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Costume design that shaped a show like no other
Sons of Anarchy is one of the high-stakes outlaw drama of the 2000s, but it owes most to its visual language.
Created by Kurt Sutter, the series has been called „Hamlet on motorcycles“, showing its theatrical tone but not how the world is built through its wardrobe.
Kelli Jones, whose work not only shaped the Sons but the whole world that everybody cherished onscreen.
Sourcing leather jackets, Dickies, Levi’s and accessories across LA, pulling from high-end stores or 5-dollar thrifts while also designing key pieces herself.
Her research extended into actual biker gangs from all over the States to distinguish the visual codes and learn about their clothing choices.
The result is an aesthetic that perfectly embodies the patchwork character of the club. Jones’s highly selective approach to the wardrobe also earned her a nomination for the Costume Designers Guild Award in 2011.
Small details like certain jewellery (or maybe no jewellery at all), bandana colour, fabric choices and more all add to signals of who’s part of which group.
At the core are the sleeveless leather vests “cuts” which are more like armour. Plastered with patches, they inherit rank, loyalty, history, membership.
The signature Reaper, designed by tattoo artist Freddie Corbin, became iconic even though the original version had to be changed due to a real club’s emblem being too similar.
The Sons tend to throw on a very subtle, restricted colour palette but its small differences hold lots of meaning. However, the clearest contrast is seen between generations within the gang. The younger members have a more urban, relaxed hip-hop-influenced look with baggy jeans, white oversized tees and the occasional white trainers. Jax sits right at the centre of that shift as his style reflects both modern influence and his everlasting internal conflict.
In Sons of Anarchy, costume is not just decoration or one aspect but gives it structure and the feel of being whole.
Jones’s work turned clothing into a coded system of identity and power, helping to transform the fictional club into a fully realistic and relatable one.
Sons of Anarchy is one of the high-stakes outlaw drama of the 2000s, but it owes most to its visual language.
Created by Kurt Sutter, the series has been called „Hamlet on motorcycles“, showing its theatrical tone but not how the world is built through its wardrobe.
Kelli Jones, whose work not only shaped the Sons but the whole world that everybody cherished onscreen.
Sourcing leather jackets, Dickies, Levi’s and accessories across LA, pulling from high-end stores or 5-dollar thrifts while also designing key pieces herself.
Her research extended into actual biker gangs from all over the States to distinguish the visual codes and learn about their clothing choices.
The result is an aesthetic that perfectly embodies the patchwork character of the club. Jones’s highly selective approach to the wardrobe also earned her a nomination for the Costume Designers Guild Award in 2011.
Small details like certain jewellery (or maybe no jewellery at all), bandana colour, fabric choices and more all add to signals of who’s part of which group.
At the core are the sleeveless leather vests “cuts” which are more like armour. Plastered with patches, they inherit rank, loyalty, history, membership.
The signature Reaper, designed by tattoo artist Freddie Corbin, became iconic even though the original version had to be changed due to a real club’s emblem being too similar.
The Sons tend to throw on a very subtle, restricted colour palette but its small differences hold lots of meaning. However, the clearest contrast is seen between generations within the gang. The younger members have a more urban, relaxed hip-hop-influenced look with baggy jeans, white oversized tees and the occasional white trainers. Jax sits right at the centre of that shift as his style reflects both modern influence and his everlasting internal conflict.
In Sons of Anarchy, costume is not just decoration or one aspect but gives it structure and the feel of being whole.
Jones’s work turned clothing into a coded system of identity and power, helping to transform the fictional club into a fully realistic and relatable one.
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