While making entire cosplays from scratch can be fun, it’s nice to also have a more comfortable option that I mostly purchased instead. This is part of why I selected Thomas Shelby for my Sunday C2E2 2026 costume. He has style, is a morally gray man (which are my favorite to cosplay) and ultimately ended up looking super cool in photos thanks to Juan (Pintography). This guide will go over everything I purchased and made so you can also know how to cosplay Tommy Shelby.
Thomas Shelby Cosplay Buying Guide
Most of the garments I purchased. These are what you need to look for:
- 3 piece suit – I wanted to ensure my suit would be one Tommy would wear throughout the course of all 6 seasons of Peaky Blinders. So I chose a three piece set that would have a matching blazer, vest and pleated pants. I also chose something slim fit to better accent my body. Cillian has a slim stature when the coat isn’t on and I felt it was important to accent this. I chose a suit set in the color grey and made sure it had the retro Herringbone pattern. The fabric should have a typical wool or suiting fabric look to it.
- Jacket – His jacket is vital for creating the perfect silhouette while walking down the street with a smoke in hand. It needed to be a wool, knee-length, black trench or pea coat. The notched collar was essential and it was a single breasted jacket. His technically has a maroon/red silk lining as well.
- Shirt – While it may seem like any button up, collared shirt will do, you actually need something a bit more specific. Thomas Shelby typically has worn club collared shirts that are light colored. One such was white with thin, light blue stripes. The collar bar is optional depending on if you go for an earlier or later era of Tommy.
- Shoes – Standard black dress shoes are what works best for Tommy. I had squared tipped shoes that I happened to have for other cosplays as well and used them.
- Gloves – You will need black, leather appearing gloves with a twisted cording pattern on the top of them. It will appear as three lines.
- Sleeve garters – With the old-school fashion and style, you need to have sleeve garters. His are typically a metal color such as brass or bronze.
How to Make a Tommy Shelby Peaky Blinder Hat
I didn’t make the entire hat from scratch. But, it is easy to modify a purchased cap.
- Step 1. Make the razor blades – I 3D printed razor blades that also have Peaky Blinders engraved on them. I then did surface prep so they would look clean.
- Step 2. Paint the blades – You then want to paint the blades to have a silvery, metal look and seal them with a gloss clear coat.
- Step 3. Get a hat – I used a wool, herringbone patterned, grey newsboy cap. The hat brim had a snap though to help for modifying it.
- Step 4. Attach the blades – I then super glued the blades in place so they would slightly peak out at the edge of the cap.
How to Make a Thomas Shelby Wig
To make the Thomas Shelby wig, I had to use a simple toupe. I do have a hair cut similar to him but didn’t want to cut it as short. So with a quick shave of my sides, tucking with bobby pins and a properly styled toupe, I was able to rock the Thomas Shelby hair cut.
How to Make a Tommy Shelby Pistol
I also 3D printed a Webley revolver pistol with an orange foam tip that attaches with a magnet so it was safe for cons but looked realistic in photos. The paint job was brown for the handle and a graphite black for the remainder of the pistol.
How to Make a Thomas Shelby Holster Harness
The harness was leftover brown pleather I had that I pattern drafted and then sewed so it wrapped around my shoulders and had the holster tucked under my left armpit.
How to Make a Tommy Shelby Pocket Watch Jewel
I 3D printed the pocket watch jewelry and attached a custom chain to it. Then I attached that to a store bought pocket watch that matched Tommy’s which was a light silver gold.
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