Fabric Friday Gally special - Joel & Son shirt fabric

The week for a special Gallifrey One Fabric Friday I’m bringing you one of the more obscure fabrics used during series eight.

Bookending Kill The Moon, Peter Capaldi wore a striking polka dot black and white shirt.

At the the time it caught every by surprise as it never appeared in any of the publicity stills in the run up to broadcast, and it evaded detection during the location filming.

Due to its fleeting use, it was assumed that the shirt was another off the peg item, possibly from Paul Smith, who did have a similar but not identical shirt around that time.
In fact it was quite on-trend during 2014 with a number of high street retailers stocking bold polka-dot shirts, but none quite matching this one.

What later emerged, via some detective work by Doctor Who cosplay forum members, was that it was actually custom made shirt by Budd Shirtmakers, using some bespoke cloth sourced at Joel & Sons, a fabric merchant with a royal warrant.

Tracking down some of the cloth, it emerges that it is not actual black - that is just how it appears on screen - but is a deep navy blue.

The cloth is a pure silk, very sheer, and has a pronounced twill across it.

It also has a coarse, random grid like pattern superimposed over the polka dots, which is barely perceptible on screen. You can just see it in this screen cap.