From tailored jackets to flat caps: How Peaky Blinders nailed the 1920s Birmingham fashion

There's never a dull fashion moment in BBC's crime drama series Peaky Blinders, and the show beautifully captures the dapper fashion of 1920s Birmingham.

The show, based on a real-life gang operating in the 1880s, follows Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby, who is the ruthless leader of the titular gang. Beneath all the violence and aggression of the Shelby brothers (Tommy, Arthur, and John), the men are a fine example of high fashion in the 1920s.

The Peaky Boy ensemble—tailored jackets, lapelled overcoats, buttoned waistcoats, silk scarves, bell-bottom trousers, leather boots, and flat caps—is important to study and understand the gangster fashion of the time period.

Beneath their fine dressing was this aggression to kill, highlighted in the razors they concealed in their flat caps and used to blind their enemies.

More on Peaky Blinders fashion in our story.

Exploring the inspiration behind Peaky Blinders' power dressing

The Peaky Blinders always fought in style, and the power dressing of the gang is visible in almost every frame of the series. Set in post-war Birmingham, the show is highly inspired by the 1920s Birmingham, and we can see glimpses of an era gone by in Tommy, Arthur, and the other Peaky boys' clothing.

Post-war, high English society was changing, and men were shifting towards more lounge-wear suits. Since sophisticated clothing is a prime mark of an Englishman, they were shifting from a traditional morning suit to business formals, as sported by Tommy in Peaky Blinders.

His tailored jackets, tweed overcoats, and buttoned waistcoats are all essential clothing of the 1920s high society. Tommy's fashion was more refined than his brother's because it highlighted his aspirations and ambitions to join high society. Arthur and John, on the other hand, would dress more roughly, in heavy suits.

Another interesting element of Shelby's fashion, particularly Tommy's, was the pocket watch, which was frequently featured in many scenes. The English society held high regard for pocket watches, and the Shelbys carried them in style.

Tommy Shelby's shift in fashion highlights his social mobility in Peaky Blinders

While Tommy always dressed sharply, his fashion sense underwent a complete transformation after Peaky Blinders Season 4. Having just entered a life of politics, he was trying to leave his criminal ways behind, which was aptly highlighted in the premium and fine clothing he preferred.

As Season 4's costume designer Alison McCosh told Netflix Tudum:

“When you come from the backstreets and now you’re established, everything changes. You want to show your wealth in finer fabrics.”

Tommy's fashion became more refined and premium in Season 4, a deliberate change that encapsulated his social mobility. Since cloth material generally defined a person's class in the 1920s society, McCosh gave the show's protagonist premium fabrics:

''Tommy’s coat was changed to a beautiful cashmere in an astrakhan color. The silhouette is very simple, it’s a stronger shoulder, and the level of attention to detail in the fabric was very important to show.''

However, even after this shift in Tommy's fashion, he still wears his signature flat cap, suggesting that he remains the ruthless leader of the Birmingham backstreets. As McCosh rightly describes:

''It’s the core of who [Tommy] is, and he never really wants to lose that center of himself.''

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