British Workwear

tropicalbob · Jun 16, 2015

I couldn't agree more. Does anyone know the years in which that series takes place? That overcoat looks similar to the army ones (U.S.) of WWI. Those were very heavy, though, while that one looks a bit more manageable.

Flat Foot Floey · Jun 16, 2015

Just after WW1. I think 1919?

Two Types · Jun 16, 2015

Early 1920s ... although the look seemed to be a bit mixed.

Edward · Jun 16, 2015

Series 1 opens in 1919. I don't recall any firm dates being placed thereafter on it. Series 2 opens some time later. Based on what I think I remember being muttered about contemporary Irish politics in the background, I'm fairly sure that some portion of the second series takes place during the same era as the Irish Civil War, which ran from June 22 to May 23.

Two Types said:
Whatever happened to those stripey huts?

Ha, I'd forgotten those.... I can only assume that wider deployment of vehicles means that the workmen that might once have sat in one of those huts to take their lunch now sit in the van instead...

BootsNBraces · Jun 16, 2015

I watched the 2 series of Peaky Blinders fairly recently - a month or two back. It is set in the early 1920s following the end of the First World War. Lots of talk of the IRA and Communism. Despite being set in the 1920s the show doesn't actually use period clothing as such - I remember watching an interview where they were talking about the clothing and haircuts - most things are slight exaggeration or stylised modern take on appearances of the time. Think of it more as a heavily influenced 1920s wardrobe rather than an authentic one.

The real Peaky Blinders were actually around in the late 19th Century but I think they brought it forward in time for stylistic and narrative reasons.
If you haven't seen the show I'd recommend it.

Eddie Derbyshire · Jun 17, 2015

Yes, I think they do a good job of creating 'costumes' that hold their essence in the post-war years, but aren't necessarily definable.

I suppose 'high-fashion' of the sort that we usually associate with the 1920s and immediate post-war era wouldn't necessarily filter down everywhere very quickly, especially the poorer districts of the cities, where working-class fashion trends would emerge of their own volition. Similar things occurred, I suppose, after the Second World War - despite there being leading fashions for men and women that were progressing, my grandparents wore fashions in the 1950s that were out-of-date. Of course other elements come into it (locality, rationing etc.) but I wonder if fashion was a lot more isolated back then than it is now.

Either way, I'd kill for one of the suits from Peaky Blinders - although I would wear a tie with my collar

esteban68 · Jun 17, 2015

In a similar vein there is a local history book in my area about a local mining community in Staveley. ..In the book there is street photo showing women in the village wearing essentially late Victoria costumes similar to Lark Rise to CandleFord , white bonnets, aprons the lot...only it is dated on the photo as 1927!

Edward · Jun 17, 2015

There's no doubt it's a stylised look for the most part. Which is appropriate, given that the original Peakies did, as I read, dandify themselves a bit with brightly coloured scarves and such (as distinct from the studded-but-tieless collar look of the television version). The original gang were indeed first around in the 1880s, though still active to some extent in the 20s.

Point well made re high fashion versus what people actually wore.... My grandparents in the 70s dressed as if it was still the fifties... Check out any decent, visually accurate film made about Northern Ireland in the late eighties (Fifty Dead Men Walking is a superb example), and you'll see that well into the eighties people dressed like it was still 1979 in Belfast (which in many ways it was, right up until 1997...). Look at British films such as Clockwise - made in 1983, but you'd swear it was 1979, based on the clothes people are wearing, the cars on the road, and so many other visual cues. This sort of thing is what period pieces most commonly get very wrong. It's a bit like the difference between somebody who lives in a house which is decorated as it truly would have been circa 1955, and that couple you always see on some regional news programme or another... different part of the world, different faces, but always the same couple, really - "Meet the husband and wife who live in the Fifties"..... which actually means they've converted their 1970s-built house into the set of the diner from Happy Days....

esteban68 · Jun 17, 2015

Often true Edward!

Eddie Derbyshire · Jul 9, 2015

While doing my research into hospitals, I have come across a few pics of people from back in the era. I don't come across as many pictures of people as I would like - it's usually old surgical equipment or photos of spooky old hospital wards.

This, from Babington Hospital, Belper, c.1950s.

Fellow to the left pulling of the light-jacket-dark-trousers look. Anyone else do this? I always struggle with it...

Ilkeston General Hospital, c.1948.

The collected staff of Ilkeston General Hospital in around 1948. I really like the fellow on the far-right with the bib-and-braces, collar and tie, and chore jacket. I think it's a lovely smart look for doing a bit of outdoor/mucky work. Also notice the doctors in their white coats, and the variations in the nurse's attire.

Ilkeston General Hospital, c.1910

Two very sombre looking nurses. The nurse's uniform remained largely unchanged for about 50 years from about 1910 to the 1960s, with white hat and apron, and a very modestly-cut dress, thick stockings and a sensible cloak or coat for house-visits. Most Nursing Associations were founded along lines of Evangelical Christianity, and so espoused chastity and sobriety among their nurses above all else. Nurses would live in the hospitals, under the strict supervision of the matron, and were unable to receive male visitors unless they were relatives. I think the uniforms more than aptly reflect these attitudes. In this photo you can see that crossover between what would be typically seen as a nun's habit, to a more functional version of the uniform.

herringbonekid · Aug 23, 2015

1930s:

esteban68 · Aug 23, 2015

Another cracking photo HBK!

herringbonekid · Aug 23, 2015

funny how the dungarees make him look slightly more 'American'.

esteban68 · Aug 23, 2015

Yes but the stumpy fellow in the waistcoat brings it back to Britain again!

MikePotts · Aug 23, 2015

For Eddie:

'ere's me mum Nora (right) & 'er friend Sybil at work in the 40's:

Eddie Derbyshire · Aug 24, 2015

herringbonekid said:
funny how the dungarees make him look slightly more 'American'.

I think 'bib-and-braces' were standard for agricultural workers/farmers. Even until recently, before my wife's grandfather passed away he would opt for them over overalls. I've now got one of his pairs

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Eddie Derbyshire · Aug 24, 2015

MikePotts said:
For Eddie:

'ere's me mum Nora (right) & 'er friend Sybil at work in the 40's:

Thanks MikePotts! Great photo! Do you mind me asking what kind of nurses they were and where they worked?

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MikePotts · Aug 25, 2015

She was a nurse pretty much all her life, I think this picture was taken during WWII when she was Matron of a children's hospital in Durham City (when a Matron she had the reputation of being a 'Tartar' !)

fiftyforfifty · Aug 26, 2015

Why societies, communities and especially individuals becoming materialist, I mean what is happening to humanity now a days

Edward · Aug 26, 2015

Eddie Derbyshire said:
I think 'bib-and-braces' were standard for agricultural workers/farmers. Even until recently, before my wife's grandfather passed away he would opt for them over overalls. I've now got one of his pairs

I worked in a diy/ woodyard / plumbing / building supplies place during my university years. A lot of our regulars were farmworkers (some you could usually smell coming from round the corner...). Dungarees (as I've always known them, though I know in the US at least that doesn't always conjure up the same garment) were still popular with that crowd. T-shirts underneath for the younger folks, still a collar and tie and sometimes an old tweed jacket for the over-fifties. Tis was back in the mid-late nineties. They were also popular, I think still are, with kids. Occasionally see them in the rockabilly scene here now, moreso hip hop, but as a rule in fashion terms it's more females than males I see in 'em. Typically denim for those wearing them for fashion; those wearing them as working clothes are more likely to be wearing some sort of heavy cotton drill pair in my experience. I have a strong association of a depp, navy-coloured cotton drill as being xommon on working people back in the day. A lot of those who would have worn them for working nowadays are more commonly seen in boiler suits, I think.

Every once in a blue moon, I'm tempted, but I can never convince myself of them.... Last wore 'em when I was six. Apart from the American Gothic costume, of course...

fiftyforfifty said:
Why societies, communities and especially individuals becoming materialist, I mean what is happening to humanity now a days

Far from a new issue (though quick and easy credit hasn't helped it). I'm sure Socrates complained about this too.

Two very sombre looking nurses. The nurse's uniform remained largely unchanged for about 50 years from about 1910 to the 1960s, with white hat and apron, and a very modestly-cut dress, thick stockings and a sensible cloak or coat for house-visits. Most Nursing Associations were founded along lines of Evangelical Christianity, and so espoused chastity and sobriety among their nurses above all else. Nurses would live in the hospitals, under the strict supervision of the matron, and were unable to receive male visitors unless they were relatives. I think the uniforms more than aptly reflect these attitudes. In this photo you can see that crossover between what would be typically seen as a nun's habit, to a more functional version of the uniform.

Amazing how quickly it change,d isn't it? I remember being in hospital to have my appendix out in 1996; back then, most nurses still wore a dress and the small 'hat'. These days, I think they're pretty much all in the same sort of surgical scrubs that theatre staff wear.

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