Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette. In today's video, I'll share with you ten
shows that we think you should watch just for the men's clothing style.
Often, TV shows focus on women but if you take a closer look at the men's style can be
quite interesting and it's often used to define characters and underline their
authority or just underline certain quirks they have. On TV, as in real life
clothes speak volumes about who you are as a person and it's very interesting to
see how it's utilized. Of course, you'd also get some inspiration for yourself.
In my opinion, all these shows are good and they're worth watching but the
clothes are really the icing on the cake. No, we don't have shows from the
'70s, '80s, or '90s because their styling was just too heavily influenced to be
considered classic in this day and age. Instead, we picked shows that we hope you
can learn from and implement items from into your everyday wardrobe. So without
further ado, show number one is Babylon Berlin or Babylon Berlin as Americans might say.
It's one of our most favorite recent shows and it first aired in 2017
and is now in its second or third season because they split things up in Germany
and the US differently. It's said in Berlin, Germany of 1929 which was the
Weimar Republic or the post-World War One period, which was very difficult in
Germany because of economic hardship under the Versailles Treaty. At the same time
it was the roaring 20s and Berlin was center stage for an elaborate stylish
nightlife. It's a fantastic time for men's clothing; as you can see the transition
away from traditional Edwardian clothes and standards towards a more modern
aesthetic that works for the everyday man.
The main character is a police detective by the name of Gereon Rath, who comes to
Berlin from Bonn and his suits are a little above the average but he still
wears the same suits on a regular basis, because that's what I would have done as
a regular person in his position. His suits are almost exclusively three-piece
suits and the fabric that is used looks very original; both
in the pattern, the color depth, as well as the weight which means it drags very
nicely and the cut is also distinctly 1920s. One of the shirt he wears very often
is a pale gray with a stripe which is something that has fallen out of favor
these days but in our opinion, it's one of the most underrated things; it's very
easy to combine it with other items in your wardrobe. If you want to see more
formal style such as stroller suits or even frock coats, you can just look at
the older characters in the show or you want something a bit more flashy, you can
see what the gangsters wear, which is typically striped suits, double-breasted
overcoats with fur collars, and nice fur felt hats with contrasting headbands.
If you're interested in hats, it's a great show because there's lots of top hats,
Bowlers, Homburgs, and all kinds of other hats. I particularly like seeing men
wearing those short ties that were prevalent in the 20s,
they're in fact much shorter than what men wear today. Generally, one of the
biggest style takeaway is that you can wear something like a suit and something
that they wear ninety or a hundred years later and don't look out of place.
Some may argue that a hat makes you look very dated but it can be a personal
style hallmark, as Preston shows on an everyday basis.
Show number two is Peaky Blinders. It's unlikely that you haven't heard of them because we've written
about them on our website, it's a very popular show in its fifth season. and it's a
British production. As usually the case with English TV productions, the period
clothing is spot on and much superior than anything you see in US movies or shows.
Peaky Blinders starts in 1919, so a decade before Babylon Berlin, but
because of the unique setting, it has quite a different style and feel.
The show features a curious mix between the British working-class style and a
rebellion towards the stiff, upper-class, British style. It too, shows us a
transition from the Edwardian style with lots of stiff detachable colors in the
beginning towards a slightly different style towards the end of the fifth season.
Today, the show has become rather influential in terms of grooming and
mens style because the high and tight haircuts with strong undercuts are now
much more popular than they used to be when they started.
Likewise, work boots and boots in general, as well as flat caps are
probably now more popular than at the beginning of the show. In our minds, Peaky
Blinders is a masterclass in creating identities through clothing.
Main character Tommy Shelby, his brothers, and his crew all wear three-piece suits with
detachable collars and sometimes no neckwear. They wear nice overcoats that are
typically dark and flat caps, even though they could afford nice, fur felt hats these days.
They got their name Peaky Blinders because they always attach
razor blades to their flat caps that they use to make people blind.
Interestingly, they hem their pants rather short and they often skip neckwear
but rarely the flat cap. The camera mark the style and the music for the
show are in a class of its own, but the clothes as well are worth paying attention to.
To learn more about Peaky Blinders' style
and how you can learn from it and incorporate into your wardrobe, check out this guide here.
The third show is Suits, which is an American legal drama
which ran from 2011 through 2019. It's set in New York and centers around two
lawyers who are known as the best closers in town. The main character Harvey Specter
wears mostly suits which are made-to-measure, single-breasted with a peak lapel, and that's just his style.
He's once quoted saying, "People respond to how we're dressed
so like it or not, that's what we have to do." While you don't have to convince us that
clothes make the man, especially American TV shows, often underestimate the
accuracy and importance of clothing in their shows. Even though the overall look is
targeted more towards a younger audience, what the characters wear is typical
modern-day, white-collar officewear. Harvey typically pairs his signature
suit with widespread, collared shirts and large Windsor knot ties. On a person and a
fan of it, it's definitely a hallmark choice that he makes that's very
characteristic. He wears it to command authority unlike his associate Mike, who
wears more skinny lapels and skinnier ties. It's less authoritarian because it
reflects on his young age versus Harvey who wears wider ties in materials such as
grenadine and it just makes him look less young.
That being said Harvey wears suits more like an armor or a uniform that helps
him further his agenda; because of that, it lacks the elegance of a man who
actually likes to dress and puts a bit more thought into it and has more
variation. Even though one might argue that the white-collar men's fashion
world is not that broad, you could maybe check out Wall Street or you could see a
broader range of styles, and I personally think suits can get a bit boring stylistically.
Nevertheless, it is a better-than-average modern production
and because of that, it made the list. To learn more about Harvey Specter and the
specific styles and suits, please check out this guide on our website here.
Show number four is Hannibal. Even though it only last for three seasons, it was lauded
for his visual style. Just like in the movie Silence of the Lambs, the main
character Mads Mikkelsen is a cannibalistic serial killer. He also
happens to have a taste for clothes and style, in general, and because of that, he
wears a typically formal attire which gives him the illusion of charm and
trustworthiness. In contrast with his deeper character and the disturbing
content of the show, the celebration of food, the interior design, and the way and
the type of clothes he wears are really what makes this show worth watching,
in our opinion. So what does it look like? Well, three-piece suits, white-collared
shirts, bold ties, bold shirts, bold accessories, and even things like dinner
jackets. He sometimes even wears an ascot. While some people may argue his style is a
bit showy, especially for modern American shows, I think it's fantastic to see
someone with a definitely more formal aesthetic and a color characteristic
that is usually unseen. While I don't say you should dress like him at all times,
maybe you can get some inspiration out of it. It's not just the character who's
really into clothes and aesthetic style. To learn more about what Hannibal wears
and how you can emulate the look, check out this guide here.
Fifth show is Mad Men, and you're probably not surprised that it's on the list.
It ran from 2007 through 2015, it's a setting of a typical advertising office in
Manhattan of the 1960s. With their trim, lean, suit silhouettes, mostly skinnier
ties, and skinnier lapels, it was very favorably received with
modern-day men. At the time suit was obligatory and so you'll see everyone
wear suits at all times. Of course, laying the English character
is a bit more flamboyant than Roger Sterling, which has a slightly more older
style than Don Draper, which has the more streamlined modern and his sixties style.
What does that mean? Well, Roger Sterling has three-piece suits with wider lapels
and wider ties, Don Draper has slimmer suits without the vest and a slimmer tie,
and Lane may wear, for example, a red waistcoat. Now many of obligations put
the character Don Draper on this style pedestal, in my opinion, his style isn't
that great. It's very uniform and he uses it like that.
It's not a person who truly enjoys dressing, it's just the regular ad
executive who happens to wear suits because that's what you had to do at the time.
Of course, the short-brimmed hats to slim lapels and the skinny ties or
something that you can totally wear these days. To learn more about the
styles of the different characters, check out the guides that we have on our website,
we wrote about a lot of them. We even have a piece about the accessories
of Don Draper which is his hat, sunglasses, or watch.
Number six is Downton Abbey which lasted for six seasons, had a few movies added on, and
was the quintessential British upper-class drama against, which
all others are measured. It starts the day after the Titanic sank in 1912.
It continues well into the 20s but unlike the Babylon Berlin or Peaky Blinders, it
has a very different aesthetic. Why is that? Well it centers around the titled
Crawley family and most of the show is set around their estate in the English
countryside. Historically, the dress and the clothes at the time
we're strictly dictated by different occasions and because it's a British
production, it's very accurate. It's a trip into an era or
wealth and privilege were still prevalent, and people didn't know what a weekend was.
Of course, ladies had their maid and gentlemen had their valet and
so they were able to dress very elaborately and change many times a day.
In the early seasons, the Edwardian style is still very prevalent. White-tie for
dinner, formal outfits and morning wear during the da,y and it gets a little more
casual along the way. There's even one scene where the Dowager of Downton mistakes
her son for a waiter because he's not wearing black tie. The show reveals how
the changing of styles and fashion was often be sustained by the upper-class as
well as their servants. One of the seasons spans World War I and so you
get to see a lot of accurate military clothing which is quite fascinating.
We covered different men's styles of Downton Abbey quite thoroughly and you can check
them out on our website here. Show number seven is Boardwalk Empire. It's set in
the 1920s Atlantic City and it evolves around the main character, Nucky Thompson.
It spanned from 2010 to 2014, it was one of the most expensive productions at the
time and because of that, they didn't skimp on the clothes. While it may not be
entirely historically accurate, the clothes, the suits, the colors, the
patterns that men wear in this show are fantastic.
As expected, American style was a bit more flamboyant and louder than the British style in
Downton Abbey, but that makes it all the more interesting. You can see many
Winchester shirts, collar clips, three-piece suits,
boutonnieres, hats, and everything a clothes horse is interested in.
Nucky Thompson has a different style than the younger Jimmy Darmody,
than Chalky White who's a lot louder and even wears like orange suits.
It can also be interesting to find little mistakes, such as a center pin
tuxedo with notch lapels. It's not something people would have actually
worn back in the day. Typically, black tie jackets had no vent.
I'm sure the Brits would have never let that happen.
Apart from that you find lots of pastel shirts, large plaids,
and nice fur collars, so definitely something to watch if you're into clothes.
We also talked about to show more in-depth on our website here.
Number eight, The Crown. Again, it's a British TV series that focuses heavily on Queen Elizabeth II
as well as her husband, Prince Philip. Said to have been the most expensive TV
series to have ever been produced, they did not skimp on the clothes either.
Prince Philip, and later son, Prince Charles are two of the most prominent male
characters in the show and you can see their conservative style of sometimes
country suits, blazers, or formal clothing. It also shows us the Duke of Windsor who
obviously is very much into clothing and matching patterns versus the other men
don't really make a big fuss about clothes, it's just something they have to wear.
Nevertheless, for modern standards the degree of naval uniforms, black tie,
and white tie is not something most men can wear today comfortably.
You can also see the style of Anthony Armstrong Jones or Lord Snowdon, which is different
and more modern and upbeat than the classic Prince Phillip, for example.
I'd say from my own standards, the ground is a great show for formal as higher in
menswear and British tailoring. Number nine is Agatha Christie's Poirot.
It started in 1989 and lasted all the way through 2013.
During his 24-year run, David Suchet was always Poirot, and he really
perfected this role, that is not a benchmark that every other Poirot film
is measured against. In over 70 episodes, Poirot, who has an interest in Art Deco
interior design, central heating, and his clothes, as well as solving murders and
crimes using his little gray cells. Even the show is set in the 1930s England,
Poirot has a much more Edwardian style; wearing button boots, spats, and canes.
In combination with his finely groomed moustache, his clothes make him look
permanently overdressed, but that's just to underline his quirky character.
Of course, the show also has many other male characters and in the earlier episodes,
you'll see his companion Arthur Hastings, who was not the brightest bulb but always has a
very nice typical 1930s clothing style. This is a clever character of inertia,
which is entertaining for the whole family. To learn more about the outfits
of Hastings and Poirot, please check out this guide on our website here.
Last but not least, number ten is Succession.
And while it may not be the most interesting show in terms of clothing, it
is overall a fantastic watch. At first glance, the clothes people wear are not
very defining but once you get more into the show, you realize that every outfit is
very characteristic of the person and their status in the show.
For example, main character Logan Roy, who is a media patriarch and mogul
billionaire always wears cardigans because he can. Of course, it could be
also not to the fact that he's becoming an old man but people below him typically wear suits.
Interestingly, most clothes are understated you rarely see labels,
but you also get to dive into the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
None of the main characters in the show seem to particularly like clothes or fashion but
it's still interesting to see how they dress to portray themselves in a certain light.
The daughter Shiv, for example, tries to wear power suits but it's not really
working out for her. Second-born son Kendall Roy who always
tried to impress his father all of a sudden wears Lanvin sneakers
when he invests in a tech startup, and that also backfires. Likewise, the family
accused son-in-law Tom Wamsgans to dress like a lawyer
from the Twin Cities. Even though you won't see men wearing fur coats or
diamond-studded watches, this show really emphasizes that understatements can
sometimes be a great virtue in men's clothing. And a nod to Logan Roy, I'm today,
wearing a knitted, cotton cardigan in navy blue. I'm pairing it with a shirt that
is checked in light blue and white, and I'm pairing it with a mottled silken
knit tie from Fort Belvedere, which you can find in our shop here. It's paired with
a pair of chinos from Ralph Lauren, which is kind of lighter sand-colored
and I have a pair of shadow striped socks in navy blue and grayish-blue,
combined with a pair of chocolate brown loafers. They're typical classic penny
loafers and they work well with the matching belt. I got a silver buckle from
our Fort Belvedere belt system which works well with my silver
white gold pinkie ring. The stone in the ring is light blue and picks up the
color of the shirt thus tying the socks, the shirt, and
everything together neatly. You can find the socks in our shop here.