Prototype: Midnight Blue Winged Doublet

The winged doublet is in a midnight blue velveteen. It is lined and edged in red linen. It closes in front with eight round metal buttons with a fairly subtle Celtic cross design.

The doublet is somewhat big on the model (which is why he's wearing it open rather than closed), as it's made to our standard Large and he's more of a Medium. Hopefully I'll be able to corner the Proprietor in due course and we'll have proper photos of it. For those curious, I believe the model was attempting something of a Alas, Poor Yorrick! pose, with the somewhat pseudo-Shakespeare mindset of the day.

This is by no means a historically accurate doublet (unless you're of the looks-alright-from-six-feet-away school), but for the record, it takes most of its cues from late Tudor doublets rather than early ones. The winged shoulders echoes that those seen in this portrait of Robert Dudley and Federico II Gonzaga, but significantly less elaborate.

On a sidenote, here's some interesting modern reinterpreting of Elizabethan doublets in modern menswear by John Galliano.

To commission a similar doublet from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £75-85. This prototype of the doublet in particular is now available from Charackter Kit for £70.

More photos of the midnight blue doublet including wing and button detail under the cut.