The Sartorial Elegance of the Peaky Blinders

Volatile, chaotic, and reprehensible, but dapper, charming and emotional. Sabina Stent studies how the couture of Small Heath’s Peaky Blinders informs our modern view of British gangsters.

Small Heath

In 2019 the clothing label Kent & Curwen, co-owned by David Beckham, unveiled their new collection. For those familiar with a particular Birmingham-based gang drama set in the early twentieth century — one with a high artistic and sartorial flair — the influence was evident.

If the flat caps, heavy dark wool overcoats, and dapper waistcoats did not make the connection explicit, the capsule’s name, ‘The Garrison Collection’ (so-called after the television show’s pub), was the final link. After influencing countless fans of the show, Peaky Blinders had reached the catwalk.

Since it burst on screens in 2008, Peaky Blinders has become a fashion and cultural phenomenon, with celebrity fans including David Beckham, Brad Pitt and Snoop Dogg. Loosely based on the real-life early twentieth century Birmingham gang, Steve Knight’s enduring saga follows the fictional Shelby Family, their associates, and their adversaries.

Cillian Murphy stars as Tommy, the quietly ruthless leader of a family of Peaky Blinders. Underneath his feline grace and cold-eyed stare is a volcano of violence ready to erupt with brutal, devastating repercussions. If Tommy is the ice, older brother Arthur, a fantastic Paul Anderson is the fire. Charismatic, dapper, yet highly emotional, Tommy’s right-hand man is the most beloved character in the show despite his volatility, chaotic energy, and reprehensible actions.

The OG Peaky Blinders

“I’m emotional,” he tells Tommy in S4 Ep 1, ‘The Noose.’ “I just don’t know what fucking emotion it is.” Additionally, the late great Helen McCrory excelled as the family’s matriarch Aunt Polly, while regular turns Tom Hardy and Aiden Gillen, and a guest stint from Adrien Brody, have kept fans on their feet. 

With its anachronistic soundtrack and visual flair, the show has generated many admirers, celebrity fans, and copycat fashion around the world. The Peaky Blinders effect has brought menswear tailoring back into the spotlight as newsboy hats, flat caps, waistcoats and even pocket watches have found a permanent place in men’s fashion. A quick Google search of the show will greet you with countless articles assisting in your quest to emulate the Shelby’s sartorial swagger.

At the very beginning of Peaky Blinders, the show’s formative costume designer Stephanie Collie, who was succeeded by Alison McCosh, used criminal mug shots from the early twentieth century as the foundations of the costume department, emphasising that so many details of a person’s life reside in how they dress right down to the cufflinks.

While the Shelbys have ascended the ranks of wealth and power, the ubiquitous cap has remained, serving as a reminder to the past, and a connection to the gang’s history. Yet Collie, like the show itself, was not wholly reliant on the real gang’s narrative, instead of using flourishes in the costumes to enhance a modern realism. Nothing looks entirely out of place historically, but it also gives the illusion of contemporary and attainability. Everything looks like it could be bought now, a look that is wholly relatable.

However, while the concealed razor blades assisted in the gang’s mythology, both on-screen and off, there is little evidence this was true. Speaking to the Shropshire Star in 2019, Birmingham historian Dr Cark Chinn deconstructed and nullified the gang’s weaponised mythology.

“Working-class men, though, could not afford disposable safety razor blades. They were too expensive – they went to the barber to have a shave. There is absolutely no evidence that disposable safety razor blades were put into the peak of the caps.”

The real-life Birmingham gang operated from the early 1890s until the early 1900s, maintaining control of their territory of Birmingham after beating rivals the Sloggers. Consisting of young men from lower or middle-class backgrounds as a reaction to the struggles of the era’s struggling economy, their lifestyle (very much like the show) consisted of racketeering, illegal bookmaking, violence, and robbery, and like the fictional Shelby family, cut an instantly recognisable figure in their uniform of waistcoats, tailored jackets, and baker boy hats.

In 1910, the Peaky Blinders reign ended after another gang, the Birmingham Boys, put an end to their control of the city. Yet the gang’s criminal legacy endured — any street gang member henceforth was subsequently dubbed the Peaky Blinders.

Media and fashion have ensured that even when Peaky Blinders is not on the air, the show is still very much present in the public lexicon. One example is the Black Country Living Museum in the West Midlands. Used as a filming location during every season, visiting the museum feels like a step back in time and a physical immersion in history. Not only that, but the museum’s TikTok has become phenomenally popular with 1.3 million (and growing) followers hooked on the combination of historical information, costume, and memes delivered in a fresh and innovative manner.

The show’s popularity has even resulted in a West Midlands tourist boom, with an annual increase in visitors since the show started. Whether this increase attributed entirely to the success of Peaky Blinders is uncertain. Still, given how much Birmingham functions as a character in the series, it is not hard to imagine overseas tourists flocking to the Midlands as we do in the States or Europe. Despite Birmingham’s rich cultural history of music and art, the television drama saw the city’s popularity increase in an entirely different way.

As viewers ready themselves for the concluding series of Peaky Blinders, it’s fair to say that the fandom surrounding the show will not fold with its conclusion. Over the course of its run, the show has spawned a festival, copycat fashion, and multiple pubs around the UK, including the Peaky Blinder in Birmingham’s city centre.

The show, very much like the three-piece suits beloved by its central characters, will never go out of style.

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