iTailor Guide: Ten's Anniversary Shirt

With David Tennant's return to Doctor Who for the 50th anniversary a new shirt and tie combination came with him. The tie was identified almost immediately, but five years later the shirt continues to elude identification despite its distinctive features. Unlike the many subtly different light blue shirts he used over the years before, this one featured a darker blue patterned contrasting material on the inside of the collar and cuffs as well as a vertical white button strip. Featured in this article are my observations on the original shirt and my review on an iTailor replica I recently acquired.

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.

iTailor Guide: Ten's Blue Hidden Button Cotton Shirt

Over the series Tennant wore several dark blue shirts that all look rather similar, most of these are not too tricky to find off-the-shelf alternatives for. One of the trickier ones however is the covered button shirt worn in 'Midnight' and 'The End of Time'. 

The shirt as seen at the beginning of 'The End of Time'.

To be honest the most difficult part of replicating this shirt is getting the colour right. Looking through iTailor's current range I'd say that midnight blue is (by funny coincidence) the closest match, though obviously it's difficult to say based purely on an image through a computer screen. I've noticed that their exact colour lineup changes slightly over time so check the other blues available to see if an even closer match has become available.

iTailor's midnight blue cotton fabric.

The features listed in the table below should give the closest match to the original shirt, though as the screen accurate shirt has never been identified some of this is guesswork. The collar and cuff style is visible in the episode however features like pockets and pleats I've estimated based on what tends to be common on covered button shirts. Notably, the collar seems to be slightly smaller and wider spread than some of his other shirts based on how it sits over the jacket in 'Midnight'. It also does not seem very firm so I assume there are no collar stays in however I've heard iTailor's stays are now removable so if you want to tick that option you might be ok.

Note the cuff style and black buttons.

Use the '3D pro advanced designing' tool on the fabric selection screen for the best results. I've not listed every single option on the configuration tool so if it's not mentioned in the table below keep it as whatever the standard option is:

Feature	Options
1 – Fabric	Midnight blue cotton (#25)
2 – Collar	Italian collar (1 button), collar width 2.50 inches
3 – Sleeve	Long sleeve
4 – Front	Hidden buttons
5 – Cuffs	Square cuff (1 button), cuff width 2.50 inches
6 – Bottom	Tri-tab
7 – Back Detail	Plain
8 – Pockets	None
9 – Buttons	Black buttons, navy thread
10 – Wristband	No contrast
11 – Monogram	No monogram

Afterwards they'll ask for your body measurements, this is not ideal as measurements from a pre-existing well-fitting shirt are much more reliable. I highly advise you contact them before placing an order and ask for their garment measurement form. Although they don't advertise it they'll use garment measurements, you just need to send them an email afterwards with the actual measurements you want. I'll be doing more shirt breakdowns in the future though as I've done quite a few recently my next post will be something different. As always, stay tuned.

iTailor Guide: Ten's Tan Cotton Shirt

Although Tennant usually wore a blue shirt to add contrast against his brown suit there have been a couple of occasions where he went against this stylistic guideline. One of the more prominent occasions was for the two part story, 'The Impossible Planet' and 'The Satan Pit' where he donned a tan shirt, the shirt then briefly returned for 'Human Nature' and 'Family of Blood'.

A bit of an odd combination but I rather like the look.

Brown shirts like this are fairly uncommon on the high street, possibly due to the unfortunate Sturmabteilung association. Once again though iTailor comes to the rescue with a cotton fabric that appears to be a good colour match to the original, though without either in-hand this is difficult to say to a high degree of certainty. 

iTailor's tan brown cotton shirt fabric.

The features listed in the table below should give the closest match to the original shirt, though as the screen accurate shirt has never been identified some of this is guesswork. The collar and cuff style is visible in the episode however features like pockets and pleats I've estimated based on Tennant's other shirts, the majority of them have pockets but not all. Given the proximity of the cuff button to the angled end I think a two button cuff is most likely but can't be sure. The collar does not seem very firm so I assume there are no collar stays in however I've heard iTailor's collar stays are now removable so if you want to tick that option you should be ok.

Note the cuff style.

Use the '3D pro advanced designing' tool on the fabric selection screen for the best results. I've not listed every single option on the configuration tool so if it's not mentioned in the table below keep it as whatever the standard option is:

Feature	Options
1 – Fabric	Tan brown cotton (#18)
2 – Collar	French collar (1 button), collar width 2.75 inches
3 – Sleeve	Long sleeve
4 – Front	Single placket
5 – Cuffs	Angle cuff (2 buttons), cuff width 2.75 inches
6 – Bottom	Tri-tab
7 – Back Detail	Side pleats
8 – Pockets	Classic angle pocket
9 – Buttons	White buttons, bronze thread
10 – Wristband	No contrast
11 – Monogram	No monogram

Afterwards they'll ask for your body measurements, this is not ideal as measurements from a pre-existing well-fitting shirt are much more reliable. I highly advise you contact them before placing an order and ask for their garment measurement form. Although they don't advertise it they'll use garment measurements, you just need to send them an email afterwards with the actual measurements you want.

Hope you found this helpful, I'll be doing doing a breakdown of some more of Tennant's other more obscure shirts in the near future so stay tuned, next up will be the dark blue 'Midnight' shirt.

iTailor Guide: Ten's Grey Linen Shirt

Of the three UNIQLO linen shirts Tennant wore over his run as the Doctor the only colourway no longer in production is the heathered grey variant as seen at the end of 'School Reunion'. Their alternate grey colour is lighter and a much more uniform colour, meaning it's not really a suitable substitute.

The UNIQLO's brief appearance in 'School Reunion'.

Very fortunately I managed to find a screen accurate shirt however for those without one I think I've found an excellent substitute available through iTailor. I've used iTailor in the past but it would seem that they've recently added a variety of linens to their shirt fabric collection. One of them appears to be a near perfect match to the discontinued UNIQLO linen based on the pictures, though naturally it is very difficult to accurately match fabrics based on a picture alone. 

The excellent iTailor grey linen fabric.

After looking over my screen accurate shirt the features listed in the table below should give the closest match to the original shirt. There are a few minor differences between the original season shirt and the the newer season shirts such as the pocket shape and the button style. Use the '3D pro advanced designing' tool on the fabric selection screen for the best results. I've not listed every single option on the configuration tool so if it's not mentioned in the table below keep it as whatever the standard option is:

Feature	Options
1 – Fabric	Grey linen
2 – Collar	French collar (1 button), collar width 2.75 inches
3 – Sleeve	Long sleeve
4 – Front	Single placket
5 – Cuffs	Rounded cuff (1 button), cuff width 2.50 inches
6 – Bottom	Tri-tab
7 – Back Detail	Side pleats
8 – Pockets	Diamond straight pocket
9 – Buttons	White buttons, charcoal thread
10 – Wristband	No contrast
11 – Monogram	No monogram

Afterwards they'll ask for your body measurements, this is not ideal as measurements from a pre-existing well-fitting shirt are much more reliable. I highly advise you contact them before placing an order and ask for their garment measurement form. Although they don't advertise it they'll use garment measurements, you just need to send them another email afterwards with the actual measurements you want.

Hope you found this helpful, I'll be doing doing a breakdown of some of Tennant's other more obscure shirts in the near future, next up will be the tan coloured 'Impossible Planet' shirt.

iTailor Trousers for Twelve

Unlike the more elaborate patterned trousers that make up his ‘Space Hobo’ look, Capaldi’s plain trousers are much easier to find off-the-peg alternatives for. Unfortunately, if you’re an unusual size or a bit of a stickler for detail it’s not so easy to find something that ticks all the boxes. I ended up returning three different off-the-peg trousers due to either accuracy or sizing problems.

Luckily though there is a budget friendly solution to this that achieves a level of accuracy close to the original Paul Smith trousers. A fairly well known website called iTailor uses a configuration tool to create custom pieces of clothing; these are tailored to your measurements in the Orient and usually take about a month to arrive. The quality of their work is as good as anything you’ll find in high street shops and their website’s 3D designer gives a wide array of customisation options, they’ll also sometimes do small things not listed on the website’s options if you ask specially.

Now, after ordering several shirts through them there is one piece of advice I would definitely give. The measurements section asks for you own body measurements, it’s very easy to take these incorrectly and you’ll end up with a garment that’s their idea of the ideal fit for your body rather than yours, for example their shirts have very tight arms. Although they don’t advertise this, they also allow you to give them measurements taken directly from a pre-existing well-fitting garment. I cannot recommend this enough. If you’re going to order something send them an email first and ask for their garment measurement guide for that specific item, after you order it send them an email with your order number and the garment measurements you want for your tailored item.

My Doctor Mysterio outfit (minus the coat) featuring SA TM Lewin waistcoat, iTailor trousers and ModernTailor shirt.

Please note that navy, charcoal and black are quite difficult to photograph accurately and can easily be mistaken for each other in photos depending on the camera and lighting. I've tried to selectively use photos that show the fabric colour accurately however as I'm just using a phone camera the colour quality is slightly limited.

The Trousers:

Moving back onto Capaldi, his Doctor has been seen in many different trousers, some of which have only slight differences. I've tried to list all the ones seen so far below, though as Series 10 hasn't aired yet there may be more to come:

1.     Paul Smith dark navy pleated (Series 8)

2.     Unknown black pleated (Series 8)

3.     Chris Kerr dark navy pleated (Series 9)

4.     Chris Kerr grey houndstooth pleated (Series 9)

5.     Mendoza navy check flat front (Series 9)

6.     Hugo Boss Caleb grey check flat front (Series 9)

7.     Hugo Boss Caleb grey check [inverted pattern] flat front (Series 9)

8.     Paul Smith 'chino style' dark navy flat front (Series 9/10)

9.     Custom dark navy 'jeans inseam' flat front (Series 10)

10. Custom black pleated (Series 10)

11. Custom black Victorian flat front (Series 10)

I ordered some pleated black trousers for my Dinner Suit outfit (trouser #2) a while back however much to my surprise the Doctor has been seen in some black pleated trousers for Series 10 (trouser #10) that are basically exactly the same. Note that as nothing has been seen of the rear I'm assuming they are made in the same style as Paul Smith trousers (two welt pockets with double darts above each. More recently I ordered some dark navy flat fronts from them as an alternative to the Paul Smith 'chino style' ones (trouser #8) however these I was less satisfied with. Firstly, iTailor failed to pass on my special sizing requests despite acknowledging it resulting in a three week delay whilst they made me a replacement pair, I did end up with a spare pair of trousers from this so it wasn't all bad. Secondly the dark navy colour was not quite as dark as it looked in the pictures, this I'll discuss further down.

Review - The Accuracy:

The iTailor 3D customisation tool will allow you to create a decent replica of some of the plain-coloured trousers save for a couple of details. Capaldi’s pleated trousers all use forward pleats, meaning the pleat is the other way round compared to the vast majority of trousers seen today. The pleat direction is not specifiable in the designer so has to be requested specially. 

My specially requested forward pleats.

Also, the majority of Paul Smith trousers have two darts between each of the rear pockets and the waistband whereas iTailor only do one on their trousers. I asked them as a special request to do two on my navy trousers but they didn't so don't get your hopes up too high, it's a relatively small detail so I din't make a fuss about it.

The rear of both my trousers.

Both the black and dark navy fabrics are a slightly shiny wool blend twill that feels no better nor worse than found on any other trousers of this price point. The black is quite similar in appearance to the Palmer waistcoat's fabric although the twill weave is slightly less fine, it is a very slightly different shade of black but does a fairly good job at looking like a matching set as the S10 pleated trousers have been described.

Palmer waistcoat shown against black iTailor trousers.

I can't be totally sure but the dark navy fabric appears noticeably lighter than the original Paul Smith flat fronted trousers (though I believe the weave is similar) and have more contrast against the Palmer than they should. It is also a noticeably different weave and shade of navy compared to the Series 8 Paul Smith trousers and the Series 9 Chris Kerr ones. Given the fabric is too light I may try and overdye mine at some future point to darken the colour, until I attempt this I hesitate to recommend iTailor for any of the dark navy trousers. I've included the dark navy trousers in the table further down just in case anyone specifically wants them anyway.

Palmer waistcoat shown against dark navy iTailor trousers.

Providing you follow the instructions later in this article the actual design features of the trousers should be near identical to the screen used trousers, save for the twin pocket darts. The rear welt pockets are button-less like the originals and the cuffs have a nice 1.5 inch height to them

iTailor's dark navy against a swatch of screen accurate fabric from S9's pleated trousers.

Review - The Fit:

This is where the trousers fall down a bit. If you order using the standard body measurement route they'll basically end up as a regular fitting pair of trousers rather than Capaldi's slim, body-hugging style. Unfortunately, although using garment measurements improves this significantly it does not result in a perfect fitting pair of trousers.

When I ordered the the black trousers I followed the iTailor measuring guide and the resulting trousers were looser round the back of the knee than Capaldi's. In addition the leg width was made within moderate tailoring tolerances albeit at the upper end of the size, resulting in legs than did not quite hug the body as I'd hoped. I assumed that it was down to the guide not asking for many places to measure the leg width so in my next order for the navy trousers I specified several width measurements, each 5 inches further up the leg. After receiving the second, corrected, pair of navy trousers I discovered that iTailor add extra to your very specific measurements from around the mid-leg area and tend to make it baggier than specified. The cut is good enough for the moment but I may have to have the legs taken in slightly from mid-femur to mid-fibular eventually, the leg half-width around the knee is currently about half an inch larger than specified in the order.

How to Order:

Before you order be sure to get in touch with iTailor (info@itailor.com) to ask if they'll take garment measurements rather than body measurements in addition to any minor customisations you require. If they give the go ahead this covers you in case they screw up and forget your special requirements like what happened with my navy trousers.

The table below will guide you through what options to choose in order to achieve as close a replica as possible. Note that I’ve grouped the two pleated trousers together as although they are technically different the differences are way too subtle to really capture in a replica such as this.

	Black S8/10 Pleated	Navy S8/9 Pleated	Navy S9/10 Flat Fronts
Fabric	Black (3799-22)	Dark Navy (3799-20)	Dark Navy (3799-20)
Style	Narrow/Slim	Narrow/Slim	Narrow/Slim
Pleat	Single Pleat	Single Pleat	No Pleats
Pant Pocket	Slanted	Slanted	Slanted
Back Pockets	Single Opening (Both)	Single Opening (Both)	Single Opening (Both)
Belt Loops	Single (Normal)	Single (Normal)	Single (Normal)
Cuffs	Cuff	Cuff	Cuff

After placing the order send an email to iTailor customer service (info@itailor.com) quoting your order number. Ask them to do forward pleats if desired (and maybe twin darts above each rear pocket but they probably won't) in addition to supplying your own garment measurements and asking them to ignore whatever measurements you've put into the 3D configurator. I would also include additional leg measurements as I mentioned earlier to try and get the legs close to Capaldi's, though iTailor may make them slightly looser.

Verdict:

So to summarise, I would recommend iTailor for the black Mummy/S10 pleated trousers due to how well they match in terms of design (and fabric for S10) to the originals. I would not recommend them for any dark navy trousers as their fabric simply isn't dark enough and looks kinda off to my eye, though maybe mine are salvageable depending on how they dye. If you do order from them be prepared to wait up to 6 weeks though it can be a lot less depending on the time of year. They will likely claim they will do twin darts above the pocket but simply won't do it when they make them and the trousers will likely be a bit looser than they should around the mid-leg even if you give them very specific measurements, this is a fairly easy fix for a seamstress however. If possible try and order the trousers during one of their sales events, I did this with mine, they have a 'fabric of the week' deal where they knock £10 off the price of whatever fabric it is.