How You Can Capture The Style Of Peaky Blinders

Since its debut in 2013, Peaky Blinders has revitalised the public interest in historical gang warfare, famous for its unflinching portrayal of the gloom, unrest and violence in the slums of post-war England. It’s been particularly praised for the attention to detail in its costume design, with the distinctive styles of dress lending a weighty realism to its fascinatingly complex characters and gritty redbrick settings. This week on the blog here at Acorn, we’re taking a look at the key elements that together make up the Peaky Blinders style, and how you can capture it for your own personal wardrobe.

How The Show Uses Style To Build Its Stories

If you’ve watched Peaky Blinders already, you’ll already be familiar with Thomas Shelby, the charismatic leader of the titular gang. One of the most intriguing aspects of the entire series is how he uses his own personal style to express his authority, with a monochromatic style of dress helping to define his dark and brooding presence, and underline his violent and unpredictable nature.

It’s not just the characters, though – the style on display in Peaky Blinders is also emblematic of its setting, with heavy overcoats and thick woollen shirts to remind us how people lived in the grey, drizzling atmosphere of post-war Birmingham. But throughout it all, in every suit and shirting there’s that undercurrent of a distinctive, unmistakeable streak of classic British style, which despite everything, still appeals to that quiet sense of national pride in all of us. It reinforces that although many of the specific events are broadly fictional, it’s all still very much a part of our history.

The Vital Components Of The Peaky Blinders Style

You don’t even need to have watched the show for very long to realise that Peaky Blinders is all about monochrome attire, and the characters layer their outfits with varying shades of blacks and grey fabrics, whites, communicating charisma without colour. This is most evident in the grey three-piece suits, and the heavy dark overcoats many characters wear.

An element that’s particularly captured the public eye, though, lies in the Peaky Blinders shirting. You can clearly see the coarser, thicker fabrics on display – a reminder of how yarn spinning methods one hundred years ago weren’t quite as advanced as they are today. The round collar (or club collar, as it’s sometimes known) is a focal point of this look. Buttoned seamlessly into collarless shirts, it gives a smart, business-like look to the overall style. If you’re not sold on the collar yourself, you can still achieve a similar look with a crisp, white, fully buttoned shirt.

Of course, there are options to accessorise, but it’s best to keep them subtle. Shelby himself has a preference for giving his darker outfits a pop of colour in his ties or pocket squares, while pocket watch chains can occasionally be seen glinting from within the coats of his fellow gang members.

As for our stock here at Acorn, we’d recommend the Jubilee Plain Navy Solid fabric if you’re going for the darker, moodier look, while our Monarch Plain White is always a popular cotton shirting fabric for the sorts of clean white shirts often worn by the Peaky Blinders themselves. We’re always here for you if you have any specific questions – just give us a call on 01282 698 662, and we’ll see what we can do to help.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter: @acornfabrics