Doctor Who - Help Needed ID'ing a Stetson

[Dave Ward]

Anyone help with this? The pictures in the link below give a really clear look at the band, which gives me confidence we might be able to ID this. Come on, folks, we can find this one!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/3467847/Doctor-Who-star-Matt-Smith-plays-keepy-up-with-football-during-break-in-filming.html?OTC-RSS

 

[Calufrax]

It's entirely possible that you'll have a hard time finding it because you can't go by that band which might be a custom replacement.

It's definitely a 'pinch-front' crease, a smooth finish non-crushable felt hat. Crushables usually have brim that contains a wire and this doesn't appear to, looking like a stiff felt finish. It might either be a vintage/discontinued Stetson style as it's not in the current hats on their site that I see.

I'd bet it's likely they picked it out someplace in Utah or between there in LA where Matt was before going to the location for filming. Checking for retailers in Utah, I found this in Salt Lake City. The band is spot on, so this could be it.Stetson Hutchins Stone Felt Cowboy Hat

That's cheap enough I think I might order this hat. Hope that helps.

 

[Calufrax]

Some other sites have this hat in larger sizes:

Stetson Hutchins 2X wool cowboy hat
Stetson 2X Hutchins Premium Wool Felt Western Cowboy Hat
Stetson Hutchins Stone Wool Hat | Skip's Boots
Stetson 2X Hutchins Wool Felt Cowboy Hat
Cowboy Hat Size How to calculate your cowboy hat size:

Hat size varies with hair style, weight loss/gain, and age. Using a tape measure, measure the widest part of your head, just above your ears and eyebrows, to the nearest 1/8 inch.

 

[Oblivion]

It's a shame the enlarged version of the band doesn't actually match the one worn by Matt Smith :confused

- My mistake it actually does

 

[Calufrax]

Though the coat doesn't show up in the stock of the A. A. Callisters, I wonder if it came from the same store? Since it's only cropped up in this episode from set pictures of other filming so far it's perhaps a recent purchase or product of the costume dept. Still I'd say it's better than 50-50 that's where the hat came from while they were on location filming in Utah.

As to the band, I think the cream color rawhide might be flipped around in Matt's band so the tooling faced inward. Looks like the cream part weaves in and out of the larger dark gray part. Or not all hats may have that tooling detail in the band.

The coat could be a custom thing made by the DW costume dept though since it looks so fitted. It's nice jacket and something one wouldn't look out of place walking 'round my neck of the woods...

 

[MykiiAmore]

I'd say that the hat is spot on. Looks fine. The one Smith is wearing does look a small bit more weathered but that could be deliberate for the show.

 

[Dave Ward]

Outstanding work.

There was something said a while back about Matt going in for a fitting of his new costume. We took it to mean the new jacket but my guess is that it's the coat, so I doubt it was a chance find on location (could be wrong though!). To continue talking about stuff i don't know much about, the little detailing on the back of the coat below the shoulders makes me think that this is a commercial piece and not army issue.

 

[Calufrax]

The coat has been nagging at the back of my mind since I saw the first pictures. It finally dawned on me that the color is very much like USMC olive drab because my father kept a lot of that stuff from when he was in Korea. At first I thought it was a "bridge coat" like the navy wears, but those typically have eight buttons and just the slash pockets. Googling for the USMC all weather coat, I've come up with some small pictures that look vintage, but mostly just modern surplus which looks to be made out of something other than wool and has epaulets and wrist cuffs like the 9th Doctor jacket had. But all weathers usually have the slash pockets and flapped pockets with the 6 buttons like the pea jacket. All-weathers sometimes have that back vent detail.

I wonder if the coat could come from the Area 51 one stuff where the Doctor seems to have been imprisoned by the military and grows the long hair and beard? It looks like the Eisenhower or Kennedy era that stuff is supposed to be in so olive wool overcoats might be worn by US Marine or Army soldiers and have been similar to what Matt's wearing in the pics. It's a thought. While that fits him in such a tailored fashion, I think it's almost certainly a costume dept creation, but they might have made others to outfit extras in s7 episode 1&2 with copies of it for "soldiers".

Here[s a 60's vintage I found on eBay, not an exact match, but you see what I mean.
Vtg green Vietnam War Era Marine Corp overcoat 34 60's - eBay (item 280580557575 end time Mar-25-11 01:33:00 PDT)

There likely are a lot of variations issued over the years so a surplus place may have one with the slash and flap pockets in the olive drab. Anyway, just some thought that might lead to stumbling on something similar enough that a change of buttons or alterations might save making it from scratch.

 

[danfish32]

wow! that looks pretty close. aside from the not having pockets bit. but otherwise great find! i'd buy that... if i had money to spend on it...
i've been ebay-ing a lot recently looking for a close enough coat and ive seen some relatively close ones but their either too small / big or too expensive:cry

 

[Calufrax]

I looked around for a while after I posted that old US Marines jacket without finding anything closer. The modern version of the USMC all weather (indeed most modern military outerwear) seem to be a Gortex things that looks more like a classic trench.

I think the coat Matt is wearing is a custom made by the wardrobe dept because it's not really much like any of the military jackets I could find which tend to have those shoulder strappy-epaulets, custom cuffs and either the slash pockets or flap pockets but not both. Seems like the German submarine jackets like Eccelston wore had both but nothing else I could happen upon.

What I started wondering is since there's that episode where there are set pictures floating around of the Matt and Karen on an old pirate looking ship for an episode, the jacket could be the Doctor's souvenir from that adventure? I called myself looking through some of those pictures taken by fans but I couldn't spot the coat in any of them, but it wouldn't be out of place on a pirate.

 

[Risu]

Sherlock's coat had both types of pockets, I believe.

 

[Dave Ward]

I'm tempted to buy one of these hats from a company that accepts returns, and reverse the headband to see if it's the same one.

 

[Trotsky]

The coat is a French wool overcoat, part of their 1947 uniform.

VINTAGE FRENCH ARMY MILITARY HEAVY WOOL LONG COAT 38 - eBay (item 130339446708 end time Apr-16-11 19:00:34 PDT)

You can find them cheaper than this, as they are still available at surplus stores.

 

[Risu]

Not quite, that one's missing the shoulder patch and the collar is too big.

 

[E-Wan]

Also that one has epaulets, which the good Doctor's does not.

 

[Verdana]

It's a shame the enlarged version of the band doesn't actually match the one worn by Matt Smith :confused

- My mistake it actually does

It does match, but they have reshaped the bangs (the curls at the side) a little on Smith's hat upward a little.

Reshaping the brim of a stetson is relatively simple, but to do so you should make sure your hat is capable of shrinking a little and still able to fit. You can reshape a brim many times using this simple method to as much or as little as you like.

Step 1) Boil a kettle of water.
2) Hold your hat so that your thumbs are in the inside of the curve.

3) Hold the brim over the steam of the kettle until it starts to go soft and then use your index fingers to push up or down on the brim (depending on how you want to go, smiths is up a bit).

4) repeat on the other side. The best way to get a match is to use your eye's judgement.

And, as always, make sure it's a genuine Stetson™

Best way to measure your head is to use a tailor's floppy measure in cm (not inches). Whatever size your head is (M, S, L) will translate to all the other regional equivalents. (In my experience a medium from the US fits exactly the same as a UK or EU medium size).

I also own this hat (did before Smith did). And others.

 

[backstagejack1]

Looking for a cowboy hat and even though I know that especially in shoes and hats you generally get what you paid for....this price is ridiculously cheap and could work for what I need at the moment as well as having a slight nod to Doctor Who.

Stetson 3X Felt Cowboy Hat - Hutchins

It seems this really IS the hat the Matt Smith wore, including the green satin lining on the inside... 74.00 is really cheap.....

Has anyone bought this and what do they think? I know Stetsons are now notorious for the dye leaking when rained on, etc....