For years, I've resisted doing this. It seemed like such a cliche. It's something that every fan that broadcasts themselves in some way always does. They have to let us know that they think Colin Baker's costume is the absolute worst of the bunch and then list all the outfits that other incarnations have worn in some kind of random order of preference.
I've been tempted, of course, to weigh in on the matter, myself. To, perhaps, even, defend the aesthetics of 'Ole Sixie. But, thus far, I've steered clear of it all.
Finally, however, I'm caving in...
Before we begin, it should be noted that I had initially intended this to be a REVIEW OVERVIEW entry. I wanted to create a list that was based on a complex scoring system so that I could scientifically prove which Doctor wore the best outfit. It seemed the soundest method to do this. This way, if I didn't rank "the most obvious choice" at the very bottom I could use my complex scoring system to back myself up. This had nothing to do with my own personal tastes. This was "science" proving me to be right.
But then I threw all that out. A BOOK OF LISTS essay is based purely on my own tastes and preferences. And, sometimes, I shouldn't need to create analytics to validate how I feel on a matter. I should just step out into the world and say what I think and not care about the recriminations (as I did for the first few years that I wrote in here. When REVIEW OVERVIEW entries didn't exist yet).
I will, nonetheless, still make this just a little bit ""REVIEW OVERVIEWish" by revealing a few determining factors in how I ranked things. Most of what I will be stating, here, is just my own personal opinion. But there will still be a few core elements that a good costume requires in order to get my approval.
Let's get into them:
1) Distinctiveness: Many fans have brought up the fact that the Doctor's outfits are, oftentimes, the dumbest thing a time traveler should wear. Someone journeying out of their own proper place in time and space should be sporting apparel that helps them to blend in with the environment they're visiting. It shouldn't be some poly-chromatic nightmare that can be spotted from half a mile away. Or a garish-looking fifteen-foot long scarf that gets him to stick out like a sore thumb. Or even an outfit that looks like he's from the 1800s when he's about to ring in the 2000s.
But that's still the sort of stuff the Doctor wears. And I adore him for it. The more an outfit makes him stand out, the more I tend to love it (hence the reason why Six will not be at the bottom of this list). I still remember the first few episodes that I randomly caught of the show back in my early teens. They were from Seasons Sixteen and Seventeen. While Tom Baker was wearing one of his simpler outfits, it still made him look ridiculously distinctive. And it was a trait that drew me quite strongly to the character. His choice in clothing showed that he was someone different. Unique. I wanted to learn more about the strange figure who was clearly eccentric. Even his general appearance showed off that fact.
So let the Doctor look different. Even if it is impractical. This is what gets me to love an incarnation's costume more than anything.
2) A "Period Feel": Some of the New Who Doctors are definitely going to suffer in this department. But I do like the Doctor better when he seems a bit "out of time". He might be wandering around a scrapyard in 1963, but he's wearing the suit of an Edwardian gentleman. Or he's stranded on Earth in the late 20th century, but he's still wearing a traditional dinner jacket and ruffled shirt. In this regard, even the fashion atrocity that Six sported still suits the motif. Yes, it's a mess of wild colors. But it still has those basic components of Victorian-era apparel.
A good Doctor Outfit should harken back to a by-gone era where people sported wildly uncomfortable formal wear that still made them look astonishingly dashing.
3) Tastefulness: A highly subjective concept, of course. But the Doctor should not just look distinctive, he should also looked distinguished. So the poor fashion choices that have sometimes been made in the building of a look will have a negative effect in the rankings.
Once again, we'll drag the Sixth Doctor into this. He definitely stands out in a crowd with what he's wearing. So that will actually earn him points. But part of what causes him to be noticed will work to his detriment. In that same regard, as "iconic" as a long multi-colored scarf is, it also looks quite tacky.
So both Bakers may end up suffering in this list.
Okay. I think that's all we really need to cover in this pre-amble. As usual, I've gone on for way longer than I should. But I do like to be thorough in my explanations.
Nonetheless, let's get to it
OH WAIT! THERE ARE A FEW MORE NOTES:
I'm going to be fairly comprehensive in this list. But, at the same time, only so comprehensive.
Where I will be thorough:
We really are going to look at every incarnation of the Doctor. This will include the Fugitive and War Doctor. Ten and Fourteen will also get separate rankings. Hell, I even thought about including the Valeyard in this (the skullcap looks a bit goofy but those black robes are slick)! In the end, though, I chose not to include the Doctor's Darker Side. I also won't be rating the Tom Baker incarnation in Day of the Doctor. We really don't see him for very long. He also needs to be properly established in the Doctor's timeline before I'll give him much attention!
Where I will be less thorough:
The costumes of many Doctors change and evolve over time. We do have incarnations like Five. Where almost absolutely nothing gets altered. His predecessor, on the other hand, goes through several looks that change radically over the seven seasons that he played the role. I could be super-specific with someone like Four and rate every single distinct outfit that he wore. But that seems a bit much. Where he places on the list will be determined by the positive and negative aspects of all his different outfits.
Okay, now we really can get into it:
I think a lot of us long-time fans were pretty shocked when they unveiled what the Ninth Doctor would be wearing. I know I certainly was. It wasn't just the utter simplicity of the outfit that was throwing me off, it was also how modern it was. The Doctor in a leather jacked and jeans?! What?!
I do like the idea that the costume was a reflection of this incarnation's character. He's very "stripped down" in his ninth body. So, in this respect, the look works. I also think the coat looks so gorgeous that I went out and got one like it. Not because I'm trying to cosplay Nine. I just really love the coat!
Overall, though, the whole look is a little underwhelming. Which is why it finishes up at the bottom. Some fans got so upset by it that they claim it mars their enjoyment of Series One. Which, to me, is a bit extreme. But that's just the way fans can be, I suppose. I do know people who genuinely complain about Trial of a Time Lord because they don't like the way Colin Baker grew his hair out a bit!
Ouch! The sartorial tastes of those first two Doctors of the New Series really disappointed me!
I get what RTD was doing.in those early days. He wanted the show to feel as accessible as possible to a new audience. Throwing the protagonist into outdated suits would definitely work against that whole process. I also do like the whole "geek chic" vibe that Ten is going for.
Ultimately, however, Ten is just a guy in a cheap suit that fits a bit too tight who occasionally wears a long coat that was made from a couch! Like Nine, he's not very distinctive-looking. Nor does anything he's wearing have much of any kind of "period feel" to it. He gets some points for tastefulness - but it only counts for so much.
Not a very Doctorish style, in general. So we're putting him low on the list.
Twelve makes it a bit higher on the list because a lot of what he's wearing does have a much more "classic" feel to it. This does help a lot. But then, there are some other choices that get made that do the exact opposite and cause him to fall into the "looking too contemporary" trap that Nine and Ten also suffer from.
Admittedly, some of my reasons for disliking the costume are a bit stupid! I do, for instance, like my Doctors to have neckwear. Twelve did, occasionally, don a cravat. But, most of the time, he just walked around with his collar buttoned up all the way. In its own right, this look makes him very unique and distinctive. No other Doctor really did this with their collars. Instead, they actually threw something around them. A tie, or a bow tie, or a cravat. Or something! And I just like it a bit better when the Doctor does that.
The first time Twelve threw on a hoodie was also a bit of a shock. It seemed like an accessory that was just too contemporary. It did, eventually, grow on me. Once it did, though, he made another too contemporary choice and wore a sweatshirt for the bulk of an episode!
Admittedly, the costume did go in some nice directions as he progressed through his seasons. I like that he started throwing on some longer coats in his later years. And the velvety one that was a bit of a tribute to Three was gorgeous. But, even then, he'd shoot himself in the foot. That one coat that he wore in his last season that was so beat up that it looked like he'd fished it out of a dumpster was very bizarre!
Capaldi, himself, claims that he wanted his outfit to be something that would be easy for a cosplayer to put together. That's a nice gesture. But there's also such thing as making things just a bit too simplistic.
I've seen some lists made by fans that place Eight at the absolute bottom. I do agree a bit with their reasoning.
In this incarnation, the Doctor's costume feels just a bit too "generic". Like he knew he should look Victorian and put in the bare minimum effort. Some even say that it almost feels more like something an actor would wear in a Doctor Who parody. The sort of thing worn by someone who's trying to look just a little too "stereotypically Doctorish". The fact that Rowan Atkinson's costume in Curse of Fatal Death or Mark Gatiss' outfit in The Web of Caves strongly resemble what Eight's wearing really helps to re-enforce this idea.
On the plus side: We're still, at least, getting that "period feel" that I love so much. And the version we get in both Night of the Doctor and Power of the Doctor looks infinitely better. Which is why Eight doesn't end up on the very bottom of my list but only does a little bit better in the greater scheme of things.
Oddly enough, this one makes it considerably higher than what Ten wore.
I think it's the vest that mainly wins me over. It's really quite unique and helps to make Tennant feel much more distinctive this time round. As someone who owns far more vests than any human should (I have over fifty, now), this can have a strong bearing on my opinion. In fact, I enjoy this vest so much that I'm trying to find one that looks like it. Not for cosplay. But to just to walk around in and, generally, look cool
I also like the coat just a little bit better than the last one. Even though his first coat was quite fun by being so outlandishly long!
Of course, it's still just a little too simplistic and contemporary. But Fourteen manages to climb up the list a bit higher than Ten.
There's a lot Patrick Troughton does to "sell" this costume. The frock coat he's chosen, for instance, is super distinctive. It's not often you can find one that's cut like that. And we get that he's meant to be "the Cosmic Hobo", so he can get away with looking so shabby. That big 'ole hole in the knee of his trousers throughout the bulk of The War Games actually works!
Ultimately, however, it feels just a tad too simple. It needs something more. Troughton does accessorize things a bit here and there. He throws on a cloak in Tomb of the Cybermen that looks quite nice. He sports a decent umbrella in The Krotons but it gets ruined pretty quickly by acid.
Other attempts to add to the outfit don't always work so well. The fur coat in various Yeti-involved stories looks a bit too much like it should be worn by a woman, instead. And let's not even bring up the stovepipe hat!
This one, I'm sure, will be controversial.
A lot of Old School fans really love the Fourth Doctor's costume.
"That scarf!" they'll proclaim, "It's just so iconic!"
As I've already said, though, it is also a bit tacky. Particularly to the more objective eyes of New Who fans.
"I'm not sure what the fuss is about." some will admit, "The scarf kinda looks a little dumb."
But even if you do love the scarf, there are other issues with this outfit.
In the earlier days of the Fourth Doctor Era, he was going for a more "traditional" look. Underneath that scarf was a nice vest, cravat and coat combination. Strip away that scarf, however, and he looks almost as generic as Eight. We see this best in Planet of Evil, where he does ditch the scarf for most of the story. He still looks decent - but he doesn't look like anything special.
(For the next paragraph, I will do an absolutely super duper ultra nitpick).
During certain stories of this period, Tom Baker would pull up the collar on his shirt. Which is actually something certain types of shirts can do. The wing-tip collar that One wore, for instance, is meant to be worn that way. But it looks pretty stupid when you do this with a regular dress shirt. It almost seems like Tom doesn't know how to wear a shirt properly!
And then we get to his mid-to-late period. Most specifically, Seasons Sixteen and Seventeen. It really looks like Tom just doesn't care anymore. Aside from the scarf, he's just thrown on a shirt, vest and coat. And quite a bit of the outfit is looking pretty battered. Troughton may have been the Cosmic Hobo, but Baker genuinely looks like he's living on the streets. One almost feels like we should be giving him change every time we see him!
Thank God JNT orders a re-design for Baker's final season. The outlandishly long scarf is still present (and longer than ever), but the colors have been reigned in considerably. The whole burgundy-dominated motif actually looks quite beautiful. I even like the question marks. I know I'm one of the few fans that does!
I will say: Were it not for the Season Eighteen costume, this Doctor would probably be much lower on the list.
In the Grand Scheme of Things, Tom Baker starts off as a bit mediocre, descends into absolutely awful and then finishes strong.
I should actually like this costume a lot less than I do. It doesn't have any kind of "period feel" to it whatsoever. And the "floods" that she's wearing do look pretty damned ridiculous.
And yet, somehow, I appreciate it quite a bit. I think it has a lot do with the coat. It really is unique and looks absolutely great on her. To me, it feels far more "iconic" than some goofy long scarf ever could.
I do disagree with everyone who complains that she should have worn the dark coat more often. It looks great too - but the original is equally excellent. And I like that she only actually wore the dark one when she was in some kind of surreal context: Like talking to her past selves in a mindscape or appearing as the Embodiment of Time.
This, in many ways, is the most unique costume an incarnation has ever worn. But it makes sense. She is the first female Doctor. Thus making her different from all her predecessors. Which means the clothing can be radically different too.
Another extremely unique costume for an extremely unique incarnation.
The look almost doesn't have a style of its own. It seems more like a combination of McGann and Eccleston's costume. With only hints of "his own thing going on" with elements like the neck-scarf and the bandolier.
But, like Thirteen, this makes a sort of sense. There's symbolism to all this. Because of all the atrocities he must commit during the Time Wars, this incarnation doesn't truly believe himself to be the Doctor. He feels as though he's lost his identity. So the costume borrows a lot from the Doctors around him rather than establishing a presence of its own. It's a reflection of how this incarnation feels about himself. He takes items from other versions of him because he doesn't want to be who he is.
It's a bit surreal that he's wearing a coat from his own future (albeit, more beat up than the one Eccleston wore), but still quite cool.
Like Jodie, the outfit is still really only so exciting. It very much belongs in its middling state on this list. But I have little or no problem with it. It's really quite nice.
I know a lot of fans, at the time, did not appreciate that the Doctor's clothes had become far more "tailored" during the 80s. But after coming off of an incarnation that was starting to look like he was homeless, I thought this was the smartest of moves.
I also have just a bit of a bias. 80s Who was special to me. In my teens, I went back and watched all the 60s and 70s stuff. But it was in this decade that I first had to wait for new seasons to come out. In this sense, it's the era I grew up with. So I have lots of happy memories from this period. To the point where some of the costumes, maybe, should be lower on the list. But I do have stronger feelings for them. Much of those feelings that I have are, admittedly, motivated more by nostalgia than anything.
With Five, the cricket motif looks classical enough that it still feels like we're getting that period feel. Which works well. It's a bit unsettling that this Doctor never wears any kind of neckwear like a tie or a cravat, but I get it - it's not something a cricketer would wear.
This is another one of those coats that is gorgeously unique. You know that if you were to actually find one, it was completely made with the Fifth Doctor, in mind. It's not just something you come upon hanging off the peg at a regular clothing shop!
And then, of course, there's the celery on the lapel. Why it actually works as well as it does, I cannot tell you. But Five really does manage to pull off a decorative vegetable.
A very fun interesting Doctor whose costume matches her overall vibe quite well.
The shirt is, in many ways, the centerpiece. It is gorgeously eye-catching. Not just because of the wild colors, but the design is very nice too. It's the first time in ages that we've seen the Doctor experimenting with ruffles.
There are, perhaps, just a bit too many buttons going on, here. I get it, the whole outfit is about having a lot of buttons. But it does go just a tad too far with it. Which is why this is still a very pleasant costume, but it doesn't make it any higher on the list than here.
With fans in the 80s already not liking question marks on the Doctor's collar, it's quite amusing how JNT really "doubles down" with this Doctor.
The sweater definitely got quite a bit of hate when it first came out. But the sentiment really seems to have changed over the years. In the New Series, we have seen it come back as often as Tom Baker's scarf has (Osgoode sports the scarf in Day of the Doctor and the sweater in the Zygon episodes. Both elements are featured in the Master's Doctor costume during Power of the Doctor, etc...). Which almost leads one to believe that it just might be as iconic as what many fans believe to be the most iconic costume piece in all of Doctor Who.
Admittedly, it also looks a bit tacky. But it's a good sort of tacky, really. A tacky that, somehow, works.
The rest of the outfit is brilliant too. This is the incarnation from Classic Who that has the least amount of "period feel" to his look. But he still climbs quite high on this list. It's also impressive that when he comes back with a considerably different outfit in Doctor Who - The Movie, he doesn't feel as generic as his successor does.
At long last, he appears.
No doubt, many of you are savagely disagreeing with his placement. Particularly when you consider how many other Doctors he's beaten to get here. But I do genuinely believe that there is much to love about the Sixth Doctor's outfit.
Yes, I'll acknowledge it: It is horrifically gaudy. But there is a great fun to that gaudiness. And it comes with an internal logic. The Doctor's regeneration had been very difficult, this time. Which had driven him temporarily mad. During that period of insanity, he put the outfit together. It seems to me that, once he had finally calmed down from it all, pride took over. Rather than admit the costume was a mistake, he kept wearing it. Even started making it tackier.
My appreciation of it all becomes even more tenuous in Trial of a Time Lord when he dons a series of vests and cravats that are even more difficult to accept. Particularly what he's wearing in Terror of the Vervoids. That just might be too loud even for me! And yet, at the same time, I love the audacity of it all. The Doctor refuses to settle down. He's just going to keep ramping it up. To the point where some of his accessories appear almost child-like. Look at the way the chains on his vests appear in Trial of a Time Lord. They are brightly-colored, oversized, and made of cheap plastic. Almost like they belong on a toy rather than actual clothes an adult might wear.
We also have yet another coat that is very extremely unique. Which, for some reason, always scores lots of points for me. I absolutely adore this coat. I hope, someday, to get one for myself. I know it won't be cheap, I will want it to look as authentic as possible and that will cost me some serious cash!.
Still, I can't deny the tackiness of it all. But, honestly, if some of the features had been just a little more conservative, this would make it all the way to the top on this list. As it is, though, I do consider this to be "one of the Greats".
.
Matt Smith brought me great happiness as he took over the role of the Doctor. Not only do I love his portrayal, but the costume he chose had a much more classical feel to it. Which, after two Doctors in a row who wore outfits that did very little for me, brings great joy.
The very first iteration of the costume does lack a little something. But I still like the way he looks like an eccentric professor rather than someone who is trying to impress the ladies (which is what the first two incarnations of New Who Doctors seem to be going for). It helps enormously that Amy keeps teasing him about how outdated he looks in a bow tie. It re-enforces the idea that this Doctor looks much more traditional.
Of course, as we get closer and closer to the 50th Anniversary, the Doctor looks more and more like he belongs in the Classic Series. Which is such a great direction for the outfit to move in. As we, at last, reach Day of the Doctor, we can believe that the most current Doctor belongs to a large pantheon of eccentrically-garbed characters. This is because he's no longer wearing jeans and a leather jacket or a skinny suit with a long coat. He truly resembles the Doctors of old.
I do wish he'd worn that green coat a bit more often, though. Otherwise, this is another Great Doctor Costume.
Like the Second Doctor's outfit, this costume comes perilously close to being just a bit too simplistic. The Devil, however, is in the details. Or, at least, that's how the old saying goes....
Look, for instance, at what could easily constitute a simple black blazer. Instead, it's got cool oval lapels rather than the traditional triangular ones. And Hartnell frequently has a handkerchief hanging flamboyantly out of the side pocket.
The vest and cravat also have a ribbon-like necklace that supports spectacles that help the Doctor to read. Even the key to the TARDIS is attached to the most eccentric of key chains.
And then there's the way One chooses to accessorize things. The hats and scarves that he, sometimes, adds to his whole outfit look great. And the cloak he throws on from time-to-time is downright majestic. At the risk of sounding super-pedantic, I absolutely love its clasp!
One of the bigger elements that makes this costume so great is how definitive it is. These are the clothes that will help so many other choices that future Doctors will make as they finally spring into existence. For this reason, alone, One's apparel deserves to be this high in the rankings.
The only Doctor who actually dresses as a time traveler should. He made a concerted effort on many occasions to wear clothes that will help him to blend in with the era he's visiting
And yet, he still manages to stand out that little bit wherever he goes. Just look at something like The Devil's Chord. The Doctor and Ruby do that fun sequence where they exit the console room to visit the TARDIS wardrobe. They return a second later in absolutely perfect 60s garb.
And that's just it. It's too damned perfect. Whatever Fifteen does, he does it with tremendous style. Which makes him impossible not to notice!
At the same time, he still sports a "proper Doctor costume" on a regular enough basis. There is adequate consistency to the articles of clothing that he throws on so that he doesn't seem like just a regular person who switches up their outfits every day. He favors a certain type of shirt, for example, that we see him in quite often. And, of course, there's that long brown leather coat. A nice checkered one shows up now and again too. I also quite like his manskirts. And that's not just me trying to sound open-minded!
He does, occasionally, make choices I'm less thrilled about. He's got a short black leather jacket that he likes to wear with just a basic white t-shirt that doesn't do much for me. And I'm really glad we didn't see him much in 73 Yards. That was, pretty much, the most unDoctorish outfit ever!
Really, though, even the stuff that he wears that I don't like much still looks great on him. Which is why he ranks so high. Fifteen might not always choose what I feel are the sort of clothes that the Doctor should wear - but it hardly matters. He dresses spectacularly!
The winner!
I'm not particularly fond of the Third Doctor Era. I find most of the stories during this period to not be all that engaging and I even have problems with the way Jon Pertwee played the part. Nonetheless, I will not deny him the title of Best Dressed Doctor of Them All.
As marvelous as Ncuti looks, he doesn't tick all those crucial boxes like Pertwee does. Not only does Three look distinctive, have a great "period feel" to his costume and show great taste, but he scores 100% in all these categories. There may be other things about him that I only like so much - but when it comes to Doctor costumes, he is King.
Part of the appeal of his outfits is how much he varies his look while still maintaining a beautiful consistency. In every story, Three dresses differently. He'll add accessories for one adventure. Maybe he's in a vest or has a cravat or bow tie around his neck. But then some of those elements are altered or taken away for the adventure after that. Or it's a green blazer one week and a blue one the next. Or there's even that one time he wore a cummerbund during The Five Doctors. Something we never saw him in before or since.
But regardless of all the different accessories, two important elements remain: He's always in a handsome dinner jacket and a cool ruffly shirt. These are the core elements of the Third Doctor Vibe. Everything that's built around it is so much window dressing. But all of it still looks amazing.
And then, finally, there are the Inverness capes. So many different styles that he wore and he looked great in all of them! I am the proud owner of a somewhat cheap one, myself. It's funny how people will compliment me for it. Even say it makes me look a bit like Sherlock Holmes.
"No way!" I'll answer with just a hint of angry defiance, "It's supposed to make me look like the Third Doctor!"
He's the guy I want to resemble when I wear that thing. For the simple reason that no Doctor dresses better...
LIST COMPLETE
And.... there you go. My list is done.
No doubt, you all think I'm absolutely insane for ranking Six so high. And that's okay. You're entitled to your opinion. Also, I probably am just a little nuts. Who was it that once said: "Anything interesting is, at least, remotely insane!"
It should be noted that, though I spoke poorly of some of these outfits, I don't genuinely hate any of them. Each costume helped to bring that particular incarnation of the Doctor to life in a new and interesting way. Often, there were still certain items within their whole look that I really loved. Even with the super simplistic style of Nine, I still adored the coat so much that I got one for myself.
There is one exception to this: I really did genuinely dislike what Four was wearing during Seasons Sixteen and Seventeen. It almost seemed like the costumier for Baker had been caught sleeping with the producer's wife and had been sacked for it. It took forever to find a replacement so Tom was left to fend for himself for two years. During that time, he just decided to put as little effort into getting dressed as possible!
Thankfully, they came along and cleaned him up for his last season!
Other than that, though, I love everything the Doctor has worn. I've just loved some outfits better than others. And that's why, of course, I came up with this list.
