Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

I see that we have no thread dealing with Fashion (or in the 6th Doctor's case, rather the Lack of it), so I've decided to start one...
So folks, who (to coin a rather dire pun), is the best or worst dressed character in Doctor Who...?

Worst Dressed? From Snakedance, here's Lon (Martin Clunes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jWNhyMUpjSE/S ... 47386c.jpg
and
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/6384/st6d02.jpg
I think that the welders gloves set this outfit off beautifully.
And also in casual attire (nice collar)
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1295/st6d25.jpg

The 'Runner Up' for worst will have to go to Elisabeth Sladen, though, for the pink 'Andy Pandy*' costume she wore in Hand of Fear http://rdwf.org.uk/images/sarahjane_fil ... age010.jpg

EDIT:Sorry, some of the pics weren't working, so now hosted on imageshack.

*1950-1970s UK BBC TV puppet show, repeated until 1970s & now reimagined stop-motion http://z.hubpages.com/u/1227595_f260.jpg

In the years since I saw Snakedance, my brain has completely (and mercifully) erased the image of that outfit. I look forward to forgetting it again.
I can almost hear the costume designers:
"What? We have to design ANOTHER exotic offworld-looking outfit? What's left in the budget?"
"Well, let's see ... erm, let me put it this way -- we can either have a cup of tea, or put these costumes together."
"Fine. Here's a bedsheet and some tinfoil."
"I've got some welding gloves we can use."
"Perfect. Now about that tea ... "

I quite liked Romana's outfit in "The Androids of Tara" and Zoe's spangly catsuit.

As for what not to wear... the outfit that annoyed me most was David Tennant's in "The Fires of Pompeii." Normally I don't mind his costume -- I think it's reasonably restrained and just a little bit quirky, though it lacks the "I am not of your time and place" feel of Doctors 1-8. However it was completely inappropriate to walk around ancient Rome in Barbarian trousers while claiming to be a Roman government official -- he stuck out like a sore thumb when he was supposedly trying to blend in, at least to some extent. Hartnell's Doctor was willing enough to don tunic and toga when in Rome, but Russell Davies hasn't quite gotten over the later notion that the Doctor's outfit defines him so much that he can't change out of it (well, except for that one time he wore a tux for a party).

Donna asked about that, to which 10 responded "Nah, Ancient Rome, anything goes!"

Doesn't mean he was right. Much as I love Ten and his costume, I would also like to see more of a return to "wardrobe" than "costume" for the Doctor. Mix it up a little. A little more than "two whole colors!" of suit, and various ties.

I haven't watched enough episodes often enough to have strong recollections of many besides the Doctors' and Companions' costumes, but I have to say that the Axons from Claws of Axos rank right up there. How did those (blind via costume) actors get around set without crashing into everything? Oy...

Another reason to use the rubber suits - at least when the actors flailed around blindly, they could bounce off each other.

10 does change outfits fairly often - only the 3rd Doctor had as many outfits as he did.

I really loved Three's wardrobe. "Dandy" suited him so well.

Which was absolute bullshit.

If he were presenting himself as a barbarian outsider, sure -- Romans were used to all sorts of odd costumes for foreigners. However he was claiming to be a government official, and the mark of a civilized man given that sort of responsibility is his willingness to embrace the cultural norms of the society -- to speak Latin with the proper accent (we can assume the TARDIS did that for him) and to dress like a civilized man.

I'll put it in modern terms -- in our society we're used to all sorts of outfits -- suits and ties, jeans and t-shirts, saris, Hari Krishnas in their saffron robes, Trekkies in Starfleet uniforms and pointy ears, what have you. If someone showed up in a Starfleet uniform and Spock ears claiming to be a government official, even if he had an ID badge that looked real to you as far as you could tell, wouldn't it weird you out? Wouldn't you be somewhat suspicious? That's the level of weirdness and suspicion the Doctor should have been triggering, and his "anything goes" line was just ahistorical garbage to try to hand-wave it away.

Yeah...some of the earlier Doctors _did_ seem to have an actual variety of outfits to wear. Four had a bunch of different variations of his basic look, too.

As for bad outfits? Shirna and Vorg, from "The Carnival of Monsters". I mean, I took a screenshot of these two, slapped it on a black background and made a macro out of it that actually _says_, and I quote:

"Worse fashion sense than the Sixth Doctor?
Yes, folks, it exists."

So naturally they're one of the first examples that occurs to me. Heh.
(I kinda liked the Axon costumes. I mean, not to WEAR, but they were pretty freaky-looking and creative.)

...Notorious

I kind of liked Shirna and Vorg's outfits. Would never wear 'em myself, of course, but for outlandish carney gear I thought they worked reasonably well.

Sometimes, when a show or movie isn't providing enough handwavium to answer a question, I may decide to add my own if I'm feeling generous. So, here's some extra handwavium for Ten's suit in Fires of Pompeii:
First, notice that the Doctor and his companions usually don't make much of an effort to blend in wherever (or whenever) he lands. Remember Jack's comment about Nine's "U-Boat captain" look in Empty Child/Doctor Dances.
Recall also that the TARDIS has a perception filter (Sound of Drums). People (usually) just don't notice it. (True, sometimes they do. Four (City of Death) and Ten (Pompeii) have both seen their TARDISes mistaken for works of art. I don't remember what episode it was in, but someone saw Six step out of his TARDIS, and deduced from the words "POLICE BOX" that he was a cop. I think it was an American tourist. Could be wrong about that.)
So, somewhere along the way the Doctor found a way to apply the effects of the perception filter to himself and his companions. He is able to walk around Pompeii in a 21st-century suit, because the Romans are not going to notice. If they do notice, the perception filter keeps them from thinking too much about it. (I say "somewhere along the way" because the capacity to blend in is there. The TARDIS has a large wardrobe, presumably for just such a purpose. The First Doctor used to make some effort to blend in at least some of the time.)
Shooting my own theory in the foot: on a few occasions, the characters' clothing has been an issue. Redvers Fenn-Cooper objected to Ace's modern attire, which was "indecent" from his point of view (Ghost Light). Nine made Rose go change before letting her out into 1869 Cardiff (Unquiet Dead). Even so, Charles Dickens noticed the Doctor's outfit. ("Doctor? You look more like a navvy!") Five was mistaken for someone else, apparently a cricket player who may also have called himself the Doctor (Black Orchid).
So apparently the perception filter isn't universally effective. And so we're back to square one: The Doctor and company should at least try to blend in, and are not doing so.
Okay, I tried.

Hmmm, I would have to nominate Tegan's Pre-Enlightenment Season 20 outfit, a/k/a "The Boob Tube From Hell", mainly for the physical damage it did to Janet Fielding, who requested afterwards, that the costume be incinerated...
(In case you're wondering, Ms. Fielding had to be sown into the costume each day, it gave her a bunch of sores due to chafing, & if she ever lifted her arms above shoulder height, her B****s popped out as a result of poor bodice design).

Oh, good choice! Uncomfortable, unattractive and impractical -- the triple threat!