Prisoner (McGoohan) Blazer

[dustyroadz]

MORE ON THE JACKET'S BRAIDING: I wanted to add some recent findings about the braiding used on the Prisoner jacket.

I had been on an extended hunt to locate the most convincing sample I could find for the sake of accuracy, and, in the process, discovered quite a bit about braided fabrics. I had a couple of film costume designers look at a selection of shots from the Prisoner series and we came across one particular close up of Patrick McGoohan in the episode "Checkmate" (at time-stamp 10:04) an episode which is largely shot on location, and uses the "broken piping" jacket in one out of every two exterior shots in which the jacket is featured (indicating that much of it was shot completely out of order).

This particular close up is interesting because it's captured with a very sharp lens, in natural light (presumably indirect morning light, based on the angling of the light on #6's face, anyone familiar with the layout of Portmeirion will know that the "shop", northern most point in the Village, is lit exactly in this manner, from that camera direction, near 9:00 or 10:00 AM depending on the season) and only seems to be lit with reflectors which are white, rather than electric 100K Arcs typically used for outdoor fill light in those days, which contain a tinge of warmth (yellow). In this shot, the braiding is seen remarkably clearly and the two (horizontal and vertical) patterns created by the weave in the brain are at their most visible when #6 turns his head to look at the doll in the window behind him.
Based on this photograph, we identified the braid as Viscose Rayon or cellulose, which is a silk-like fiber made from Mulberry Bark, and determined that the color in natural light is indeed plain white. It seems as though the illusion of a tint (off-white, or bone color) comes mostly from the electric lights in the interior settings. The braid clearly shows a slight sheen that wavers in the outside light.
It also appears that in several episodes, the white appears dulled down to a darker shade nearing warm gray, which may be an optical illusion partly caused by the fact that the sheen in the viscose is seldom picked up on Kodak film stock as anything other than a 'dirty' gray, when it merely reflects darker tints. The best way to evaluate a color in fabric is to sample the lightest pixels and assume that anything else is caused by shading.
Again, the close up photograph of Patrick McGoohan in this section gives clear information on the braiding, color, and woven pattern.

Of course there were more than one jacket in use: The crew call-sheets published in the BluRay box set of The Prisoner clearly indicate the presence on set of 2 or more identical jackets for McGoohan and doubles, particularly for scenes on the beach or scenes in which stunts are involved, like physical scuffles.
Throughout the series, other characters are also seen wearing varying styles of linen jackets which use similar braiding in different colors. In Hammer into Anvil, for instance, we can see a blue variety, in Schizoid Man, we see a black version over a white jacket, etc. - thanks to BluRays, the fine details are fully visible.

Anyway, I will post (below) a photo of the best braiding I have found. This one is a white, 2.7 centimeter wide (a bit over an inch wide) braid custom made in Paris, France for a designer fashion show. Although the width is 2.7 centimeters, the fiber stretches quite easily when sewn-on as a fold-over, and one can easily gain one or two millimeters across, leaving an approximate 1 centimeter strip on each side of the jacket, since Melton wool has a certain thickness to its texture.
Costume designers apparently use a warm iron to create the fold on a cellulose braid and can also stretch it using the iron so as to help it adjust to the width needed.
In the case of #6, the strip cannot be much more than 1 centimeter wide because of the 2 button holes on the jacket. They cannot be covered-up and cannot conceivably be farther from the edge than 1.5 centimeter. If you count the vertical ridges in the braiding in the #6 photo below, you will find that there are roughly 8 vertical ridges which amounts to 1 centimeter's worth on the sample I found (see below).

This braid was created in the style of materials seen in a traditional 19th century military outfit. Most braids of this type are military.

The shop who created this braiding (Tre-Mode, Paris France) may be able to produce more of it but only in fairly large quantities.

 

[dustyroadz]

ABOUT THE JACKET'S LINING, and other "inside details":

It is worth mentioning that although much is being said about the exterior features of the jacket, the "official Village shop" knock off also fails in mimicking the inside of #6's jacket.
In the episode "Free For All" the second shot of the film shows #6 hastily putting on the jacket.
If one stops the frame, one can see two interesting details:

1 - The jacket's lining is made of a silk-like fabric, whose color appears to be gray-mauve (again, depending on the light, we may arrive at some shade of gray that can be debated)...
2 - The sleeves are lined with white cellulose or cotton, as were many jackets in that era.

 

[dustyroadz]

The original Prisoner #6 jacket. (Broken piping/"Notched" braiding version)

For what it's worth, this is a recent photograph of one of the original jackets fitted for Patrick McGoohan in The Prisoner. This one was auctioned off in 2004. It is the monogrammed "P. Mc Goohan" made by John London in 1966, and presumably one of 4 or 5 that were tailored for the filming of the episodes.

Photoshop fans can easily sample sections of the color with the eyedropper tool and analyze the nature or the hues involved to determine what, in their view, is the proper color of the wool, since this photograph is shot under tungsten light and doesn't bear the warm grading of the TV show.

It shows pockets and seams rather clearly, and might help in identifying the correct texture, shape and proportions for anyone interested in copying it.

 

[dustyroadz]

Buttons!

Tough ones, those.
Finding an exact button is always painful. Thankfully, this one UK dealer seems to have the exact button used on the Prisoner jacket.
Two hole buttons are rare enough, and they are usually used on children's outfits and women's outfits - rarely on men's jackets - the outer ridge and center 'dip' are an exact match to the ones found on #6's jacket!
There are two sizes - 2 buttons for the cuffs: 23 Ligne = 14.8mm = .559 Inches

And two for the breast boutonnière: 30 Ligne = 19.0mm = .748 Inches
These are more expensive than standard resin buttons since they are made of horn. The likely color is "dark gray"... though these are also available in 'navy" and "dark navy blue" or black, all of which can arguably be correct.

Available here:
http://www.theliningcompany.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=106_109_122&products_id=4043

 

[dustyroadz]

FOR NERDS ONLY: The Prisoner jacket braiding -- some final thoughts...

It was hard to finally locate the correct braiding for the Prisoner jacket, I thought I'd offer some further elements I used in order to help others who require more explaining.

This is all a bit nerdy, and I understand that most people might simply want to approximate the jacket, as they are not that obsessed with getting things 100% right, but for those of you who do, read on.

One of the most confusing things for me was the way the braided pattern appears to give-off different weaves depending on angles of vision throughout The Prisoner.
At times, I thought the principal pattern was that of a horizontal weave (like grosgrain ribbon) as in the photograph below:


At other times, I saw a crisscross pattern with a distinct vertical stripe created by the weave as in the picture below:


(Above: #12's jacket from The General)

But the rest of the time, I saw this:


(Note the distinctive pattern as it appears in this shot in The General)


The braid almost looks different in different shots throughout, yet, as #6 moves about a scene, it is clear that the braiding changes appearance and is indeed one and the same all through and through.
Furthermore, although #6's costume shows a braid that possesses a "shiny" fiber in some shots, it can also look dulled-out and matte in some other shots, which has led people to think that its color was off-white, bone color, or ecru.

Here are my conclusions, and it gets a little bit tricky:

I believe I was able to locate the proper fabric and pattern, but I did not know it for certain until I attached it to the wool jacket, after carefully folding-over the braid with a warm iron.
I discovered that the braid looks quite different, once you fold and sew it on, than it does when you look at it flat in the shop (This is very important).
And what's more, if you iron it too much, or too often, the viscose material gradually loses some of its shine and turns dull, with a look that begins, under electric lights, to resemble off-white cotton instead of its original viscose material.
(Viscose is a man-made fiber that uses tree bark to replicate a process similar to what worms do when they make silk - it is a very fine and delicate fabric which is heat sensitive and will turn slightly beige when exposed to heat repeatedly.)

Here's what I think happened:
For the first trip to Portmeirion, the initial jackets used for the location shoot had a continuous braid. The exteriors of several episodes were shot (at least the first 4) using that continuous design.

When, a month later, the unit returned to MGM near London, for whatever reason, the initial braiding was replaced with a "notched" style, using the same fabric (viscose). One of the possible reasons is that the continuous piping style is very hard to achieve and sew on properly and may have caused too many delays with the costume department whenever repairs or new jackets were required (keep in mind that this was still a fairly low budget shoot)... One of the indicators that this was done on the cheap is that the sewing job is quite sloppy in most instances if one looks closely at #6's jacket as well as others (fraying fibers in some episodes, less than straight lines, etc.)
It's a safe to assume that costume assistants spent many a sleepless night trying to mend the braiding as they were going through production.

So, for whatever reason, all the interior shots (done in studio) used the notched (broken) piping and for this reason, the first few episodes are mismatched between interior and exterior takes.
As the show progressed and the unit returned to Portmeirion, they evidently brought back the notched jackets this time, and for that reason, only the notched design appears in later episodes.

But the episodes did not all necessarily air in sequence, and this is where things get a bit complicated. In some episodes, like Checkmate, the braiding is clearly brand new - perhaps it has been freshly replaced and looks like this:


In other episodes like The General, #6's braiding looks all flattened out from excessive ironing and looks duller than the jacket of #12, which is clearly brand new and "shiny".



If you look closely at the above (first) picture, in the lower LEFT hand corner, you will see that the braiding on #6's jacket is dull and warmer in appearance than the braiding on #12's jacket (catching some frontal light) which, for the duration of the episode, looks brand new - the "shine" is evident whenever he moves. You can also clearly see (Pic #2 above) that the color "white" is reflecting the cool blue hues of the studio lights.

This seems to explain the discrepancy, and this makes me pretty confident that the exact braiding to look for is indeed made of viscose rayon, is plain white, 2.7 Centimeters wide, ending as a 1 centimeter wide piping once sewn-on, and looks like this up close:



These are the final results on a recently made jacket which is a near 100% knockoff except for the color which is "blacker" than the one in the TV series. The jacket I found was a secondhand Melton wool model, with the same narrow boutonniere narrow lapel, no vent, single breasted, 2-button hole, 3 patch pocket model from the '60s. I could not find a "charcoal-black" and settled for black.
The lining is also made of grayish-mauve cellulose. The inner sleeves were done with white cellulose material to match the original design:



The lad who sold me the elusive braiding is a small indie French supplier from Paris. I looked there because Paris is the Prêt-a-porter capital of the world, but you may find the same thing in any city, large or small - He sold me an end tail of some old stock, and for that reason, I cannot link you directly to a place you can purchase it "as is".
If you cannot locate any, and want to try and talk him into making more, contact me and I will put you in touch. When I asked, he said he could eventually create more, but would need to produce a minimum amount of feet of it to make it worth his while.

Voila! With the all the elements in the thread above, including perfect 2-hole buttons, you should be able to make a Prisoner jacket ranging from "close enough" to "spot on, old chap!"

Eat that, Village shop, with your sloppy "official replica" for tourists!

​

 

[dustyroadz]

FOR NERDS ONLY: The Prisoner jacket braiding -- some final thoughts...

It was hard to finally locate the correct braiding for the Prisoner jacket, I thought I'd offer some further elements I used in order to help others who require more explaining.



This is all a bit nerdy, and I understand that most people might simply want to approximate the jacket, as they are not that obsessed with getting things 100% right, but for those of you who do, read on.

One of the most confusing things for me was the way the braided pattern appears to give-off different weaves depending on angles of vision throughout The Prisoner.
At times, I thought the principal pattern was that of a horizontal weave (like grosgrain ribbon) as in the photograph below:


View attachment 549708 View attachment 549709


At other times, I saw a crisscross pattern with a distinct vertical stripe created by the weave as in the picture below:

View attachment 549721
(Above: #12's jacket from The General)

But the rest of the time, I saw this:


View attachment 549713
(Note the distinctive pattern as it appears in this shot in The General)


The braid almost looks different in different shots throughout, yet, as #6 moves about a scene, it is clear that the braiding changes appearance and is indeed one and the same all through and through.
Furthermore, although #6's costume shows a braid that possesses a "shiny" fiber in some shots, it can also look dulled-out and matte in some other shots, which has led people to think that its color was off-white, bone color, or ecru.

Here are my conclusions, and it gets a little bit tricky:

I believe I was able to locate the proper fabric and pattern, but I did not know it for certain until I attached it to the wool jacket, after carefully folding-over the braid with a warm iron.
I discovered that the braid looks quite different, once you fold and sew it on, than it does when you look at it flat in the shop (This is very important).
And what's more, if you iron it too much, or too often, the viscose material gradually loses some of its shine and turns dull, with a look that begins, under electric lights, to resemble off-white cotton instead of its original viscose material.
(Viscose is a man-made fiber that uses tree bark to replicate a process similar to what worms do when they make silk - it is a very fine and delicate fabric which is heat sensitive and will turn slightly beige when exposed to heat repeatedly.)

Here's what I think happened:
For the first trip to Portmeirion, the initial jackets used for the location shoot had a continuous braid. The exteriors of several episodes were shot (at least the first 4) using that continuous design.

When, a month later, the unit returned to MGM near London, for whatever reason, the initial braiding was replaced with a "notched" style, using the same fabric (viscose). One of the possible reasons is that the continuous piping style is very hard to achieve and sew on properly and may have caused too many delays with the costume department whenever repairs or new jackets were required (keep in mind that this was still a fairly low budget shoot)... One of the indicators that this was done on the cheap is that the sewing job is quite sloppy in most instances if one looks closely at #6's jacket as well as others (fraying fibers in some episodes, less than straight lines, etc.)
It's a safe to assume that costume assistants spent many a sleepless night trying to mend the braiding as they were going through production.

So, for whatever reason, all the interior shots (done in studio) used the notched (broken) piping and for this reason, the first few episodes are mismatched between interior and exterior takes.
As the show progressed and the unit returned to Portmeirion, they evidently brought back the notched jackets this time, and for that reason, only the notched design appears in later episodes.

But the episodes did not all necessarily air in sequence, and this is where things get a bit complicated. In some episodes, like Checkmate, the braiding is clearly brand new - perhaps it has been freshly replaced and looks like this:
View attachment 549712

In other episodes like The General, #6's braiding looks all flattened out from excessive ironing and looks duller than the jacket of #12, which is clearly brand new and "shiny".

View attachment 549714 View attachment 549715

If you look closely at the above (first) picture, in the lower LEFT hand corner, you will see that the braiding on #6's jacket is dull and warmer in appearance than the braiding on #12's jacket which, for the duration of the episode, looks brand new - the "shine" is evident whenever he moves. You can also clearly see (Pic #2 above) that the color "white" is reflecting the cool blue hues of the studio lights.

This seems to explain the discrepancy, and this makes me pretty confident that the exact braiding to look for is indeed made of viscose rayon, is plain white, 2.7 Centimeters wide, ending as a 1 centimeter wide piping once sewn-on, and looks like this up close:
View attachment 549716

These are the final results on a recently made jacket which is a near 100% knockoff except for the color which is "blacker" than the one in the TV series. The jacket I found was a secondhand Melton wool model with the same narrow boutonniere narrow lapel, no vent, single breasted, 2-button hole, 3 patch pocket model from the '60s. I could not find a "charcoal-black" and settled for black.
The lining is also made of grayish-mauve cellulose. The inner sleeves were done with white cellulose material to match the original design:
View attachment 549718 View attachment 549717


The lad who sold me the elusive braiding is a small indie French supplier from Paris. I looked there because Paris is the Prêt-a-porter capital of the world, but you may find the same thing in any city, large or small - He sold me an end tail of some old stock, and for that reason, I cannot link you directly to a place you can purchase it "as is".
If you cannot locate any, and want to try and talk him into making more, contact me and I will put you in touch. When I asked, he said he could create more, but would need to create a minimum amount of feet of it to make it worth his while.

Voila! With the all the elements in the thread above, including perfect 2-hole buttons, you should be able to make a Prisoner jacket ranging from "close enough" to "spot on, old chap!"

Eat that, Village shop, with your sloppy "official replica" for tourists!

 

[dustyroadz]

Some more close up details of the custom (re)created Prisoner jacket, including detailed photos of the 2.7centimeter wide viscose white braiding.

View attachment 549732 View attachment 549733 View attachment 549734 View attachment 549735 View attachment 549736 View attachment 549737

 

[dustyroadz]

More images of the recently (re)created Prisoner jacket with the list of materials described in earlier posts.

(Close Ups of the viscose braiding.)