Wouldn't You Just Dye Without Paul Smith?

Over the course of Series 10 the Doctor seems to have acquired three known new pairs of trousers, all of them black rather than the various dark navy ones seen in the last two series. In order of appearance these are:

• Chris Kerr forward pleated trousers made from Harrisons super 150 wool
• Unknown Victorian style trousers
• Paul Smith flat fronted stretch cotton trousers (originally blue but overdyed black)

The black overdyed Paul Smith trousers as part of the 'all-black' variant.

Of these three the only off-the-shelf ones are the Paul Smiths, from their appearance they more than likely started life as the dark navy stretch cotton trousers that first appeared towards the end of Series 9. They are sometimes called 'chino-style' however this is a slightly misleading name as they are really formal trousers that just happen to be made of cotton.

Series 10 promo picture featuring what I believe to be the black trousers.

Both the navy and black versions have returned for Series 10, with the black ones being worn as part of multiple different costumes. Given that these SA trousers have sold out and the bottle required to attempt to overdye such expensive trousers I decided to look for alternatives.

Only the coat is navy, everything else is black.

The closest alt pair I could find on the high street weren't bad but had accuracy issues with all four pockets and the fabric was fuzzier and thinner than the Paul Smith stuff. I therefore decided instead to try and find a second-hand pair of Paul Smith trousers and dye them myself.

I'd be happy too if I were wearing such an awesome outfit.

Initially I found a lovely pair of dark navy cotton trousers by Paul Smith, from the inner lining strip near the zipper I could tell that they weren't the Screen Accurate ones however they were externally completely identical in terms of fabric and design features so could be classed as a Screen Accurate Variant (SA-V). After they arrived however I began to realise the leg was slightly too short for me, being fairly tall I decided these trousers would be better suited to someone slightly shorter who could appreciate them more as a nearly perfect pair of navy trousers. I reluctantly put these trousers to one side and continued my search.

The SA-V trousers directly compared to the SA ones.

Some time later I managed to find two more pairs of SA-V stretch cotton trousers, one a washed out black, the other a dark grey. The faded black one was a size 32 as well, making it a more suitable size for me than the dark navy ones (size 34) I originally got ahold of. The legs had been shortened so I decided to get both, that way given the fabric for both would be identical after dyeing I could cannibalise the second to add cuffs if there was not enough excess leg length on the first.

The two new pairs of trousers fated to be overdyed black.

As soon as they arrived I opened up the base of the leg to release as much fabric from the inside as possible, both had been amateurishly shortened using iron-on tape. Fortunately after pinning I decided there'd be enough surplus leg length to add cuffs without sacrificing the second pair. After removing as much of the adhesive as possible and nearly completely ironing out the crease where the leg originally ended I made up a dye bath and dropped them both in to stew.

A brief pause to take a picture between the hour of constant stirring to ensure an even dye.

The end result was exactly what I'd hoped for, the dye penetrated the fabric well due to the high cotton content and both trousers ended up black. However, due to the size 34 trousers starting off as a lighter colour the black on them was very slightly more of a faded shade, still definitely black but not quite perfect. I considered simply saying "that'll do" and calling it a day but given that I knew at this point I'd end up selling these trousers I decided to do it properly and give them a second dye bath to fully saturate the fabric. This was a bit tedious and added some additional cost but I'm happy to say it was worth it as the fabric ended up a deeper shade of black afterwards. The only real difference between my overdyed black trousers and the actual ones is that the SA pair is a marginally slimmer cut, though this of course can be a bit subjective depending on the wearer's leg proportions.

The end result against a white background to show the new black colour.

Overall I'm exceedingly happy with how these turned out, I was definitely not going to overdye my actual S9-S10 navy ones so this was the next best thing to 'ruining' an already fully Screen Accurate pair. Strangely enough the SA trousers also came in black so Hayley's overdyeing of the pre-existing navy ones wasn't strictly speaking necessarily. They were probably older, slightly worn pairs that she decided to breathe some new life into, like the characterful distressing done to the older Budd shirts.

Everything cotton soaked up the dye, including the pocket fabric.

As a result of this quest for accuracy however I have ended up with two additional pairs of SA-V Paul Smith trousers, if anyone's been hunting for their very own pair (or pairs) to add to their collection check out my blog's Sale's Page.