SHELBY
Autumn 17. From past culture to more contemporary culture. Netflix has become a huge driver of contemporary culture and has democratised the creative economy. Through series like Peaky Blinders, it shove a light on new, or should that be old, codes of masculinity. Hair, clothes, footwear, jewellery and accessories worn by the Shelby’s gave new life to a men’s style movement where looking disheveled yet tailored was easy.
Main character Thomas Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, is a Birmingham gang-leader, landowner, pub landlord and bookmaker whose notoriety goes before him. Three-piece tweed suits, cropped trousers, work boots, full length overcoats, penny-collared shirts and baker boy hats (lined with blades at the back for attack) was their uniform. Their hairstyles were also unique, shaved high and tight on the back and sides and often undercut they were highly recognisable and stylish.
The success of the series has seen a resurgence of that hairstyle in modern day culture as has the rise of barber culture. For that reason one of the key pieces of the SHELBY collection is the Thomas Shelby’s barber’s shirt, i.e. the shirt worn by Tommy’s personal barber. Other items of note are a padded, checked lumber shirt with a baseball collar and the Small Heath postcode embroidered on the sleeves, oversized knitwear, and of course, peaked Baker Boy caps.
The geographical co-ordinates for Small Heath, the Birmingham town where the series is set, feature on some items also.