Just this month, the fifth season of the popular English drama Peaky Blinders just ended. Known as "the most classic gangster drama in BBC history", this film tells the thrilling story of the legendary gangster boss led by the Shelby family in Birmingham after the war. Ruthless, calm and restrained, handsome, full of hormones, gangsters in suits, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and holding pistols, mediate with major gangs in the streets. Not to mention women, men will also say that they are too fucking handsome!
Time goes back to 19 19. After World War I, Imperial Birmingham was an industrial city that had just completed the industrial revolution. The working class at the bottom of society has been seriously exploited, the unemployment rate has soared, and poverty has shrouded this group of young people at the bottom. In order to survive, they have to steal and rob, and the whole society is chaotic and turbulent.
The bloody gang was founded under such a social background. Because its gang members have a representative feature, that is, sewing blades into the brim for emergencies, it is also called the "razor party".
Like all the gangster forces in the movie, every gang is basically composed of families, fighting from the bottom to the top step by step. The most important members of the Razor Party are the Shelley Brothers.
Boss Arthur is emotional and does things without thinking. The third child, John, is romantic and has no ambition. Therefore, the real power figure of the "Razor Party" is Tommy Shelby, the second child. He participated in World War I and is thoughtful and smart. Usually more humane, but cold-blooded and cruel when necessary, in order to make the family rise at all costs. It is precisely because of this role that the role is full of three-dimensional and intriguing.
Bloody gangs are attracted not only by exciting plots and handsome protagonists, but also by exquisite services. After all, all-English gangsters wear suits, and the contrast between violence and gentlemen is endless.
Razor Party is called "the most fashionable gang member in British history". Coat, suit, pocket watch, leather shoes, newsboy hat and leather gloves are their uniforms.
Let's start with the suit. Razor parties generally wear a three-piece suit, namely, coat, vest and trousers.
Anyone familiar with the history of suits knows that in the 1920s, tuxedos almost disappeared, and the design of suits abandoned elegance and luxury and entered a simple and light style. The cut of the suit becomes shorter, which visually lengthens the leg lines, compresses the waist and highlights the shoulders.
Razor party suits are mostly single-breasted and double-breasted wool suits with wide lapels, and the colors are often monochrome and dark. This is because the environment in Britain is cold, based on the need for warmth. Especially in industrial towns like Birmingham, it is impossible to keep clothes clean because of the smog all the year round, so almost all clothes are dark.
The gang members in the play are basically striped or tweed suits. But in fact, at that time, tweed coats were not the material of upper class, and they were more common in the middle and lower classes of English squire clothes. In order to appear in informal occasions, it is also the dress of gangsters with relatively low status.
Each suit has a vest with six buttons and pockets. When the suit jacket is opened, you will see the brass Albert pocket watch chain hanging in the vest pocket. A rich and powerful gangster, in order to show his superhuman taste, will also set diamonds in the pocket watch chain.
The trousers matched with the coat are mostly high-waist straight pants, which are at or above the navel, and the middle pleats are introduced at this time.
In addition to fixing the three-piece suit, they will also wear a thick coat to their calves. One reason is still cold. In addition, the long coat hem can also protect the suit pants inside from being dirty.
In the play, Tommy's family power continues to grow, and he needs to play social games with all kinds of upper-class people. He always shows it to people in strict accordance with the collocation of three-piece suits and extra clothes, which is very particular. Sometimes, the jacket is omitted, and the jacket is directly matched with the vest.
Different from modern multi-color shirts, Razor Party basically wears pure white shirts, occasionally with Bengal striped white tone shirts as interiors. The shirt collar can be detached freely, which is a typical business shirt in Britain in the 1920s.
However, detachable collars were expensive at that time, so lower-ranking gang members usually wore shirts without collars.
A tie or bow tie is also needed for more detailed collocation. Ties usually keep the same color as other clothes, and only changed in the 1930 s, mostly printed and striped.
But generally speaking, gangs don't wear bow ties, which is a symbol of inferiority. But if you watch the play carefully, you will find that Arthur, the eldest brother, is the only one in the family who wears a bow tie. Arthur did this to show loyalty, saying that he was a loyal subordinate of his second brother Tommy.
Another detail is that Tommy basically didn't wear a tie in the early stage, but only wore a clean white shirt. It was only at the back that the tie was worn, indicating that the role was gradually mature and powerful.
Of course, you need a hat to be a fine English boy. Different gangs like to wear different hats. The Italian mafia wears bowler hats, and the razor party wears newsboy hats or flat hats. Although they can afford expensive fur felt hats, they will still choose newsboy hats. Because it is a symbol of gangs, it is also a convenient killing weapon in hand-to-hand combat. If necessary, take off your hat and attack each other's eyes.
Newsboy hat, also called eight hats, is the standard hat of newsboy and a kind of hat worn when hunting. There are different shapes to match different face shapes.
As for shoes, unlike ordinary leather shoes worn by other gangsters, Razor Party wears leather boots with a middle belt. Because Britain really loves rain, ordinary leather shoes will seep into the water.
In addition to clothing, the razor party's hairstyle is also exquisite. In the English countryside at the beginning of the 20th century, the cost of hairdressers was very expensive. Men from the middle and lower classes usually shave their hair at the sides and back of their heads very short, which not only looks refreshing, but also reduces the number of haircuts. When the hair at the top is long, you can also use hair wax to carry it back, which is what we are familiar with.
Because the Razor Party basically followed this hairstyle, many people will call it Shelby hairstyle now.
It is such a cool and fashionable gangster drama that has brought round after round of British fashion trends. Every time during the hit of the play, many British youths imitate the costumes and even hairstyles in the play, just like the fashionistas.
It is said that after the first quarter of that year, the sales of newsboy hats in John Lewis, a famous department store, reached 83%. Five out of 65,438+00 British boys have the same Shelby hairstyle. Now that the fifth season is over, the new craze must have started again.
There is no denying that the wearing of razor party has influenced modern fashion. Shelby's hairstyle, boots, newsboy and flat-topped hat are making a comeback. People not only wear it every day, but also are popular collocation shapes at weddings.
Dressed as a bloody gangster, a gentleman is full of spicy taste, and then he smokes a deep cigarette, so he will never have the trouble of being single. After all, men are not bad and women don't love them.