Item: Urban Outfitters Vaudeville & Burlesque Sheer Blouse
Appearance: Time of the Doctor, Deep Breath
Combined with: Karen Millen Masculine Check Skirt, Yumi Bow Pointelle Cardigan, Topshop All Mine Boots, Shoptique Three-Cone Necklace, Topshop Prism Spike Bracelet, Topshop Multi-Chain Cross Bracelet, other un-IDed bracelets
Original Retail Price: Unknown
Materials: 100% polyester
The blouse pictured in these images is not the screen-accurate Urban Outfitters blouse but the Forever 21 alternative. I only got the SA blouse later and haven’t had the opportunity to take new item pictures yet. However, the Forever 21 alt is a very close match and only differs in colour – the original has a more beige hue – and in a slit in the back of the lace, which this one does not have. Other than that, the two blouses are almost identical.
Just like the rest of this outfit (apart from the shoes), the Urban Outfitters Vaudeville & Burlesque Blouse is extremely rare and expensive. In my two years of cosplaying Clara, I’ve seen a couple of them sell on Depop and the DW cosplay sales community on LJ, but in all the cases, the sellers demanded at least £90 or more and that has always been a bit much for me and my wallet for an item I don’t really like that much and would never wear outside of cosplay. Luckily, there’s hope for people like me and I ended up finding one on Vinted for around £15 eventually.
Both Forever 21 and Misguided have made a blouse with an identical lace collar and since that is the only part of the blouse that can actually be seen under the Yumi cardigan, it’s safe to say that both the Forever 21 and Misguided alt will do absolutely fine to complete the outfit. They are also cheaper and can be found more easily on Depop and other websites. The only difference is that the Vaudeville blouse is a little more of a cream or beige colour and has a slit at the back of the lace.
A “fun” Anecdote about the SA Blouse
Besides, a real “screen-accurate” blouse doesn’t exactly exist. Katie, a fellow cosplayer, told me that the original Vaudeville & Burlesque blouse got damaged during the shoot for TotD, so the costume department had to improvise and attach the collar to a different blouse when they started Deep Breath. The DB outfits of the Twelfth Doctor and Clara decorated the entrance hall of the Doctor Who Experience for a while and while they were displayed there, Katie noticed that Clara’s blouse suddenly had a breast pocket it actually shouldn’t have because it was not on the original Vaudeville & Burlesque blouse. That is one more reason not to feel bad about owning an alt version of the blouse because a true “SA” one doesn’t exist.
