I'm always really excited when I share an outfit for TARDIS Tuesday which is based on the ACTUAL Doctor's outfit- it doesn't happen THAT often, in comparison to companion interpretations on here.
Today, I am looking at the final CLASSIC Doctor- Sylvester McCoy.
Have I featured this outfit more?
Well....yes, and no. Mainly yes....but not quite YES!
I did a version of the 7th Doctor's main outfit here in December 2018 and I also did a version of Petronella Osgood's outfit in March 2020 which is basically an on-show cosplay of this outfit...but not THIS actual outfit!
This time, compared to my 2018 version of the Seventh Doctor, I am choosing a specific episode to portray. This is the outfit that Sylvester McCoy donned in the penultimate 7th Doctor serial (before Doctor Who was cancelled for more than 15 years). The story was called 'The Curse of Fenric'.
Before we go onto the outfit here, I have to share a little bit of information about this story.
I was a child of 8 when this story aired. It was set during WW2. Ace and the Doctor arrive at a coastal location in Northunberland (AHRGH, only just discovered it is Northumberland when researching this post!) where there is a secret military base close. Some ancient artefacts are found which, when placed within a supercomputer, awaken an ancient creature called Fenric which then calls Haemovores from the water. Ace makes friends with 2 girls who invite her to swim with her but she's scared of the water and leaves. The girls are dragged under the water (by the Haemovores) and when they emerge out of the water, they are changed- vampiric in appearance, pale faces, red mouths, fangs, massive talons, hair wild and they plunge down on people and kill them like vampires.
This story really, really scared me and I had persistent intrusive thoughts and nightmares about it for over 4-5 years following watching it. My rational head told me they weren't real but I used to 'think' the girls lived in my Mum's bedroom at night and anytime I went to the bathroom (opposite it)- I had to keep the door open and kept my eyes fixed on her door so they couldn't 'come out'. At night, I slept with all my teddies around my head. Even into my teenage years, if I was ever in a dark, unknown place, I would think of them. Consequently, I have always hated ANY media involving vampires and cannot bear for anyone to touch my ankles in water (you know when your friends or younger sister or husband grabs your ankle under water as a joke and pulls it? Just mine??). Someone shared an image from the episode on Insta recently and I commented on it to my older sister (she who has never grabbed my ankle). Even some 30 years later, she commented, "OOOoh, that's the Curse of Fenric- you were TERRIFIED by that!"
I'm saying this, because, when I was going to find some photos for this post, any photo in which I saw the 2 girls in, my heart pounded and I felt slightly sick! Luckily, I don't have the intrusive thoughts any more but it just shows that things can really affect you as a child.
Anyway, enough of my childhood reminiscences, onto the outfit:
There's a lovely description of the 7th Doctor's outfit on Mark Francis's (from the Great British Sewing Bee) blog.
This outfit was a deviation from his outfit earlier in his tenure:
- Tan duffle coat
- Panama hat
- Question Mark tanktop
- White shirt
- Paisley tie
- Paisley scarf
- Brown and white two-tone brogues
- Brown jacket
- Brown checked trousers
- Question Mark umbrella
And here I am!
I must say, I was mightily pleased with this ensemble. I donned it for photos on a Sunday but rewore it for school (sans duffle coat, jacket, hat, umbrella) for school 2 days later.
I started with a basic white blouse from M&S along with some M&S or Next brown trousers- both of which were charity-shopped. Both very comfortable.
The next item to add was a green Paisley tie of CBC's - my top fits higher than Sylv's and the blouse doesn't really work with a tie so you can't really see it here very well.
Next, I added the Question Mark tanktop which was from Lovarsi but I purchased it on sale at the Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff for a reasonable £29.99 (it's £45.99 on the website). The kids at school love it when I wear this (and I always make jokes about why I am asking them so many questions when I wear it!)
You can see above, I am donning a brown tweedy jacket above. It belongs to CBC. I wore it whilst he was out. Neither of us have a deep brown suit jacket and my own tweedy jacket is very cropped so looked stupid with this outfit. Shhhhhhh!!!!
I bought the red paisley scarf from a charity shop a while back with the intention of wearing it for a Sylv cosplay. This is the first time I've worn it!
The hat is also charity-shopped and is a genuine Panama hat from Lilywhites which I found in Oxfam for CBC brandnew for £5.99 (they cost hundreds)- it is looking a little worse for wear after getting squished on a few holidays over the last decade but is still functional.
The shoes are from Bleyer, a wonderful dance-shoe company which has been going for many years, but has sadly, recently ceased trading. CBC bought these for me one birthday when we were swingdancing regularly. I really miss going to dance lessons and socials- it was great when there was a local class but it hasn't come back since Covid lockdowns and the socials for JiveSwing are not in our part of Essex anymore.
The final element of this outfit is the Question Mark umbrella. When I first became a Doctor Who fan in the 90's, my friend Ruth and I went to a Doctor Who day at Langton's in Hornchurch. We saw this umbrella for sale for £69.99. So much money to me then. I thought about it for years. Then, a few years ago, a company who made a few Doctor Who products had a massive sale on their products. Someone mentioned this umbrella was selling for £14.99. I checked and it indeed was. Postage was £7. I jumped straight in and bought it and very glad I did as they are very expensive now- £49.99 from Lovarzi.
Ah, how could I forget, the duffle coat. My one was 2nd hand on eBay from Rocha John Rocha and is really too big for me. I wanted to donate it to a refugee appeal I heard about but I never got around to getting to the location as a non-driver. I hope to donate it to a homeless or refugee charity at some point but thought I'd wear it before that.
What do you think?
xx
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