The Armani Six: The Unexpected Journey to collect them all

I am often contacted by readers who either want advise on tracking down more screen accurate costumes, or want to show off their latest purchases that are worth sharing with my wider readership.

Over the past couple of months I have been chatting to a client of mine who has been an avid (no obsessive!) seeker of a screen accurate Giorgio Armani tie. 

His quest had recently come to fruition - something to give all with a similar goal good reason to keep pursuing their dream.

It cam out in conversation that he now had amassed SIX different versions of the tie, so I invited him to put his collection in writing and below is a breakdown of his impressive collection.

by John Tennant Smith

A few months ago, I became a very happy collector and cosplayer: My dream of owning an original brown Armani tie, came true. My journey didn’t start there, though. Along the journey that would take years to complete, several versions of this beautiful tie would come my way...

First came the reproductions, then the originals trickled in, until I struck gold. Originals are always fun, so I'll start there and work my way back:

Giorgio Armani original ties

First in the group of originals is the black colourway variant of the Armani tie. To admit, when I first laid eyes on the auction and purchased it late last year, I thought I had found the brown version.



When the package arrived, I was disappointed to see it was the black variant.
The mistake is due to the colour the tie can take on when photographed. The seller had only taken a few close pictures. In some shots it takes on an almost brown quality! Still beautiful, and would look sharp with many dress styles.


My next original would come in the form of the blue variant, which also hit eBay late last year. After some debate on whether to bid or not, I figured what the heck. I won, and I opened it on Christmas.



Let me just say, this tie is BLUE! It’s almost obnoxious. That's part of the fun of it, though. I haven’t seen what could be worn with it yet, although I suspect it might look okay with Tennant's blue suit. Still have to see...


My third original, which I have searched day and night for, over the last two years - my personal Holy Grail of Doctor Who: The brown Armani tie! After watching a new episode of The Walking Dead, it was time to do my usual eBay searches. This time, I would hit gold.



After a week of nail biting, and going back-and-forth with the seller to find out what she planned to do with the tie (yes, many were offering sums of money), the Sunday night finally came. With seconds to spare, I placed my bid and felt my heart jump for joy when I saw the note saying I was the winner.. My wallet hated me. Apparently I wasn't the only one willing to give my all.

Editor’s note
This auction was featured on my blog in March 2016. A reader had alerted me to it after he had missed out (one of those willing to give their all). I was later contacted by John Tennant Smith who said he was the buyer of the tie! The result of our discussions is the article you are reading.

Giorgio Armani dark brown tie

Even after the auction ended, I was still nervous until I finally got the notification of my tie shipping. From the time the auction had ended, until it was shipped, the seller was still getting offers on the tie had I chosen to back out. Not a chance, though! When it arrived, it was the feeling of Christmas all over again. This egg tie is so beautiful, that I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. While the repros are nice, they certainly aren't able to catch the spirit of the real deal. Seeing that Steve had posted about the auction, and being a buyer of his for one of his beautiful coats, I had to throw everything together for a quick picture and message him about who the winner was. Excuse the Kilgrave scruff ;)

Magnoli Clothiers replicas

Onto the reproductions: over the years, Indy from Magnoli Clothiers has produced this tie in three different versions (with a fourth red version on the way).

My first version of the Armani is the first one he produced. I bought this tie a couple years ago when he had made the switch to his current Armani.



I was new at cosplay and collecting, saw this on eBay for about half the price of his new version, and figured it was good enough. As I wore it with both my Baron brown suit and Magnoli brown suit, I became unhappy with how bright the tie was compared to the original..

Cue the second Magnoli tie produced: his alternative colourway. At the mistake of his factory, the colours messed up, taking on the look of the Armani when shot at an angle, appearing dusty blue.



I figured it’d look cool to wear, so I picked it up. It’s a nice tie for the Doomsday look.


Things come in threes: Magnoli Clothier’s third, current iteration of the Armani tie. I love the Armani, and having become unhappy wearing my two reproductions that I own...  I bit the bullet, and bought his new version some months after he released it.



Upon opening it, I loved it! It really is a great alternative to the original.

While buying the repro ties, I never gave up looking for an original, knowing that was my end goal. It took a great while, but I did it. Thoughts of what to do with the others have crossed my mind. Maybe one day the collection will split, but for now I like the family of Armani's, as it tells my story.

How do the reproductions stack to the original? In my opinion, each iteration has its qualities to the original, that the other ones lack.

The first tie Magnoli produced had captured the embroidery of the blue boxes almost perfectly, that his future iterations went away from. Magnoli's second tie (blue colourway) used a more accurate silk base that his 1st and 3rd lack. Magnoli's current iteration lined up the egg pattern perfectly. If all three of those qualities mixed, and a base colour tweak, I bet the results would be stunning.

To close out, I'm proud of this accomplishment. The Armani is over 10 years old! Many may have been produced, but with how many have likely ended up in attics to rot, dumps, shipped to far away lands, or are just sitting in some hole in the wall thrift shoppe... very few have ever surfaced on eBay; who knows when the next one will pop up. However, if you want something, and can stay determined and wait it out, then there is always the chance to accomplish your personal goal.

UPDATE

Recognition has come for John’s quest, in the form of a comment posted by none other than Louise Page herself.

Who would have thought a tie I bought would have made people search high & low even 10 years later to search one out!

The Definitive Magnoli fabric and GAP Comparison

By Alex Murphy

I had a great time at Gallifrey One last week, and met up with some old friends, as well as some new ones I had made online in the last year.
One is Alex Murphy, who I’ve been chatting to on and off for a while.

He has recently started his own blog, and has written a very informative comparison between the Magnoli replica GAP fabric and the real deal.

The Ginger Doctor

It is reproduced here with kind permission.

There has been much speculation in the cosplay community about where to get the best-of-the-best in terms of Tenth Doctor gear. Tennant’s Doctor is extremely popular at conventions and his iconic suits and jacket are a hot commodity.

Magnoli Clothiers began offering a custom reweave of both the brown and blue suit fabrics a few years ago, which they used on their Ten suits as well as selling by the yard. But at a hefty $60 per yard, cosplayers are naturally interested to know EXACTLY what they are getting for their money. I finally bit the bullet a while ago, after observing several Magnoli suits at various conventions, and decided that even if it wasn’t totally accurate, it was a damn good replica.

So after taking a huge financial leap and having a custom tailored suit from Magnoli’s brown suit fabric, I had a stroke of good fortune – someone sold me scraps of an old pair of GAP trousers!

Putting the two on top of each other, I hope I can give everyone who’s invested in the Magnoli fabric a huge sigh of relief!

While not 100% perfect, Magnoli’s current reweave is EASILY the best available option. The stripe spacing is the biggest problem, being too wide (1/2″) between stripes (the GAP fabric is approx. 1/16″ narrower between stripes). As you can see above, the blue on the stripes is nearly perfect in color, and although the Magnoli choice in browns appear too dark, this is a nearly brand new swatch, and many of the Magnoli suits I saw at Gallifrey One this year had faded to exactly the shade of the GAP trousers after some wear. Minorly, you can see that the stripes are SLIGHTLY too wide themselves, although woven correctly.

Feeling the two in my hands, the Magnoli fabric is ever-so-slightly thicker, which I think is merely a slightly thicker yarn used in the weave, which would account for the scale problems. Magnoli’s cotton is still a wonderfully lightweight choice.

But the above picture isn’t all I have to offer!

I met a fellow Ten cosplayer at Gallifrey One, introduced by some mutual friends. You may know him from Steve Ricks’ blog, as he is the one and only Kevin Coppa!

Kevin is an absolutely wonderful person, and was gracious enough to oblige me in wearing his GAP suit next to my Magnoli suit for a true side-by-side comparison!

He was even nice enough to let me wear his suit jacket!

As you can see, you’ve really got to put the two next to each other to even notice that they aren’t the same fabric.

Hopefully this can help to ease the minds of all who have shelled out the money for the Magnoli fabric – it’s WELL worth the investment! Hopefully they can even revise the stripe spacing so that a Magnoli jacket can be worn COMPLETELY seamlessly with a pair of GAP trousers! But even so, it’s an excellent investment to make, if you were on the fence about where to throw your money.

Alex also has a great blog where he makes Doctor Who inspired cocktails!
Well worth a look.

Doctor Who Cocktails
If the TARDIS had a bar…

Replica Giorgio Armani Tie - Magnoli Second Incarnation

This month sees the release by Magnoli Clothiers of a second version of their Giorgio tie - a replica of Tie Seven (the Giorgio Armani).

Here is my review

This month has seen the release of a third, and much improved Swirly tie from online costume makers Magnoli Clothiers. It’s a very popular tie with fans, so great to see a decent replica widely available.

Previously they have gone through as many drafts of their replica of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter).

This demonstrates a level of dedication to review and revise their ties, each being a step up from the previous.

I wish I could say the same for the latest version of Tie Seven (Giorgio Armani) which has taken a bizarre route from the first draft.

Previously a replica had been made, copied directly from an original Giorgio Armani tie, though the source was a different colourway option in blue.

The weave was pretty much bang on, but for some unknown reason the two shades of brown were transposed, making the dominant colour a lighter, warmer brown.

So when I heard on the grapevine a new version of the tie was already in the pipeline, I was excited to see what had been done to improve on it, as only switching the browns would be enough to make it very near perfect.

I ordered my tie, and when it arrived I was what I can only describe as perplexed. The weave is the same as before but the colours have been changed to a dusty blue - just like the colourway option the first tie had been copied from to get the weave correct.

Why on earth this tie has been made I do not know. Maybe someone can enlighten me. But it is a backward step and further from the screen-worn tie than ever.

It’s a same the first draft tie is now out of stock as I would recommend sticking with that.
Sorry to be so negative, but even at US$45 it is not worth the effort to buy it.

I’ll wait to see what draft three brings...

Replica Christian Lacroix Tie - Magnoli Third Incarnation!

This month sees the release by Magnoli Clothiers of a third, and improved version of their Swirly tie - a replica of Tie Four (the Christian Lacroix).

Here is my review

Aside from trawling eBay for the occasional hotly fought as-worn ties; or finding something that is evocative or similar to the tie you are looking for, there is another option – a rewoven copy by online costume maker Magnoli Clothiers.

Over the past four or so years Magnoli has produced copies of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter); Tie Four (Christian Lacroix) Tie Seven (Giorgio Armani); and Tie Ten (St George by Duffer).

It has taken several drafts to get the ties to something near screen-accurate.
The earliest version of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter) was printed, and though was replaced with a woven version the pattern was not changed. The latest incarnation is to a better pattern, but is not quite the right colours.

Tie Four (Christian Lacroix) has gone through two drafts to date, though the latter was a woven version of the appliquéd copy seen in The Eleventh Hour, so wasn’t quite right on several levels.

But this month has seen the release of further update to Tie Four, this time replicating its main original appearance in The Girl In The Fireplace (it did appear briefly in other episodes, but since Louise Page herself regards The Girl In The Fireplace as its main use, I see it as that too).

Since February this year, when I found my original colourway version of the Christian Lacroix tie, the pressure has been on to make a more faithful version.

The second draft Magnoli had improved the pattern, but it was out of scale with the real thing, something that was difficult to match without having an original in-hand to work to.

So, using the images from my posting a new version has been redrawn from scratch, correcting many of the errors in the pattern seen in the previous version.

The colour has also been improved, though I’m of the opinion it has gone a bit too far.

Christian Lacroix vs Magnoli Clothiers

You will have read recently that I manage to secure a VERY rare tie - the Christian Lacroix swirly tie, known as Tie Four in my Tie Index. Although I have found a differing colour way, the weave is 100% as screen used.

I also own both version of the Swirly Tie made by Magnoli Clothiers, so I’m in a very good position to review both of them alongside the original I now own.

But before I do so, I need to remind you of a very specific piece of background info which will explain what the ties are trying to replicate, and thus manage your expectation of how the tie should look.

When Louise Page came across the Christian Lacroix tie it was a one-off – literally the last in the shop. Whereas she would usually buy three or four identical ties for stunt-doubles and allow for damages, she fell in love with it, ignoring her own golden rules and bought it anyway.

She only featured it once in an episode from beginning to end, The Girl In The Fireplace. This was because stunt-work was at a minimum during the story, so the tie could be kept ‘safe’.

Its other appearances were deliberately brief or in self-contained scenes, such as in Love And Monsters (see left) and Blink (see below).

These appearances were specifically selected to limit its exposure to potential continuity issues, damage or loss in the more high octane scenes.

So when it can to David’s swan song and his final scenes, she choose a tie she had extra special affection for: the Christian Lacroix. Knowing she would be handing over to a new costume department, she checked that it was okay to use the tie, bearing in mind there were no back-ups or spares.
No questions were raised, so filming went ahead as planned.

However, once the script came in for Matt’s debut adventure, it became apparent the tie would form part of the plot and need to be distressed, following the TARDIS crashing into Amelia Pond’s back garden, as well as being trapped in a car door!

Reluctant to allow the precious, unique tie to be damaged, Ray Holman and his team had to make a replia of the tie so they were free to do what was required in the script.

This was done by tracing the design onto brown silk and embroidering the blue swirls to match. A couple of reddish areas were replicated by using scraps of coloured silk appliquéd on, but these didn’t quite match the original, hence the visible difference between the two versions.

Thus, there are TWO distinctively different versions of this one tie.

• The original Christian Lacroix woven-fabric tie as worn exclusively by David Tennant
  
• The hand-made replica, with appliquéd design as worn exclusively by Matt Smith

So it now comes down to which of these ‘screen-accurate’ ties is being copied.

Magnoli replica Giorgio Armani tie - the comparison

You will have seen recently that I bought one of the Magnoli replica Giorgio Armani ties.

I think it is great, don’t get me wrong, but I had the chance to compare it one-on-one with a genuine Armani tie, and the results are, to say the least, interesting.

My good friend Kevin, whom I tailored The Ultimate Tennant Suit for, is the lucky owner of a the correct brown version of the Armani tie, that the latest Magnoli is a replica of.

If you looked closely you will have seen him wearing it at a photoshoot at the San Diego Comic Con (see below).

I caught up wit him recently at Chicago TARDIS, and we both happened to have our Armani ties (my replica and his original) so it was the ideal chance to compare them like-for-like.

The real Armani is on the bottom of the picture above, and you can see that the background is several shades darker than the replica.

Magnoli replica Giorgio Armani tie - review

Over the past few years Magnoli Clothiers in New Zealand have been releasing a series of replica Tennant Ties; from the original Daniel Hechter (see far left); to the iconic Christian Lacriox (see left, middle); as well as the St George by Duffer (see near left).

All good ties, but the one which was worn the most, the Giorgio Armani, as been a long time coming.

Today the postman brought me a narrow, thin, long package . . .  my Magnoli replica Girogio Armani tie!

Carefully opening the packaging, I found it wrapped in cellophane. The tie inside looked great!

The Girogio Armani tie is Tie Seven in my Tie Index, and although I don’t own an original, I have seen one close-up, and from what I recall this is a pretty good replica.

I cannot vouch for the weave and scale of the design, but it has been worked directly from an original - abet blue version - so the shapes and proportions should be spot on.