British period dramas don’t tend to inspire our wardrobe choices. We can’t recall wanting to dress like the cast from Downton Abbey or Poldark. Okay, The Crown has some inspirational get-ups, but it’s more toffs in top hats again. The interest in Peaky Blinders comes from its working-class heroes. The distinctive style of Birmingham’s favorite mob family captured our imagination from the start. And like Mad Men before it, this is a TV show that’s influenced how real men dress.

It even found its way to Fashion Week in 2019. At the Kent & Curwen AW19 presentation in London, it looked as though co-owner of the brand David Beckham had raided Tommy Shelby’s closet. Together with creative director, Daniel Kearns, Beckham revealed the exclusive Kent & Curwen collaboration with Peaky Blinders creator, Stephen Knight, and he was wearing most of it.

‘Garrison Tailors by Order of the Peaky Blinders’ is a capsule collection inspired by the series and crafted by Kent & Curwen which drops in October. Beckham’s outfit on the day gave us all a taste of what to expect: a herringbone peak lapel coat, men’s suspenders striped collarless shirt buttoned up to the neck, a navy cardigan subbed for a waistcoat and the essential baker boy cap with winter boots.

Now, as season 5 of show approaches, Daniel Kearns sums up our collective obsession with the Shelby brothers’ look – and it’s not all about the famous Peaky Blinders hairstyle: “I have always found that era to be incredibly inspirational, when men dressed with empowerment but also with a new sense of freedom, when new things felt possible. The costumes from Peaky Blinders are not just a sartorial uniform, they feel like armour: they empower and protect the characters, and I love that idea. I think we all need a little armour in our lives sometimes.”