Perhaps the most noteworthy (non-construction related) observation regarding the 10th Doctor’s brown suit is the various manners in which he wore it over the years.
His wearing styles basically fell into two categories: with a tie (for a more “traditional” suit look), or with multiple layers underneath the jacket and no tie (for a more casual look).
The Doctor tended to go back and forth between the two looks from episode to episode, not really seeming to prefer one or the other but constantly swapping out ties, shirts, and undershirts, sometimes even wearing different combinations during scenes in the same episode.
He did tend to wear ties a bit more often than layers with the brown suit, though, as you’ll see over the next few pages.
Ties
Numerous people in the costuming/cosplaying community have done fantastic work identifying and documenting the various ties the 10th Doctor wore over the years –even managing to find some of the original ties and/or shirts in the same brand/style used in the show. This information has become readily-available on blogs and social media.
(Numerous others have subsequently researched, identified, posted about, and even managed to find some of the original ties and/or shirts in the same brand/style used in the show. This information has become readily-available on social media as well.)
My focus with this portion of the analysis is more about the actual wearing styles than the shirts/ties themselves, and there’s no need to rehash others’ tie research.
Suffice it to say that the Doctor wore several different shirts and many different ties with his brown suit, although his shirts and ties were nearly always consistent with the blue/brown color scheme.
The brown suit + tie was arguably the 10th Doctor’s most iconic look, which he wore right off the bat:
Note that he wore two different ties in “Doomsday” – the one he wore in the previous episode (“Army of Ghosts”), of course, but then a different one for his final scene with Rose, probably to help visually represent the passage of time between their separation and goodbye.
Although the blue suit was introduced at the beginning of his second season (season three), which he also wore with and without a tie, he continued to alternate with his brown suit:
He continued to incorporate the “brown suit + tie” wearing style into his rotation for his final season and subsequent specials.
Note that the Doctor wore two very different shirts and ties in “Partners in Crime.”
Also observe the tie change in “The End of Time” (he switched to the “swirly tie” for his final goodbyes and subsequent regeneration).
It was this iconic look of brown suit + tie that Tennant wore for his appearance in the 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” albeit with a new tie:
As a side note regarding this wearing style, if you look carefully, you will see that whenever the Doctor wore a tie with his suit, he always wore his ties slightly loosened, with his shirt’s top unbuttoned.
Layered Shirts
The other wearing style (without a tie, but with multiple layers underneath the suit jacket) was also introduced very early in Tennant’s run – his very second episode, actually!
The layers themselves varied over the years, but he continued to wear his brown suit in this manner intermittently throughout the entirety of his era.
One notable deviation from the usual “layered look” was that he sometimes wore the undershirt’s collar over the suit jacket’s collar.
(He also worn the blue suit and shirt in this manner in the third season episode “42” and the fourth season episode “Planet of the Ood.”)
Jacket Buttons
An amusing quirk of Ten’s dressing style was that he wore his suit jacket’s buttons differently each episode; not only did he never wear the jacket fully buttoned, but he would always change which buttons were closed and which ones weren’t (probably driving the costuming and continuity departments crazy).
Tennant’s preferred look appeared to be the jacket’s uppermost three buttons closed and the bottom one left unbuttoned, which is how he wore his suit jacket during his appearance in “The Day of the Doctor”:
