Four Afghan men were ordered to report to the Taliban government's department of vice and virtue for dressing in costumes inspired by the TV series Peaky Blinders.
The friends were told that their clothing was in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values, a Taliban spokesman told the BBC, adding the values portrayed in Peaky Blinders clashed with Afghan culture.
In videos posted online, the men, who have been released, can be seen posing in flat caps and three-piece suits similar to those worn in the English series set shortly after World War One.
Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, they have enforced various restrictions on daily life in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
Even jeans would have been acceptable, but the values in the Peaky Blinders series are against Afghan culture, Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Taliban government's provincial department of Vice and Virtue in Herat city told the BBC.
The men, all in their early twenties, hail from the town of Jibrail in Herat province, and were summoned to the Taliban's morality police on Sunday, attending questioning the following day.
They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat, Khyber wrote on social media, noting that they had undergone a rehabilitation programme.
Although not formally arrested, they were summoned and advised and released, Khyber stated.
He added, We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles.
The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture. Secondly, their actions were an imitation of actors from a British movie. Our society is Muslim; if we are to follow or imitate someone, we should follow our righteous religious predecessors in good and lawful matters.
The men expressed gratitude to officials for their advice in a video released after questioning, acknowledging ignorance of any law violations. I have innocently been sharing content that was against Sharia which had many viewers, one admitted in the video.
An interview on the YouTube channel Herat-Mic revealed their admiration for the fashion displayed in the series, noting positive feedback from locals earlier this November. At first we were hesitant, but once we went outside, people liked our style, stopped us in the streets, and wanted to take photos with us, one remarked.
