Going as the Matt Smith Dr. Who for Halloween. Help me design my costume.

Invictus

A close friend of mine is hosting a costume party for Halloween. I would like to go as the 11th Doctor. What do I need to make that work? I have long hair and glasses; while I will not cut my hair, I am considering a cowboy hat (as per "The Impossible Astronaut") under which to hide my hair. I am capable of operating for an evening minus my glasses. I obviously need a bow tie (ugly? I don't know), and suspenders. What else do I need?

I am a grad student, so not much disposable income, but the city I live in has tons of used clothing stores (there's a nicer name for them that I can't remember) that I am confident will allow me to produce appropriate clothing once I know what appropriate clothing looks like.

Relatedly, how does one make a sonic screwdriver?

Thanks for any help!

EDIT: I am male.

-SPI-

Tweed jacket would be the first thing, and fairly plausible to aquire from an op shop/thrift/charity store depending where you live. The classic style with leather patches on the elbows.

Once you have that and a pair of similar black leather shoes the rest would fall into place pretty much. Just need some kind of plain looking black/blue pants w/ suspenders (roll them up a bit) and a light shirt with the bowtie. The shirts and pants change a bit so you have lots of leeway there. Just check out some promotional photos and find things similar enough.

And keep your eye out for a fez, fez's are cool.

Also you can get toy sonic screwdrivers for $20-30. Probably the easiest.

The Crowing One

And would 'ya know... out of stock. Here's the Sonic Screwdriver link.

I'll be going as #10, and Think Geek's replicas have been so good, they based 10's screwdriver off the TG mold because the original prop was too small.

Aside from that, tweed and bowtie. And a Fez. Fezzes are cool. Or a Stetson. Stetsons are also cool.

MichaelLC

Switching shoes halfway through the party would be a nice touch.

The Crowing One

If you could reboot the universe around the end of the party, that would be cool.

Mike Danger

here is the insanely detailed article I used (as a very rough jumping-off point) to put mine together

I highly recommend you go for the more recent variation on the costume, because that shirt from S5, or a shirt that looks like it, is basically impossible to find.

I lucked out big time, as JCPenney was having a huge sale on "capewool blazers" that were basically a perfect match for the jacket.

mts

Mike Danger wrote:

here is the insanely detailed article I used (as a very rough jumping-off point) to put mine together

I highly recommend you go for the more recent variation on the costume, because that shirt from S5, or a shirt that looks like it, is basically impossible to find.

I lucked out big time, as JCPenney was having a huge sale on "capewool blazers" that were basically a perfect match for the jacket.

jesus, that seems nuts to me. though as soon as our little guy is old enough i am going to dress him up as a doctor

Mike Danger

Yeah, that's targeted at people who are really into cosplay. I just used it as "okay, I need suspenders that look like this and boots that kind of look like this"

ArbitraryDescriptor

MichaelLC wrote:

Switching shoes halfway through the party would be a nice touch.

Act like you know everyone when you arrive, reminisce about something that never happened (ex: 'that thing with the fish'), then change your shoes half way through, act like you've never met them, then do that thing you were reminiscing about (ex:put a fish in the punch bowl).

kime

Invictus wrote:

I obviously need a bow tie (ugly? I don't know)

Bow ties are cool

Invictus

Thanks, everybody. This has been really helpful. I spent a bunch of time today at thrift stores, and I'm very happy with the tweed jacket and the shoes I've found. I'm still looking for a bow tie, and I have pretty good pants. My serious problem currently is actually with the shirt. So it seems like, according to the links earlier in this thread, that the 11th doctor tends to wear fully coordinated outfits in either red or blue (red shirt, suspenders, bowtie, or blue shirt, suspenders, bowtie).

I have a shirt that is pretty much a similar design to the shirt he wears: it's a colored design on a white background and the total effect with regards to how light or dark the shirt is, is close to what he wears. However, my shirt is in brown, rather than burgundy or navy. My follow-up question is: how important do people see the color of the outfit as being? Do the various accents make a big difference in terms of perceiving the 11th doctor? Secondly, ought I be wearing bowtie etc that match with the shirt I'm wearing, or should I try to find a red or blue bowtie?

cooljammer00

Hot damn, that's a long ass livejournal page to say that everything is sold out or expensive.

nataliepi

BOW TIE. That is all.

But seriously, the current doctor usually has a bow tie that matches the shirt so I'd suggest finding a bow tie that matches the shirt you'll be wearing. As for color of the outfit, I'd stay away from really bright colors. I don't remember Matt Smith ever dressing in outrageous hues.