This article is a bit of a long read, but if you’re a Nine fan it’s absolutely worth it. The main points to take away from it are:
1) Eccleston’s coat isn’t a U-boat coat and has no specific connection to World War II.
2) If you want the absolute best Nine coat possible then contact me, I’ve got a small number of very rare vintage ones available, of the same brand as Eccleston's.
3) I've even managed to replicate the exact original vintage body lining used in the Hero coat, so contact me if you're interested in any of that.
Index:
Introduction
Section 1: History
1.1: U-boat Uniform
1.2: Civilian Clothes
Section 2: Analysis of the Screen Worn Coats
2.1: Colour
2.2: Sizing
2.3: Comparing Hero and Stunt
2.4: The Lining Quandary
2.5: The Original Brand Revealed
Section 3: Getting a Nine Coat
3.1: Modern Replicas
3.2: Vintage Coats
3.3: Vintage Coats Supplied by The Doctor's Wardrobe
3.4: Dyeing
3.5: Vintage Coat Pricing
3.6: Lining
3.7: Buttons
Conclusion
Introduction:
Although there were many incarnations of the character prior, for a great many people their first experience with Doctor Who came in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston assuming the mantle of the titular character. This rejuvenated series brought about many changes to the character, the fresh psychological wounds of the Time War gave this new face an anger and melancholy not seen in previous versions. This was reflected in the new outfit, gone were the pseudo-Edwardian threads that epitomised what the Doctor was expected to wear, this was a way to bring the character into the 21st century.
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Unlike the previous four decades, this Doctor wore ordinary clothes rather than something that was clearly a costume. His outfit didn’t really make him stand out in a crowd. Everything was simple and utilitarian, with the only truly important piece being the battered leather coat he wore. The Doctor was 900 years old, and the costume designer’s intention was that this extreme age should be conveyed in the condition of his coat. For all intents and purposes, the coat was the costume.
This requirement posed an interesting problem. The best way to get something to look truly old is to have something that is truly old. No new leather would cut it, so a vintage one was chosen for the hero to wear, with another similar looking vintage one as a backup for the stunt work. Here's an extract from 16 minutes into the very first episode of Doctor Who Confidential where Lucinda Wright (the costume designer) and Christopher Eccleston discuss the Doctor's outfit:
CE: Russel had scripted a leather jacket.
LW: Really battered, so-
CE: Battered leather jacket so you get the traveller thing.
LW: So we tried loads on, didn't we?
CE: Yeah, it's so long back, long ago that I can't remember-
LW: Even had one made, and do you remember? Put it on and it was hideous, so I ripped it off do you remember and we started again.
CE: Oh yeah, it was too um...
LW: It was too new wasn't it?
CE: It was too cut.
LW: I didn't want the costume to ever become an object where you used to think, oh what's he wearing today? It had to be a silhouette that you were very used to and when he's against all the other aliens from the back or from the side you always know it's him. His clothes shouldn't really dominate his role, they should help. So the thought of having a leather jacket is always a good bonus because it would give the appearance of an action man.
CE: It's not something I would wear personally, but I think it's perfect for the Doctor. Lucinda did a fantastic job.
Clearly this is a very different costume design philosophy compared with an incarnation such as the Twelfth Doctor who wore much louder and varied outfits that usually closely reflected Peter Capaldi's personal taste in clothing. It is worth noting however that although Nine’s outfit didn’t match the type of clothes Christopher Eccleston wears casually, he did specifically want this kind of outfit for the character of the Doctor and was instrumental in shaping the final look. Below is an extract from a letter written by Lucinda Wright:
"I especially liked helping Chris to choose his outfit. Russel T Davies had written in the original script that the Doctor had a battered leather jacket. Chris wanted a simple tough look which would not dominate the screen. We took quite a while to find the right leather jacket. We even had one made especially which looked too new and tailored when Chris put it on. The jacket you see on screen was found in an old second hand store. When Chris tried it on it was perfect. You could really believe that he was 900 years old and had travelled all over the universe. We actually bought 2 identical jackets, 1 was for Chris’s stuntman. The jackets were constantly kept under lock and key when they weren’t being used.
We then made Chris a series of simple V neck jumpers in colours like dark blue, forest green, purple, and deep burgundy red. Which would give a contrasting look from story to story. I got to work with Chris again in 2010 when he played John Lennon."
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| Lucinda Wright’s costume design sketch for the Ninth Doctor which sold on eBay on the 19th July 2013. The quote above was taken from a letter of provenance which was included with the sketch. |
Section 1: History
1.1 - U-boat Uniform:
By far and away the most pervasive thing about the Ninth Doctor’s outfit that everyone knows is that he wore a Kriegsmarine U-boat coat. That’s obvious right? It is known. Before you move on to the next paragraph, ask yourself how you know that fact? Where did you originally hear it? Have you ever seen any actual proof?
There are two types of sources for information, primary and secondary. Primary sources are direct pieces of information which are contemporaneous with the period in question. For example a picture of a U-boat crew taken during the war would be a primary source of information as to their uniform. A secondary source of information is something which isn’t direct, it’s a later interpretation of facts that are further removed from the actual event, hence has the potential to be less reliable.
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| Still of U-boat crew members from the 2011 film “The Sinking of the Laconia”, a dramatised telling of actual events. This is a representation of WWII era dress based on the knowledge of the costume designer, hence is a secondary source. The clothes may or may not be accurate to what U-boat crews actually wore. |
Contrary to popular belief, Eccleston’s coat has nothing to do with the U-boats, the Kriegsmarine, or WWII in general really. Unterseaboot personnel wore two basic styles of leather, a single breasted jacket which has little resemblance to the screen worn coat, and a double breasted deck coat (also known as a bridge coat) worn by officers. For reference a deck/bridge coat is longer than a peacoat but not quite as long or heavy as a greatcoat. It is assumed by many that the Who coat is a vintage example of the latter, however this simply isn’t the case. A true U-boat deck coat has many differences to Eccleston’s including:
• grey leather
• slightly longer length (ends mid-thigh)
• 8x4 button layout rather than 6x3
• completely different back style
• metal anchor buttons
• straight yoke
• plain cuff attached via seam
• shoulder boards (sometimes)
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There are several justifications that I’ve heard over the years for why Eccleston’s coat is a U-boat coat, I’ll list some of the more common ones below along with counterpoints:
“Captain Jack describes Nine’s outfit as U-boat Captain when he meets him.”
Whilst Nine doesn’t wear a U-boat coat, there are similarities in the design that would somewhat explain the mix up.
“Wested call it a U-boat coat and they made the coats for Das Boot.”.
Yes they do and yes they did. However, in 1981’s Das Boot you’ll see that the coats that Wested made for that show are the longer 8x4 grey deck coats, not the Who style ones they sell on their website. Presumably when demand for a Nine coat replica began they dig out and modified their U-boat pattern to make what they currently offer.
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| Wested’s screen worn Das Boot coat, as seen at a recent auction (left) and in the 1981 film/miniseries (right). |
“I saw a leather coat for sale advertised as being Wermacht, Heer, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe, Schutzstaffel, Sturmabteilung, Gestapo, Ordnungspolizei, etc.”
Sellers will often advertise any old leather coat as being WWII era, either because they don’t know any better or because it makes it sound more interesting. Based on what I’ve seen, around 99% of leathers advertised as being something to do with the military aren’t any form of uniform at all and usually come from the postwar era.
“I saw a coat like Eccleston’s that had Kriegsmarine buttons on it.”
Anyone can sew different buttons onto a coat. Usually it’s to try to push the idea that it’s a piece of genuine WWII era uniform, either to mislead buyers or because it was used in some film or tv production before represented as a piece of uniform.
“I heard that the screen worn coat had Kriegsmarine buttons on and they had to swap them out.”
This is internet rumour, I know of no primary source to support this. If they actually did, see the answer to the previous question.
This leads me to the last point. Officers typically buy their own uniforms, so there is a degree of variation in private purchase pieces. Does that mean that Eccleston’s coat was a Kriegsmarine officer’s private purchase piece? No. Let me explain.
How uniform a piece of uniform has to be depends a lot on the situation in which it is worn in. During a parade it is naturally important that everyone looks their best, there is no danger and the eyes of the world are upon the troops. In times of total war, the rules aren’t always so black and white. U-boat crews had a greater than 75% casualty rate (over 40,000 men served on one over the course of the war and fewer than 10,000 made it through) and weren’t exactly parading through the streets as part of their duties. If a member of crew were to wear a piece of clothing which wasn’t strictly speaking in keeping with the typical uniform regulations would anyone care? The answer is; probably not. A U-boat crew member would be confined to a pressurised metal tube for months on end with fourty to fifty other sweaty men and without the comforts of so much as a shower. Would the captain care if they were somewhat lax on uniform standards? Probably not so long as they were doing their job. Would Großadmiral Dönitz care? No, his own son died in 1943 whilst serving on a U-boat and being in such a senior position he had far more important things to worry about. There are several examples of U-boat crews wearing a piece of clothing which doesn’t exactly match up to the paradigm. Usually the only variation seen in the deck coats is whether they have shoulder insignia or not, however some feature more atypical design features such as a scalloped yoke, black or dark brown leather instead of grey, amongst other differences. Some pictures also seem to show crew using jackets and coats that aren’t regulation uniform at all.
Following the failed Allied invasion of Dunkirk in 1940, the Germans captured so many sets of British battledress that the Kriegsmarine actually started issuing them to sailors as official uniform, albeit with German patches and buttons added. This uniform was commonly given to U-boat crew (and apparently on some torpedo boats too) as these personnel were not seen, hence there would be no risk of being misidentified in a combat situation. It wasn’t until late in the war that the Germans started to produce their own version of this captured British uniform. This use of appropriated equipment shows the flexibility of the military in times of war.
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| The complete crew of U-25. The submarine was destroyed on the 2nd August 1940 with the loss of all 49 crew members after it hit a British mine in the North Sea. |
This isn’t quite the end of the story when it comes to U-boat coats however. Although some coats seem in period photos can be written off as non-standard private purchase uniform or just plain civilian clothes there are several pictures out there that show multiple different officers wearing identical coats that are distinctly different to the usual grey 8x4 one. These coats are much closer to Eccleston’s and differ from the grey coat in that they have a 6x3 button layout, slightly shorter body, cuff straps, a scalloped yoke, buttoning rear half-belt, and are also made out of black leather. Some variation can be seen in these, not all have cuff straps or shoulder boards.
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| Different U-boat officers wearing very similar black 6x3 leather coats. As an unofficial rule, only the captain wore a white cap, the other officers wore blue ones. |
So why did this different style of coat seem to exist amongst the more common grey 8x4 one? Well the first U-boat produced under Nazi rule was U-1 which was launched in 1935, in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles which put great restrictions on Germany’s military. After looking up the service records of the personnel wearing these black coats it seems that they all joined the submarine service in the first few years of its creation, meaning the black coat may have been the branch’s first style of uniform. I’m not sure if it was ever an official uniform, a temporary one, or whether all of these black coats were private purchase and just popular with Kriegsmarine officers at the time regardless of their branch. That being said it seems surface personnel typically wore woolen coats rather than the leathers that U-boat crew wore, though some flag officers wore leather greatcoats instead of their usual woolen ones. The earliest example that I’ve seen of a grey coat is from 1938, though I suspect there might not have been a distinctly defined division when the grey coat became the standard. Given Nazi Germany built 1162 U-boats (the majority of which would’ve been created after the beginning of the war) this earlier style of uniform would be a less common sight during the conflict, and given the mortality rate amongst submariners not all that many would survive today.
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| Watch Officer Carl Borm, the photos on the right depict his coat as it appears today. It appears he demilitarised it after the war by removing the shoulder straps and buttons. Based on the blue cap, this image must have been taken prior to 1941 when he became Kapitänluetnant of U-592. |
It is worth noting that whilst this style of coat is similar to Eccleston’s, it is not the same. In addition to the military additions such as the buttons and shoulder straps to denote rank, the yoke is positioned lower down and the rear is constructed differently with a central vertical seam.
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| Fregattenkapitän Rolf Rüggeberg (left) with Korvettenkapitän Jürgen Oesten (right), photo taken in Trondheim in April 1945. Although it seems the grey coat became the standardised officer’s uniform, black coats were still worn by those who managed to survive from the early days. Note that this particular black coat has a straight yoke. |
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| Photograph from 1938 showing Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartmann wearing a black 6x3 coat. Hartmann was one of the early members of the U-boat arm, having joined in its first year of existence. |
1.2 - Civilian Clothes:
So what did Eccleston wear if it wasn’t a U-boat coat? The answer is; he wore a civilian leather peacoat of roughly mid 20th century origin. Based on my research it seems that the company that made it was set up in West Germany in the late 1940's, after the war. It is mistaken for a U-boat coat due to some design similarities but is definitely not any kind of uniform. If a U-boat crew member had worn a coat of this style instead of the regulation grey coat I highly doubt anyone would have raised issue with it but the that doesn’t mean the screen worn coat was ever used on a submarine. Given Nazi Germany’s number of military branches, paramilitary groups, and civilian organisations that adopted military style ranks and uniform, it is very difficult out to keep track of every type of official uniform. Hence, military and civilian coats often get mistaken for each other as they often take design cues from each other.
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| Civilians circa 1930’s to 1940’s wearing 6x3 double breasted leather coats. This style was popular with bikers as the leather afforded some skid protection, though many civilians just used them as regular casual overcoats. |
These short double breasted style of coats have existed in one form or another for over 300 years and have been used by countless military and civilian organisations around the world. Although usually made of wool, leather ones have also been produced in countries such as France, Russia, amongst many others. Germanic civilian double breasted leather coats of varying styles existed at least as early as the First World War (likely they first came about in the late 19th century) and continued to be worn in various forms by civilians and even Polizei for much of the 20th century. Contrary to what some may believe, it is not any type of uniform, nobody on the street will think it is unless one actively tries to make it look militaristic by pairing it with other pieces of uniform, and it is not illegal to wear in Germany.
I suspect that in the first few years of the Kriegsmarine’s U-boat branch, the officers would wear these black 6x3 coats as private purchase pieces before the grey coat was designed specifically and became the standard uniform. It is possible that this change occurred to give the branch a look that was more distinctly military, as prior to this they were essentially wearing a style of civilian coat that had anchor buttons and shoulder boards added to militarise it. The coats worn by U-boat officers are based on a style of civilian coat, not the other way around. Eccleston’s Hero coat is one of these civilian ones that is definitely post-war, most likely made anywhere from the late 1940’s to the 1960’s. The Stunt coat is is harder to place but is seemingly a later version of the design. As a very vague estimation, based on the type of leather and general design, I estimate it could have been made anytime between the 1960’s and 1970’s.
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| Left: Jacques Dernier, Howling Commando and member of the French Resistance, from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Right: Billy Bridger, Private in the British SBS, from Battlefield V (2018). Both are wearing Eccleston style coats. Although these are both fictional characters, their outfits are pretty normal European civilian clothes of the era, save for all the guns and equipment they’ve strapped on top. |
Section 2: Analysis of the Screen Worn Coats
2.1 - Colour:
This is one of the more subjective parts of the coat as the colour seems to change with every picture, in some it looks jet black and others a very mottled brown. The best way to describe Eccleston’s coats are that they are black but with a brown patina.
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| The coat seen in natural daylight, the amount of brown visible depends highly on the lighting conditions. |
Most modern leathers are chrome tanned which results in a colour that penetrates through the entire hide. A coat made with this type of leather will never really change colour over time. Certain types of vegetable tanned leather create a hide which is coloured on the outside but remains a natural colour towards the core. Over time as the leather is worn, this top layer of colour will get worn thinner in places and allow the brown underneath to show through, this is what creates the patina.
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| A shot of the back of the Hero coat, note the missing button alongside the odd button on the half-belt. Whilst there are several manufacturers who made coats similar to Eccleston’s from the front they usually (but not always) have a pretty different back style. |
Depending on the lighting conditions, the same are on the jacket can look black or brown depending on how the light penetrates this upper layer of black. For example, if you shine a powerful torch through your skin you’ll see it go a pinker colour due to how it’s exposing the blood underneath the surface. This is called subsurface scattering.
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| This is a good example of how the coat can look anywhere from jet black to mottled brown depending on the kind of light hitting it. |
Leather that behaves like this is highly indicative of a vintage style, and replicating this tanning process is something highly sought after by companies which make high end replicas of iconic leather jackets (such as the Type A-2 flight jacket). Modern reproductions of this style of leather are often called “teacore”.
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| The Stunt coat at the DWE, taken with flash photography. Note the variation in colour and now wrinkled the leather is, significantly more creased than the Hero coat. |
2.2 - Sizing:
There is a lot of confusion over this point. It is important to note that Eccleston wears a coat, not a jacket. The terms are often used interchangeably but the important point here is that a coat is designed to be able to fit over a jacket, hence needs to be roomier in the body and sleeves to easily go on top. Eccleston doesn’t wear a jacket underneath the coat, opting only for a thin jumper, hence it looks looser on him than a jacket would. In a similar vein, Captain Jack Harkness wore a moleskin greatcoat nearly always without a jacket underneath, so although it was a good fit for him it looked a little large as a result of the lack of an intermediate layer.
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| Examples of the fit of the coat. Notice the wide shoulders and loose sleeves that would allow it to be worn over a jacket, much like a peacoat. |
Another source of confusion is that for many the idea of a good fit is to have clothes be as tight as possible. Whilst there is undoubtably a benefit to having clothes that are appropriately fitted to one’s body type, many (mostly younger) people overdo it and end up considering anything that isn’t skin tight to be too big.
Finally, leather doesn’t really behave in the same way that fabric does. Although the lighter weight leathers are thin enough to hang and drape like wool or cotton the heavier ones tend to be stiffer and hold their shape. As a result, if a fairly slender person were to wear a coat that was genuinely on the large side for their body type it might not be obvious that the coat is too large as the leather will kind of hold its shape rather than sagging and folding up all the excess like a suit jacket would.
2.3 - Comparing Hero and Stunt:
In an ideal world, a costume department will have multiples of every item to allow a degree of safety in the event of loss or damage and to have copies for the stuntmen. As no new coat would cut it, the costume department were forced to try and track down two identical copies of these rare vintage coats. For the most part they were successful, the two coats that ended up getting worn on screen were very similar in overall design, but they weren’t identical. Below I’ll summarise all the known differences.
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Has a buttonhole on each lapel, though the one on the wearer's right is non-functional. |
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Collar stitching terminates at a right angle by the gorge. |
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Made without shoulder pads. |
Originally made with shoulder pads but subsequently removed, also has an extra line of stitching on the shoulder about 1cm in from the first. |
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Black 7/8 inch wide rim buttons (apparently Bakelite) are used on the front, cuffs, and under the lapels (making 10 of these used in total), on the back is a single 1 inch thin rim plastic button on the wearer's left side (right side button is missing). The buttons are sewn on with black thread with both lines running parallel. |
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Terminates with a squared end. |
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Less wide and with only one line of stitching around the outside. |
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| Hero coat (left) compared against the Stunt coat (right), note the differences. |
The Hero coat was the main coat, it was worn by the Ninth Doctor in all of his Doctor Who episodes, Doctor Who Confidential episodes, the promotional trailers, and subsequently worn by the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor in Born Again and The Christmas Invasion. It was also used for the various photoshoots for the series that Eccleston did. I do not know the current whereabouts of this coat as to the best of my knowledge it hasn’t been seen in public since 2005, I suspect it is locked away in a BBC archive somewhere.
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The Stunt coat was, as its name suggests, primarily worn by the stuntman as it mattered less if it got damaged. It was worn by Eccleston on at least two occasions though, once towards the end of World War Three when the Doctor is in the Tardis on the phone to Rose. I’m not sure why they used the Stunt for this scene. The other occasion was for his Blue Peter appearance to promote the show where he does a short in which he defeats a homemade Dalek. Chiefly, the Stunt has mainly been used for subsequent costume displays and was on show at the Doctor Who Experience for a few years (before being replaced with a modern replica) and has been seen at certain events such as Gallifrey One and Chicago Tardis. For some people, although the Stunt had very little screen-time, it is their favourite of the two coats due to the tangibility of actually getting to see it up close. In a recent poll I did on Instagram which asked a few hundred people to pick their favorite of the two coats, 20% preferred the Stunt. This coat is currently in private hands, hence why it gets occasionally displayed at conventions.
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| The Stunt coat on display at the Doctor Who Experience (left) and being worn by Eccleston in “World War Three” (right). |
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| Eccleston’s stunt double wearing the Stunt coat during the filming of “Boom Town”. |
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| The Stunt coat as seen on Blue Peter. The squared half-belt end is just about visible here, though can be seen on a few other photographs. |
2.4 - The Lining Quandary:
Fortunately, the sleeves of both coats were lined in the same readily available off-white viscose striped lining. Although inspired by traditional tailor’s sleeve lining this particular fabric is far more modern than either coat, hence would’ve been a retrofit. The original sleeve material would’ve been polished cotton or similar.
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| A close up of the sleeve lining of the Stunt coat whilst it was on display. There are several shots of the Hero coat showing that it has this same lining. |
By contrast, the body lining isn’t such a simple story. Due to the limited 576i resolution of the show many people initially thought it was shearling used in the body. Eventually the Stunt coat started being shown at places such as the Doctor Who Experience and it became clear that the lining was in fact a herringbone material. Based on the testimony from people who’ve seen it close up the fabric used in the Stunt coat was a beige herringbone chenille with a very slight contrast between the two colours of yarn used in it. The inter-chevron angle is acute and the horizontal pattern repeat is approximately 2 inches (so 1 inch per “stripe”). Given all this information it made sense to assume that the Hero coat must have been lined in the same material.
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| The Stunt coat’s body lining, photo taken at the DWE. |
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| Another shot of the Stunt coat’s body lining, photo taken at a convention. |
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Confusingly, this is not the case. The Hero coat does indeed have a herringbone lining inside the body but it is not quite the same fabric as used in the Stunt. Although the colour and scale of the fabric both look a little different this is hard to establish conclusively from pictures. What shows it to be irrefutably different is that the lining used in the Hero has a clearly obtuse angle to it. After realising this I checked my coats and found that one of them had this exact fabric lining the hand warmer pockets. This material is a wool herringbone in a golden brown colour with a 2 ¼ inch horizontal pattern repeat.
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| Publicity shot of the Hero coat (left) compared with the pocket lining in a Hero spec coat I own. |
So why were there identical sleeve linings used but two slightly different body linings? I don’t know, but I can speculate. Perhaps the Hero coat had damaged sleeve lining but the body lining was otherwise in good condition? Perhaps after the Stunt was acquired they relined it with a similar herringbone to try and match what was used in the Hero?
I don't know what lining was used in the pockets of the screen worn coats as the materials seen in the pockets of the vintage coats can vary quite a lot. Generally though the hand warmer pockets will be lined in something thick that either matches the body lining or is a similar weight, whereas the other three pockets (two outer and one inner) are typically cotton silesia of varying colours. When I come to reline my personal coats I will be using the body lining material in the hand warmer pockets and a dark brown brushed cotton in the other pockets. This dark brown material is a good choice for several reasons: it is heavier than silesia so will last longer, the brushed finish will feel softer on the hands, plus the colour will hide dirt and staining.
2.5: The Original Brand Revealed:
Although there were many different companies that produced leather coats with varying degrees of similarity to Eccleston's, I have been able to figure out the actual brand of the Ninth Doctor's coat. I can exclusively reveal that the screen worn Hero coat was made by a Bavarian company called Striwa. They were established in 1949 and made a variety of leather goods before going out of business in 2011.
Unfortunately, many of these coats do not come with brand labels, making an ID very tricky. Seemingly even the original Hero coat lacked a brand label despite still having its original body lining. I have however been fortunate enough to find two Hero spec coats with the original labels. The only brand who's coats match up on all the details are the ones made by Striwa. The estimated 1950's era of production that I have quoted for the Hero spec coats is in part based upon their general style, but also by comparing it to the type of leather and labels used in later Striwa products such as the Polizei coats of the 1970's onward.
I cannot confirm with 100% certainty that the Stunt coat was also made by Striwa as I am yet to find a Stunt spec coat with a brand label inside. That being said I believe it is incredibly likely as I have found some Striwa branded ones that I call Hybrid spec coats, these have design details somewhere in between the two styles and I believe it is a transition style. It would seem that the company's production was at a significantly smaller scale when they were making Hero spec coats, as they are much rarer than the later style Hybrid ones and tend to have more variation in details such as the lining and exact weight of leather used.
Section 3: Getting a Nine Coat
3.1 - Modern Replicas:
There are several manufacturers out there that offer modern replicas of Nine’s coat. I have owned and/or seen several of these options and my personal opinion is that whilst some are significantly better than others, they all have issues. I could go into the specifics of every replica out there but I don’t really think it's fair to make targeted criticisms, especially as the age of Nine's coat presents a uniquely difficult challenge for any recent recreation. As a generalisation though, these are the three biggest points that all modern replicas that I have seen suffer from to varying extents:
• odd proportions – these generally extend to the whole coat but are especially prevalent in areas like the lapels, there’s a specific vintage style way of cutting them to get the correct shape and size that isn’t ever done correctly. Even when given actual vintage coats to pattern modern manufacturers still get proportions wrong.
• colour issues – usually the wrong sort of leather is used, resulting in a coat that’ll always remain jet black and never develop a brown patina. Some replicas which are actually made with pre-patinated leather end up looking very artificial as the hide is distressed prior to making the jacket rather than forming naturally in the areas of higher wear.
• too new looking – this is inevitable with new leather. Although it’s possible to weather leather with abrasion and other techniques it’s incredibly difficult to make it look realistic as it’ll lack the wrinkling and other details that can only really be created with actual heavy use.
I don't want to criticise every modern coat as whilst none are perfect some are good value for money or are the only way for someone who requires an unusual size to get anything that'll fit them. Really I'm looking at these from a more obsessively perfectionist point of view where I prioritise accuracy in the overall design and battered spirit of the original. As Lucinda Wright said, the genuine age was her chief priority when she was hunting for the right coat for the Doctor to wear.
If someone was to stop at nothing to get the absolute best modern Nine coat made then I suppose the best way of doing it would be to take an accurate vintage coat to a specialist in vintage leathers (such as Aero or Bill Kelso) who'd pay more attention to the period style features than most others who make leathers or film/tv costume replicas in general. Then have them make a coat in black teacore leather, then subsequently wear that coat for several years or decades in order to break it in and get it to start looking old. Whether they'd do it or not I can't say and it'd likely cost more than getting a real vintage one. That being said, if someone was an unusual size then this would probably be the best way to go.
3.2 - Vintage Coats:
Unless someone who’s looking to do a Nine outfit is an unusual size or on a tight budget I would always recommend a vintage coat over a modern replica. Though this raises the question of how to obtain such a rare piece? When I purchased a custom replica of Nine’s coat many years ago I did so because I thought I’d never be able to find a truly accurate vintage Nine coat online. I’d only managed to find two or three examples of Hero coats in private hands.
For various reasons I was never fully satisfied with the replica I had, so I ended up passing it on and began my prolonged hunt for a vintage version. It has taken an enormous amount of hunting but I at last have a vintage Striwa Hero coat just like Eccleston’s in my collection.
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| Hero spec coat (left) and a Stunt spec coat (right), I haven’t crushed the Stunt’s lapels or removed the shoulder pads yet. This particular Stunt is cut slightly longer than the Hero coat next to it, but the difference is exaggerated slightly as this Hero’s lining was cut slightly too short from the factory and is pulling the leather up at the base. Subsequently to taking this photo, the issue was fixed when the coat was relined. |
3.3 - Vintage Coats Supplied by The Doctor's Wardrobe:
I am happy to say to any and all out there that want to do a top notch Eccleston outfit that I can supply you with a vintage original Striwa Nine coat. It has been very many years since I began searching for this grail of mine and I have been fortunate enough to source multiple of these vintage coats. I only need one, so I’ve been privately selling any additional ones that I'm lucky enough to source, mostly via word of mouth.
If you're interested in a vintage coat then please get in touch letting me know what size you'd need and and I'll see what I have available. Supply is very limited and I might not have some sizes, so don't delay if you want one otherwise I might sell out, and I cannot guarantee when another will become available.
Nine coats can be broken down into three rough styles. Hero, Stunt, and Hybrid. As mentioned previously, the “Hybrid” coats as I call them tend to have features that are somewhere in between the Hero and Stunt, generally they’ll be Hero spec overall but with Stunt style collar and lapels (though naturally haven’t been crushed asymmetrically like the screen worn Stunt was) and have shoulder pads like the Stunt did originally.
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| This is an example of a Striwa Hybrid style coat. It was dyed by me then sent to the customer, who had the coat relined, the shoulder pads removed, and replica Hero buttons sewn on. Although the rear isn't pictured here, it is identical in style to the Hero coat. |
It is worth noting that there were several manufacturers over the 20th century that produced leather coats in a similar style to Eccleston’s, however they do not completely match up in design. Usually they have differently made backs or other significant design differences. Case in point, if you were to go to every high street shop and look at every off-the-peg peacoat available today you’d find that many were remarkably similar. I only sell the ones that in my expert opinion were made by Striwa. Many of these coats are completely devoid of any sort of label (even size labels), however given that I’ve had the pleasure of examining several of these coats I know what details to examine in order to distinguish them and say with confidence if they were made by Striwa or not.
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| A vintage Striwa Hero spec coat that I dyed and swapped out the buttons on. The brown patina visible here only comes out under certain lighting conditions, indoors the coat looks more black. This coat is now with its new owner in the US. |
These three styles of coat summarise the main differences in the overall pattern of the coats. Due to the fact that these are handmade items there is the potential for a degree of variation in them. For example, if a coat is mass produced for a shop like Topman where dozens sit alongside each other on the rack at any given time then every one has to be as identical as possible. I strongly suspect that these Nine style coats were more of a mail order item or possibly ordered made to measure through a shop (given how the sizing can vary) so having total uniformity wasn’t an essential. Often the exact weight of the leather used for the coat can change, and although brown moleskin is the most common lining material all manner of wools have been seen. I suspect they simply used whatever materials they had in at the time. There can sometimes be small design differences that can be attributed to different workers, sometimes a Hero spec coat might have an extra line of stitching on the cuff tabs or some other small difference. I suspect Striwa had a much lower output during the time that they made Hero spec coats and they were probably made to order rather than en masse, the Hybrid style coats seem to mark a point where production numbers increased somewhat.
These were coats designed to be highly functional, not really be a fashion statement. Notably the types of leather used in them tend to be thicker and heavier than most leather coats/jackets found for sale today. The four main species of leathers used today (from lightest to heaviest) are lamb, goat, cow, and horse. All of the vintage coats I’ve examines are made of either cowhide or horsehide, as lambskin and goatskin are too light for a coat like this and result in sagging and draping, these thinner leathers are better suited to more fitted garments. Depending on the garment’s size and the type of leather used, I have observed these vintage Nine coats varying in weight anywhere from 1.6kg to 2.6kg.
Furthermore, each and every one of these coats has had decades of history and real world use behind them, so each one has been naturally distressed in a unique way that reflects their owners. It's somewhat difficult to articulate but when wearing a vintage coat it just feels right. Rather than feeling like a costume piece, it is an actual piece of history, just a genuinely cool vintage coat that would be appreciated with or without the Who connection. These coats are likely already well over half a century old, and don't need ultra careful treatment like a velvet coat or a soyella shirt. With a little bit of care these coats could very well outlast their owner.
3.4 - Dyeing:
To this day, I have only seen one confirmed example of a Striwa Nine coat that was made out of black leather, it was a Hybrid style coat with green moleskin lining. Nearly every single example I’ve seen has been brown hide, though it seems they made a very small number out of forest green leather. I have seen a few black coats of this general style being used for film and television, which means they stand a fair chance of being modified for the production. This leads me to believe that either Eccleston’s coat(s) were ultra rare (possibly special order) factory black coats, or they begun their life in a chocolate brown colour and were dyed at some point between then and when they were used on the show. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were dyed black for some other production many years before being used on Doctor Who. If it were dyed then the black dye would likely have only shallowly penetrated the hide, hence with use or distressing it would look very much like an old fashioned type of teacore leather.
I don’t have any direct proof that the screen worn ones were dyed. If I had to give an educated guess I’d say that the Hero coat probably started life as a black one, as aside from the sleeve lining (and probably the belt button) the coat is pretty much original. Furthermore it would be nearly impossible to dye without getting some of the dye on the body lining, which has been established to be original. The Stunt coat however seems to have been specifically modified to look more like the Hero, so would have a greater chance of being dyed as part of those modifications prior to the relining or possibly even for an earlier production. Pierce Brosnan wore a brown leather coat in the 1988 film “Taffin” that is eerily similar to the Stunt coat, right down to the lapels that seem to be showing early signs of asymmetry. Having handled a few of these coats, I tend to have an eye for the small details mentioned in the previous section that distinguish two coats made to the same spec. Having watched the film, as far as I can tell all the details and proportions of Brosnan’s coat match Eccleston’s Stunt coat exactly. I can’t be totally sure they’re the same coat 17 years apart, but if they aren’t then they’re stylistically totally identical.
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As a result of this, all the coats I source come to me in a brown colour and get hand dyed. This can be a messy and time consuming process, it’s easy to overdo it and make the coat look too new and uniformly jet black. It is done by building up layers of colour whilst being careful not to overwrite the coat’s natural patina, followed by a sealant layer to keep the colour in and increase rain resistance. As a result of the hand done nature of the process, along with the way different leathers react to the dyeing process, each one ends up being unique.
If you have a coat of your own that needs dyeing I can do that too. Contact me to discuss details.
3.5 - Vintage Coat Pricing:
As these coats are all individually sourced what I have in at any given time will change, hence I can’t give a definitive price here as it depends on several factors such as the spec of the coat, sizing (small ones are even rarer), whether I've dyed them or left them brown, whether they've had the accurate buttons sewn on, etc. As a general precedent however, the coats sell for anywhere from mid three figures to into four figures in value. The ones that command the higher prices are the truly fantastic examples but even the more affordable ones such as the Hybrid style coats are something that I'd recommend over a modern replica any day.
3.6 - Lining:
The screen accurate sleeve lining can be found at Bernstein & Banleys under the product code 315-50404.
Although the body lining for both the Hero and Stunt could be considered fairly generic they are incredibly difficult to find perfect matches to. Having searched through thousands of upholstery, drapery, and coating fabrics I was only able to find one match for the Stunt lining (unfortunately it has since been discontinued) and none for the Hero. When hunting for a match it it important to consider colour, fabric composition, scale, herringbone angle, etc.
After an enormous amount of searching and ordering swatches I managed to find a pure wool fabric that matched the Hero coat lining in scale, angle, yarn thickness, etc though was unfortunately too light in colour. After doing several dye tests on it I was able to get the colour exact to the original vintage lining. It is actually superior to the original lining in a couple of ways, firstly the wool on my dyed lining is higher quality. Secondly, it is woven in a way that won't cause the darker yarn to pile up and get streaky like the original lining can with extended use. I dye batches of this to put into the vintage coats that I sell, but also sell the fabric by itself, so if you're interested in any then get in touch.
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| My custom dyed body lining that has been freshly installed into a vintage coat (top) compared with another vintage coat with the original herringbone lining in a very bad state (bottom). As you can see, my fabric looks spot on to the original material, just far less threadbare and dusty. |
3.7 - Buttons:
The Hero coat has two styles of buttons on it, the first is a black 7/8 inch 4 hole button with an unusually thick rim. I have seen one other old leather jacket with these buttons on and according to the owner they are made of Bakelite, this suggests that they might be original to the coat, though all the ones I've seen use brown leather football buttons or four hole generic brown plastic ones, so whether or not they're original they're certainly era correct. Unfortunately there are no perfect off-the-shelf matches for this wide rim button. Thankfully though there are excellent replicas available here from the Etsy shop TimeAndSpaceReplicas. I had a small hand in refining their shape and can say confidently that they are superbly accurate.
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| Replica Hero coat buttons, available from Etsy. |
One inch brown horn buttons as seen on the Stunt coat are a bit more generic and can be found with some hunting. Due to horn being a natural product there are going to be variations in the colour and swirling so try to find the ones with the best resemblance to the screen worn ones. The odd cuff button is a rare vintage style that I have a very limited stock of.
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| Odd cuff button on the screen worn Stunt coat, on display at the DWE. |
Fortunately, the black one inch plastic buttons that are seen on the back of the coats and on the top left of the Stunt are ubiquitous.
Whatever buttons the under-collar strap are fastened on with are unknown, if you own a vintage coat it's best just to leave the coat's stock 15mm buttons on.
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| The tab found under the coat collar. Eccleston’s tab is usually buttoned down but can be seen dangling down on a couple of photos. |
Conclusion:
I hope that this history lesson and general breakdown has been useful. If you're interested in one of these coats send me a message letting me know what kind of coat you're after and I'll see if I've got anything suitable available at the moment. If I don't then I'll add you to the waiting list and let you know if I find something suitable.
Thanks go to Dan Pawlik (Instagram: @Rassilon88) for most of the close up images of the Stunt coat.
Fascinating! I've corrected what I had previously written about Nine's coat on ShopYourTv and added a link to this post. The myth about the U-Boat coat seems to have originated from the Doctor Who: The Inside Story book, but I haven't been able to confirm this.
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