Twelfth Doctor Costume Breakdown Part 1: The Coat

As production is well into filming for series 9, I thought I would be fun to go through and break down the 12th Doctor’s costume the best that I can.

Part 1: The Coat
The Twelfth Doctor’s coat is a classic 3/4 length Crombie-style wool coat. The reason why I say Crombie-style is because technically Crombie is a brand name. It’s like when people use the word Kleenex when they mean a tissue. This distinction is important because, while the Doctor’s coat shares similarities with coats made by Crombie, the red lining being the most obvious, it is actually quite different. The coat was made by an independent tailor based on designs by then Doctor Who costume designer Howard Burden. According to both Burden and Peter Capaldi, they tried quite a few different costumes for the Twelfth Doctor but came back to this dark coated silhouette that they had originally used during the Capaldi’s brief appearance in “Day of the Doctor.”

Howard Burden purchased an entire bolt of a dark blue wool/cashmere blend from W.Bill, the same place that the Eleventh Doctor tweeds were purchased. Burden also purchased an entire bolt of very unique red and blue silk from a small fabric shop in Shepard’s Bush.

There were several coats commissioned initially. As it turns out, and I can tell you from personal experience, the high cashmere blend of the first batch of coats didn’t hold up well to the rigorous action it would see on set and a second batch of coats were commissioned. This batch would be made of a lower cashmere to wool ratio and would be significantly darker in color. Late in the filming it was decided that the Doctor needed a waistcoat as well. The fabric chosen for the second set of coats would be used for this with the remaining lining fabric being used for the backing.

The coat itself features a single back vent, 3 button front closure, slant pockets, a very high gorge and high set lapels with a single un-opened boutonniere hole. There are 5 buttons on each non-functioning cuff and a single inside pocket on the left side. The buttons on the coat (and waistcoat) are matt black horn available at several London fabric shops. The waistcoat buttons are one size smaller than the buttons on the front of the coat.

Series 9 sees a very similar but different coat being worn by the Twelfth Doctor. These new coats, tailored by the same shop that made all of the jackets worn by Matt Smith, are made from a much sturdier Melton wool. The lining is a basic red satin that is shot with black as opposed to the previous woven in blue. The new coat also features a very distinct red 2-hole cuff button and working cuffs which the Doctor wears with the first two buttons undone. It will be interesting to see whether or not any of the series 8 coats appear at all in series 9 as it did seem that they were being worn at some point during filming.

There is also a brand new look for the Doctor in series 9 that we have seen in filming pictures and has already proven to be quite popular with the fans. Of course I am talking about the red velvet coat. At first glance the coat looks to be very much the same as the previous coats aside from the material, it even has the red cuff button. But on closer inspection this new coat has a slightly different shape, tapering in at the waist a bit more and flaring out slightly at the skirt.

I hope this helps some of the costumers out there and if you have any question feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message at stephen@amadmanwithabox.com.I’ll answer as best as I can.

Coming Soon! Part 2: The Shirts