The screen used shirt.
In terms of the nitty-gritty details there are a few aspects to this shirt one should look for in a replica. In terms of design the collar is reasonably wide spread and the shirt lacks any button placket. Any other design features such as what the back looks like or the presence of a pocket are unknown. I'd hazard a guess that there is no pocket on the original shirt though, the design seems more in line with a modern stylish dress shirt than a business shirt. The actual patterned inner collar/cuff design is difficult to make out to a high degree of accuracy. It often gets described as polka dot but in reality it is made up of multiple different geometric shapes. Individual shades are difficult to say precisely as the lighting affects them noticeably, however the blue cotton seems to be darker than some of Tennant's more pale blue shirts such as the linen UniQlo. The patterned inner fabric is more of a medium or so blue overall and is more difficult to pinpoint than the outer fabric.
Ten with the Zygon detector.
Given the original shirt has never been identified and many of its features remain ambiguous this affords us a little creative licence in creating a replica. With this in mind I decided to go to iTailor to commission my shirt. I've been asked multiple followers/subscribers about iTailor and if it is safe to use, my answer is always "absolutely". Unlike many oriental tailoring sites they do not sacrifice customer service in order to be able to produce products at such reasonable prices, the only time I ever had a problem with one of my orders it was sorted entirely without issue. The quality of their items are as good as any respectable high street brand and they are open to making small customisations beyond the scope of their 3D designer providing they are not too radical and you ask nicely beforehand. Just to note, I know what I wrote sounds like and advert but I don't get any kind of discount for singing their praises here, I just genuinely like using them.
A rare glimpse of the white button strip.
Although iTailor's 3D designer is excellent there are a couple of special requests that I highly recommend. Firstly, their body measurements they ask for at the end of the design process don't always produce a shirt that fits how you want. When I first ordered using this method the arms came out incredibly skinny. Although they don't advertise it, they will use also garment measurements from a pre-existing well fitting shirt. I cannot recommend this enough, email them before an order to ask for their shirt garment measurement guide. After placing an order you can email them with these garment measurements and ask them to ignore the body measurements that were inputted into the designer. Secondly, their designer only allows one contrast fabric at once, making the white strip below the buttons impossible to do in addition the the inner collar and cuffs. Email them afterwards with a picture of what you want done though and they'll be happy to accommodate this small request.
iTailor's shirts now also come with an eight inch matching pocket square.
Below are the options I selected when I created my own iTailor shirt:
Feature
|
Options
|
1 – Fabric
|
Sky blue
|
2 – Collar
|
Italian collar (1 button), collar width 3.00 inches (standard)
|
3 – Sleeve
|
Long sleeve
|
4 – Front
|
Single placket
|
5 – Cuffs
|
Angled cuff (1 button), cuff width 2.75 inches (standard)
|
6 – Bottom
|
Tri-tab
|
7 – Back Detail
|
None
|
8 – Pockets
|
None
|
9 – Buttons
|
White buttons, light blue thread
|
10 – Contrast
|
Printed blue contrast, inner collar and cuffs
|
11 – Monogram
|
No monogram
|
After this I emailed them with my desired garment measurements and with the special request to add the white contrasting strip beneath the buttons.
This would be a good picture to email to them, illustrating the request.
All things considered, I'm very happy with the shirt. The sky blue fabric was on sale so the total price after shipping was only £27 which is very little considering it is completely custom and tailored to one's body. The only nitpicking observations I have are that although the inner patterned fabric is a good match to the original it is perhaps a little darker (the photo of my shirt folded up gives the most accurate colour read of the fabric). The contrast fabrics section is not as comprehensive as the main shirting fabric options but I'm sure if you found and asked for a specific better fabric they have in stock they'd make the inner contrasting parts using it. If you want to make your shirt with a pocket or back details go ahead as these parts were never seen on camera. It is difficult to say how accurate the sky blue colour is as Tennant's shirt colour can change a lot between photos (for example, compare the difference in colour between the photos of David in this post). It is however, the best match that can be done without the original in-hand for comparison, being darker than the pale blue UniQlo whilst still remaining light blue overall.
The iTailor shirt cuff (top) against the pale blue Uniqlo (bottom).
Magnoli Clothiers do replicas of this shirt for $135, each of their shirts is built to the individual's specification. It is important to note that although I'm sure a better replica of the inner fabric could be drawn up and fabric printed by them it would still not be a perfect replica. Also consider that iTailor costs only a quarter of the price asked by Magnoli.
The iTailor shirt paired with the screen accurate tie.
If anyone's thinking of getting an iTailor shirt for their own 50th outfit I highly recommend it. Having a shirt with a contrasting inner collar and cuffs really elevates one's outfit above the effect given from a simple, off-the-shelf, light blue shirt.
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