shirts.
The two
accessories most
closely associated
with this Doctor was
his sonic screwdriver
and the psychic paper.
A toy version is
available in a pack for
The Ninth Doctor
both
on Ebay. The
The Ninth Doctor is
sonic screwdriver is
the simplest of the
available
separately (as
costumes. It was meant as
the Tenth Doctor’s
a back-to-basics approach
sonic
screwdriver) on
that the new show had as well as bringing a
Amazon, ThinkGeek and Ebay. A
modern look to the outfit. The simple outfit
substitute for the psychic paper is a
consists of a battered black leather jacket, a
black leather card holder with a solid
v-neck long-sleeved shirt or sweater, black
white paper sheet attached to one end
or a similar
Above left: John Hurt as the “War” Doctor (2013) – from the 50th Anniversary episode
document holder.
“Day of the Doctor.” Above right: Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor (2005).
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
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The Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor brought a geek chic
look to his ensemble. The basic was a brown
suit with pin striping (blue in color) with a
dress shirt (often blue) and brown patterned
necktie (solid red also works) and tan canvas
high-top sneakers (such as the Chuck Taylor
All-Star shoe from Converse). He
also wore a chocolate brown
trench coat with the outfit. He had
an alternative blue suit with brown
pin striping and red canvas
sneakers. For simple costuming,
an off-the-rack suit with regular
pin striping (brown with white
pin striping or blue with dark
pin striping) will work fine.
The shoes can be found in a
number of stores. A regular
brown overcoat that has a
softer material (not raincoat
material) would work for
the look. For those who are
more ambitious, a suit
pattern with a square cut to
the front would be needed for
sewing the pattern. The cloth
for the suit is available from
Spoonflower. The coat would
be made from a heavy
material (almost a suede or
nubuck weight) or heavy kona
cotton would be ideal. The
liner for the coat would be a
color to match the suit color.
David Tennant as the tenth Doctor (2005-2010).
February 2014
Accessories for the Tenth Doctor
would be the previously mentioned sonic
screwdriver and psychic paper that the Ninth
Doctor would use. Other accessories would
be rectangular-framed reading glasses or
red/blue paper 3-D glasses. Some urban
clothing stores will carry the
glasses as might costume shops or
online costume stores. The
3-D glasses can be found
on Amazon.
The Eleventh
Doctor
The Eleventh
Doctor brought an
English college professor
look to the role. The
ensemble usually consisted of
a light red or light blue dress
shirt that has a tiny square
pattern, a burgundy or navy
blue bow tie to match the
color of the shirt, a pair of
suspenders that matched the color
of the shirt as well, black jeans
with the pants rolled up to create
cuffs and high-ankle black boots.
He also wore a sport coat of
brown square-patterned Harris
tweed or grey Harris tweed with
elbow patches. The dress shirts can
be found in thrift stores or men’s
departments. The sport coats can also
be obtained from thrift stores. The
suspenders can be found at
suspenders.com (the one inch
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
or ¾ inch width works best). If
you need elbow patches, a craft
or fabric store will usually have
them or you can find them at
online sellers. If you would
like to have screenaccurate shirts, the
specific fabric is available
at Spoonflower.
Accessories for the
Eleventh Doctor are his sonic
screwdriver and a gold
watch with the metal
expanding wristband.
The sonic screwdriver is
available at the usually
mentioned sites. A
cheap watch can be
found at Target,
Walmart or K-Mart. Other
popular accessories are the
red fez or the grey Stetson
hat. Both can be found at
online hat retailers or at hat
stores.
The Twelfth Doctor
The twelfth incarnation
of the Doctor premiered on
December 25, 2013 with a
pared-down outfit. Actor
Peter Capaldi, who plays
the twelfth Doctor, fronted a punk-rock band
in the 1980s. Earlier, around the time Tom
Baker succeeded John Pertwee as the
Doctor, he wrote a letter to the program's
spin-off magazine declaring his fondness for
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arch-enemy The Master, played by Roger
Delgado. These influences are evident in his
outfit, which, Capaldi predominantly
shopped for himself.
A hallmark are his
brogue boots which,
according to an article in
The Telegraph, are from
the British Boot
Company,
which Capaldi
says are,
“truly and archetypically English.”
The BBC describes the coat as
a Crombie, which can refer to
either a style of coat cut in Crombie
cloth or a coat made by Crombie itself.
Crombie has denied making the coat
shown in the first appearance, and it is
more likely one custom made by
Capaldi's friend, Sir Paul Smith.
Crombie said that it did supply
several coats to the BBC costume
department for the new series,
however..
Finally, the cardigan is from the
John Smedley shop on Brook Street,
which has examples of a style
called the “Cavendish” in
midnight blue New Zealand
merino wool. It is the Derbyshire knitwear
company's best-seller in the cardigan
category.
Above left: Matt Smith as the eleventh Doctor (20102013). Above: Peter Capaldi as the twelfth Doctor
(2013-present).
February 2014
A photograph on the io9 website
(below) shows a startling comparison
between Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor and
Peter Capaldi as the twelfth Doctor. The
similarities are strong enough that it may be
a deliberate choice to return to a simpler
style, and a sign of more classic references
to come in the new season.
Most of the characters have one outfit
that they are known for and there are a few
who have multiple recognizable ensembles
such as Sarah Jane Smith, Rose Tyler and
Romana. Most of the outfits can be made
from thrift store finds or online stores. The
Doctor Who Cosplay group at Live Journal
also has a wealth of information with
breakdowns and simple outlines for a
majority of the companion characters. Their
profile page has links to most of the
information.
The popularity of Doctor Who offers
many opportunities to tackle sewing projects
or put together costumes from found items
that will look great at a number of events.
A comparison of the third and twelfth Doctors may
indicate a return to a more classic style.
Christopher Erickson is a renowned
Doctor Who cosplayer who has taken on the
challenge of portraying many incarnations
of the Doctor. He is also a fan photographer,
and is managing editor and a writer for the
“Science Fiction / San Francisco” e-zine.
The Companions
A specific breakdown of the
companions would fill several magazines, so
I will focus on the general types of clothing
that were worn. They tend to fall into three
categories: past, present and future/alien.
Due to the wide range of clothing styles,
there were few characters that had a
definitive outfit with the exception being
Captain Jack Harkness, Leela (companion to
the Fourth Doctor), Adric (companion to the
Fourth and Fifth Doctors) and Ace (Seventh
Doctor companion).
The Virtual Costumer Volume 12, Issue 1
A new series of posters introduced by the BBC features
every companion from Susan Foreman up to Jenna-Louise
Coleman, who was introduced in the 2013 Christmas Special
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February 2014