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Zoot suit

February 27, 2023

For other uses, see Zoot Suit (disambiguation).

A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit[1]) is a men's suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. It is most notable for its use as a cultural symbol among the Hepcat and Pachuco subcultures, although it was popular among African, Mexican, Filipino, Italian, and Japanese Americans in the 1940s.[2][3][4][5]

African American teenagers wearing zoot suits, 1942

The zoot suit originated in an African American comedy show in the 1930s and was popularized by jazz singers. Cab Calloway called them "totally and truly American". The suits were worn mainly by men of color, including a young Malcolm X.[6] During the rationing of World War II, they were criticized as a wasteful use of cloth, wool being rationed then. In 1942, the War Production Board issued restrictions aimed at stopping the sale of zoot suits.[6]

Predominately Mexican and Black zoot suiters became victims of racial mob violence in the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots.[7][8] Shortly after, wearing of the zoot suit was indefinitely banned in Los Angeles via a city wide ordinance.[9] The zoot suit become an important symbol of cultural pride in the Chicano Movement.[10] It experienced a brief resurgence in the swing revival scene in the 1990s.[11] The suit is still worn by Chicanos for memorialization events and special occasions.[12][13]

History

Hepcats

Main article: Hipster (1940s subculture)
 
Trumpeter from Lionel Hamptons band wearing a zoot suit
 
Cab Calloway wears a white zoot suit in a lobby card for the 1943 musical film Stormy Weather.

The zoot suit was created by Ernest "Skillet" Mayhand during his shows as a part of the comedy act "Pots, Pans & Skillet" an act that ran on the "Chitlin' Circuit".[citation needed] The suits were first associated with African-American communities in Harlem,[14] Chicago, and Detroit in the 1930s,[14] but were made popular nationwide by Jazz and Jump Blues musicians in the 1940s. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "zoot" probably comes from a reduplication of suit. The creation and naming of the zoot suit have been variously attributed to Harold C. Fox, a Chicago clothier and big-band trumpeter;[15] Charles Klein and Vito Bagnato of New York City;[16] Louis Lettes, a Memphis tailor;[17] and Nathan (Toddy) Elkus, a Detroit retailer.[18][19]

 
Malcolm X wearing a zoot suit (1940)

"A Zoot Suit (For My Sunday Gal)" was a 1942 song written by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Bob O'Brien.[20] Jazz bandleader Cab Calloway frequently wore zoot suits on stage, including some with exaggerated details, such as extremely wide shoulders or overly draped jackets.[21] He wore one in the 1943 film Stormy Weather. In his dictionary, Cab Calloway's Cat-ologue: A "Hepster's" Dictionary (1938), he called the zoot suit "the ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit."[22]

Pachucos and Pachucas

Main articles: Pachuco and Pachucas
 
Frank Tellez, a 22-year-old Mexican American man, models a zoot suit while arrested during the Zoot Suit Riots (1943)

Pachucos and Pachucas were early Chicano youth who participated in a subculture that fashioned zoot suits.[23] The subculture emerged in El Paso, Texas in the late 1930s and quickly spread to Los Angeles.[24] Pachucos and Pachucas embraced this style that challenged white American norms around race and gender norms[25][26] The Mexican American zoot suit style was usually black, sharkskin, charcoal gray, dark blue, or brown in color with pinstripes.[8] African American styles usually incorporated brighter colors, thick chalk stripes, floppy hats, and long chains more often than Mexican Americans.[8] Both Pachucos and Hepcats functioned on the margins in American society.[8] Some Pachucos and Hepcats shared solidarity or respect for one another because of this.[8]

In the early 1940s, Pachucos were associated with violence and criminal behavior by the American media, which fueled anti-Mexican sentiment and especially negative views of the zoot suit style in Los Angeles.[27] Pachucas, some of whom also wore the zoot suit, often with some modifications and additional accessories like dark lipstick, were seen as threatening to ideas of family stability and racial uplift, often shunned by their communities and the wider public.[28] The zoot suits became framed as unpatriotic, referring to the excessiveness of cloth.[7][29] In 1942, police from across Los Angeles arrested 600 Mexican Americans in the Sleepy Lagoon murder case, which involved the murder of one man, José Gallardo Díaz, at a party.[7] Almost all of those arrested as allegedly potential suspects were wearing zoot suits.[7]

Media coverage before and after the case sensationalized and further fanned the flames of hostile anti-Mexican sentiments in the city and abroad.[7] This made some Mexican Americans hesitant to wear the zoot suit, since they did not want to be viewed as criminals simply for their style of dress.[8] Some Pachucos became affiliated with early gangs in Los Angeles and embraced their presumed-to-be criminal status with the zoot suit.[8] Others wore the zoot suit, but refused to refer to themselves as 'zoot suiters.'[8] Mexican Americans who rejected Pachucos and zoot suit attire became known as 'squares' who were said to believe in assimilation and racial uplift theory.[8]

 
Mexican American men were stripped of their zoot suits by U.S. servicemen in the Zoot Suit Riots. Despite being attacked, many were also arrested.[27]

This tension exploded in 1943 in a series of anti-Mexican riots in Los Angeles that became termed the Zoot Suit Riots.[27] For ten days, white U.S. servicemen cruised Mexican American neighborhoods searching for zoot suiters to attack.[7] In some cases, youth as young as twelve were attacked and dragged out of establishments.[7] Filipinos and Black zoot suiters were also targeted, such as a Black man who had his eye gouged out with a knife by "a crowd of whites."[8] After being attacked, Mexican and Black zoot suiters rioted against white U.S. servicemen.[8] On the fifth day of the riots, the zoot suiters repelled attackers in a coordinated effort.[8] Busloads of police were brought in to rescue "the retreating servicemen," after which "dozens of Mexicans" were arrested.[8] Military officials declared Los Angeles off limits to servicemen the next day.[8]

After hearing of the event, an article for the Pittsburg Courier warned that Black zoot suiters could be the next target for "the patriotic lawlessness of men in uniform" and stated that both "Los Angeles Negro and Mexican zoot suiters are closer together than they are to members of their own racial group."[8] Norris J. Nelson, Los Angeles City Council member, proposed outlawing zoot suits.[8] An ordinance was then passed in Los Angeles that banned the wearing of zoot suits in the city indefinitely.[9] Cesar Chavez sported zoot suit attire in his younger years and the zoot suit became an important cultural symbol for the Chicano Movement.[30] The earliest youth who reclaimed the word Chicano as an identity of empowerment were in fact Pachucos.[31]

White Americans

 
Soldier inspecting the zoot suit attire of two white youths (1942)

Throughout the 1940s, white American views on the zoot suit varied. The jive talk of African American hepcats had spread, or been appropriated, among white middle class youth in the early 1940s.[32] This began to erase the origins of the zoot suit as a Black cultural symbol, which made it more acceptable to white Americans.[32] Prior to the Zoot Suit Riots, the zoot suit was sometimes positioned as a symbol of American individualism and even patriotism in comparison to the fascist uniform attire and regimentation of Nazi Germany.[32] White and Black soldiers would sometimes be seen "zooting" their uniforms in war effort photos, with the press presenting the zoot suit as a symbol of youthful relatability rather than as an oppositional or unpatriotic symbol.[32] Most of the visible tension surrounding the zoot suit prior to the riots was concentrated in the Los Angeles area regarding the spread of anti-Mexican sentiment among whites in the city.[32]

Trinidad

 
calypso singers

Zoot suits not only played a historical role in the subculture in the United States in the 1940s, but also shaped a new generation of men in Trinidad. These Trinidadian men who adopted this American fashion became referred to as the "saga boys"; they wore these suits and embraced the glamorous lifestyle that they represented. "Their fondness for the zoot suit, in particular signified a rejection of Anglo-centric precepts not only about fashion but, more profoundly, about manhood."[33]

Therefore, although the "saga boys" had the appearance of adapting to the urban American way of life, they were in fact using this clothing and lifestyle as a way to improve their lives in Trinidad, rise above the restrictions that imperialism brought and create through this oppositional dress, a culture of their own.[33]

Swing revival era

Main article: Swing revival

In the swing revival era, which started in 1989 and carried to about 1998, the zoot suit experienced a small resurgence mostly based in nostalgia of the 1940s era, yet notably missed many of the racial dynamics that surrounded the zoot suit.[11][34] Bands included The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Royal Crown Revue, and Cherry Poppin' Daddies.[11] One of the popular songs of the era was the Cherry Poppin' Daddies' "Zoot Suit Riot," which presented the historical moment of the Zoot Suit Riots through a lens of masculine power.[11]

Contemporary

 
Man in a red zoot suit at an event (2012)

The zoot suit is regularly memorialized by the Chicano community today as a symbol of cultural pride.[12][35][36] Some of this is owed to Luis Valdez's 1979 play Zoot Suit and its subsequent 1981 film, which carried knowledge of the era and interest in the style forward.[37][38] Outside of memorialization events, such as those held on the anniversary of the Zoot Suit Riots,[35][12] the zoot suit is still sometimes worn by Chicanos for special occasions, including proms, usually as a dual display of formal wear and cultural pride.[13][39] It is also worn in certain urban areas in Mexico for similar purposes.[40]

Characteristics

 
African American man in zoot suit, 1940s

Traditionally, zoot suits have been worn with a fedora or pork pie hat color-coordinated with the suit, occasionally with a long feather as decoration, and pointy, French-style shoes.[citation needed]

A young Malcolm X, who wore zoot suits in his youth, described the zoot suit as: "a killer-diller coat with a drape shape, reet pleats, and shoulders padded like a lunatic's cell".[41] Zoot suits usually featured a watch chain dangling from the belt to the knee or below, then back to a side pocket. A woman accompanying a man wearing a zoot suit would commonly wear a flared skirt and a long coat.[42]

The amount of material and tailoring required made them luxury items, so much so that the U.S. War Production Board said that they wasted materials that should be devoted to the World War II war effort.[43] When Life published photographs of zoot suiters in 1942, the magazine joked that they were "solid arguments for lowering the Army draft age to include 18-year-olds".[42] This extravagance, which many considered unpatriotic in wartime, was a factor in the Zoot Suit Riots. To some, wearing the oversized suit was a declaration of freedom and self-determination, even rebelliousness.[44][45]

Some observers[who?] claim that the "Edwardian-look" suits with velvet lapels worn by Teddy Boys in Britain are a derivative of the zoot suit.[46]

Media

 
Entertainers wearing zoot suits for Hit Parade of 1943.
 
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Katherine Dunham in the Broadway show “Star Spangled Rhythm.”

See also

  • Zazou – Subculture in France during World War II

References

  1. ^ Calderin, Jay (2013). The Fashion Design Reference & Specification Book: Everything Fashion Designers Need to Know Every Day. Rockport Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59253-850-8.
  2. ^ Walker, John (1992). A Glossary of Art, Architecture and Design Since 1945 (3rd ed.). G. K. Hall & Co. ISBN 9780853656395.
  3. ^ Maddan, Heather (April 29, 2007). "Zooting up / Brighten prom night with flash, dash - and panache". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. ^ "L.A. In the Zoot Suit Era :: Zoot Suit Discovery Guide".
  5. ^ "The Zoot Suit and Youth Culture".
  6. ^ a b Peiss, Kathy (2011). Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780812204599.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g "Zoot Suit Riots | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Macias, Anthony F. (2008). Mexican American mojo : popular music, dance, and urban culture in Los Angeles, 1935-1968. Durham: Duke University Press. pp. 105–115. ISBN 978-0-8223-8938-5. OCLC 308677458.
  9. ^ a b Franco, Antonio (2018-06-28). "Threads of the Zoot Suit Riots: How the initial explanations for the riots hold up today". Voces Novae. 10 (1). To curb this, at the end of the meeting they voted on and approved a "City-wide Ordinance Banning the Wearing of Zoot suits within the City of Los Angeles," indefinitely.
  10. ^ Sandoval, Denise M. (2013). "The Politics of Low and Slow/Bajito y Suavecito: Black and Chicano Lowriders in Los Angeles, from the 1960s through the 1970s". In Kun, Josh; Pulido, Laura (eds.). Black and Brown in Los Angeles: Beyond Conflict and Coalition. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 197. ISBN 9780520956872.
  11. ^ a b c d Howard, Sarah Elizabeth (2010). "Zoot to boot: the zoot suit as both costume and symbol". Studies in Latin American Popular Culture. 28: 112–131. doi:10.1353/sla.0.0004. ISSN 0730-9139. PMID 20836266. S2CID 30345366.
  12. ^ a b c "78th Anniversary of LA's Zoot Suit Riots in Commerce". NBC Los Angeles. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  13. ^ a b Little, Emerson (2021-11-17). "Estrella Family Fashions Zoot Suits at El Pachuco -". fullertonobserver.com. Retrieved 2023-01-18. Some of the store's busiest times of the year include Halloween and prom season.
  14. ^ a b Gregory, Alice (April 16, 2020). "A Brief History of the Zoot Suit". Smithsonian Magazine.
  15. ^ McG. Thomas, Robert (August 1, 1996). "Harold Fox, Who Took Credit For the Zoot Suit, Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  16. ^ "Clipping from The Daily Telegram". The Daily Telegram. Adrian, Michigan. 1943-06-28. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-04-06.Clipping from The Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan), June 28, 1943, p. 8.
  17. ^ Bird, Christiane (2001). The Da Capo Jazz And Blues Lover's Guide To The U.S.. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81034-3.[page needed]
  18. ^ . Daily News Record. January 2, 1992. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  19. ^ Elkus, Philip L. (August 4, 1996). "Zoot Suit Required Cutting and Cajoling". The New York Times. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  20. ^ Powell, Azizi (2014-02-12). "Two Examples Of The 1942 Song "Zoot Suit (For My Sunday Gal)"". pancocojams. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  21. ^ Alvarez, Luis (2009). The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II. Univ. of California Press. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-0-520-26154-9.
  22. ^ "Zoot Suit Riots". History. September 27, 2017.
  23. ^ Ramos, Lisa Y. (2010). Ramírez, Catherine S. (ed.). "She's Stylin': La Pachuca, Chicana Resistance, and the Politics of Representation". Reviews in American History. 38 (3): 562–568. doi:10.1353/rah.2010.0021. ISSN 0048-7511. JSTOR 40865459. S2CID 143131289.
  24. ^ Chàvez Candelaria, Cordelia (2004). "Pachucos". Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture: Volume 2. Greenwood Press. pp. 610–11. ISBN 9780313332111.
  25. ^ Ramírez, Catherine Sue (2009). The woman in the zoot suit : gender, nationalism, and the cultural politics of memory. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4286-1. OCLC 272303247.
  26. ^ "Zoot Suit Girls". National Museum of American History. 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  27. ^ a b c Perez McCluskey, Cynthia; Villaruel, Francisco A. (2007). "Policing the Latino Community". Latinos in a Changing Society. Praegar Publishers. pp. 186–87. ISBN 9780275962333.
  28. ^ Escobedo, Elizabeth Rachel (2013). From coveralls to zoot suits : the lives of Mexican American women on the World War II home front. Chapel Hill. pp. 10–12. ISBN 978-1-4696-0206-6. OCLC 841229543.
  29. ^ . Duchess Clothier. Archived from the original on 2016-02-19. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  30. ^ Bruns, Roger (c. 2011). Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers movement. Greenwood. ISBN 9780313386503. OCLC 846451052.
  31. ^ Macías, Anthony (2008). Mexican American Mojo: Popular Music, Dance, and Urban Culture in Los Angeles, 1935–1968. Duke University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780822389385.
  32. ^ a b c d e Peiss, Kathy Lee (2011). Zoot suit : the enigmatic career of an extreme style. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 96–101. ISBN 978-0-8122-4337-6. OCLC 822890077.
  33. ^ a b Neptune, Harvey R. (2007). Caliban and the Yankees. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 105–128.
  34. ^ "Let's All Remember The Late-'90s Swing Revival". Stereogum. 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  35. ^ a b "The Zoot Suit Riots Cruise brings back 'a forgotten era'". Los Angeles Times. 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  36. ^ Ruelas, Renee. "Zoot Suit Pachanga celebrates culture, history". Las Cruces Sun-News. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  37. ^ Staff, Daily Chela (2021-05-23). "Lowrider Cruise To Commemorate Zoot Suit Riot Anniversary". The Daily Chela. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  38. ^ Bromwich, Jonah Engel (2017-03-30). "California Today: 'Zoot Suit' Memories". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  39. ^ Valenzuela, Eric (2010-03-23). "Zoot Suit Riot". Latino Los Ángeles. Retrieved 2023-01-18. They are still worn from time to time by pachucos and vatos who want to dress up.
  40. ^ WW, FashionNetwork com. "Mexico's 'pachucos' keep zoot suits, defiance alive". FashionNetwork.com. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  41. ^ Lennard, John (2007). Walter Mosley: "Devil in a Blue Dress" (e-book). Humanities-Ebooks. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-84760-042-4. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
  42. ^ a b "Zoot suits". Life. 1942-09-21. p. 44. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  43. ^ Rottman, Gordon L. (2007). FUBAR: Soldier Slang of World War II. Oxford: Botley. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-84603-176-2.
  44. ^ Osgerby, Bill (2008). "Understanding the 'Jackpot Market': Media, Marketing, and the Rise of the American Teenager". In Patrick L. Jamieson & Daniel Romer (ed.). The Changing Portrayal of Adolescents in the Media Since 1950. New York: Oxford University Press US. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-0-19-534295-6.
  45. ^ Icarus Films: Seven Songs for Malcolm X. icarusfilms.com. 1993-09-15. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  46. ^ Mazón, Mauricio (2010). The Zoot-Suit Riots: The Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292788213. Retrieved 30 January 2016.

Further reading

  • Alvarez, Luis. The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II (University of California Press, 2008).
  • Cosgrove, Stuart (1984). . History Workshop Journal. 18: 77–91. doi:10.1093/hwj/18.1.77. Archived from the original on 2014-08-13. Republished in: Cosgrove, Stuart (2005). "The Zoot-Suit and Style Warfare". In Cameron, Ardis (ed.). Looking for America: The Visual Production of Nation and People. pp. 264–80. doi:10.1002/9780470774885.ch10. ISBN 978-1-4051-1465-3.
  • Turner, Ralph H.; Surace, Samuel J. (1956). "Zoot-Suiters and Mexicans: Symbols in Crowd Behavior". American Journal of Sociology. 62 (1): 14–20. doi:10.1086/221893. JSTOR 2773799. S2CID 143875170.
  • Tyler, Bruce (1994). "Zoot-Suit Culture and the Black Press". The Journal of American Culture. 17 (2): 21–33. doi:10.1111/j.1542-734X.1994.00021.x.
  • Alford, Holly (2004). "The Zoot Suit: Its History and Influence". Fashion Theory. 8 (2): 225–36. doi:10.2752/136270404778051807. S2CID 194180401.
  • del Castillo, Richard Griswold (2000). "The Los Angeles 'Zoot Suit Riots' Revisited: Mexican and Latin American Perspectives". Mexican Studies. 16 (2): 367–91. doi:10.1525/msem.2000.16.2.03a00080. JSTOR 1052202.

External links

  • The Zoot Suit Riots. Article about the zoot suit riots of 1943.

February 27, 2023
zoot, suit, other, uses, zoot, suit, disambiguation, zoot, suit, occasionally, spelled, zuit, suit, suit, with, high, waisted, wide, legged, tight, cuffed, pegged, trousers, long, coat, with, wide, lapels, wide, padded, shoulders, most, notable, cultural, symb. For other uses see Zoot Suit disambiguation A zoot suit occasionally spelled zuit suit 1 is a men s suit with high waisted wide legged tight cuffed pegged trousers and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders It is most notable for its use as a cultural symbol among the Hepcat and Pachuco subcultures although it was popular among African Mexican Filipino Italian and Japanese Americans in the 1940s 2 3 4 5 African American teenagers wearing zoot suits 1942The zoot suit originated in an African American comedy show in the 1930s and was popularized by jazz singers Cab Calloway called them totally and truly American The suits were worn mainly by men of color including a young Malcolm X 6 During the rationing of World War II they were criticized as a wasteful use of cloth wool being rationed then In 1942 the War Production Board issued restrictions aimed at stopping the sale of zoot suits 6 Predominately Mexican and Black zoot suiters became victims of racial mob violence in the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots 7 8 Shortly after wearing of the zoot suit was indefinitely banned in Los Angeles via a city wide ordinance 9 The zoot suit become an important symbol of cultural pride in the Chicano Movement 10 It experienced a brief resurgence in the swing revival scene in the 1990s 11 The suit is still worn by Chicanos for memorialization events and special occasions 12 13 Contents 1 History 1 1 Hepcats 1 2 Pachucos and Pachucas 1 3 White Americans 1 4 Trinidad 1 5 Swing revival era 1 6 Contemporary 2 Characteristics 3 Media 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory EditHepcats Edit Main article Hipster 1940s subculture Trumpeter from Lionel Hamptons band wearing a zoot suit Cab Calloway wears a white zoot suit in a lobby card for the 1943 musical film Stormy Weather The zoot suit was created by Ernest Skillet Mayhand during his shows as a part of the comedy act Pots Pans amp Skillet an act that ran on the Chitlin Circuit citation needed The suits were first associated with African American communities in Harlem 14 Chicago and Detroit in the 1930s 14 but were made popular nationwide by Jazz and Jump Blues musicians in the 1940s According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word zoot probably comes from a reduplication of suit The creation and naming of the zoot suit have been variously attributed to Harold C Fox a Chicago clothier and big band trumpeter 15 Charles Klein and Vito Bagnato of New York City 16 Louis Lettes a Memphis tailor 17 and Nathan Toddy Elkus a Detroit retailer 18 19 Malcolm X wearing a zoot suit 1940 A Zoot Suit For My Sunday Gal was a 1942 song written by L Wolfe Gilbert and Bob O Brien 20 Jazz bandleader Cab Calloway frequently wore zoot suits on stage including some with exaggerated details such as extremely wide shoulders or overly draped jackets 21 He wore one in the 1943 film Stormy Weather In his dictionary Cab Calloway s Cat ologue A Hepster s Dictionary 1938 he called the zoot suit the ultimate in clothes The only totally and truly American civilian suit 22 Pachucos and Pachucas Edit Main articles Pachuco and Pachucas Frank Tellez a 22 year old Mexican American man models a zoot suit while arrested during the Zoot Suit Riots 1943 Pachucos and Pachucas were early Chicano youth who participated in a subculture that fashioned zoot suits 23 The subculture emerged in El Paso Texas in the late 1930s and quickly spread to Los Angeles 24 Pachucos and Pachucas embraced this style that challenged white American norms around race and gender norms 25 26 The Mexican American zoot suit style was usually black sharkskin charcoal gray dark blue or brown in color with pinstripes 8 African American styles usually incorporated brighter colors thick chalk stripes floppy hats and long chains more often than Mexican Americans 8 Both Pachucos and Hepcats functioned on the margins in American society 8 Some Pachucos and Hepcats shared solidarity or respect for one another because of this 8 In the early 1940s Pachucos were associated with violence and criminal behavior by the American media which fueled anti Mexican sentiment and especially negative views of the zoot suit style in Los Angeles 27 Pachucas some of whom also wore the zoot suit often with some modifications and additional accessories like dark lipstick were seen as threatening to ideas of family stability and racial uplift often shunned by their communities and the wider public 28 The zoot suits became framed as unpatriotic referring to the excessiveness of cloth 7 29 In 1942 police from across Los Angeles arrested 600 Mexican Americans in the Sleepy Lagoon murder case which involved the murder of one man Jose Gallardo Diaz at a party 7 Almost all of those arrested as allegedly potential suspects were wearing zoot suits 7 Media coverage before and after the case sensationalized and further fanned the flames of hostile anti Mexican sentiments in the city and abroad 7 This made some Mexican Americans hesitant to wear the zoot suit since they did not want to be viewed as criminals simply for their style of dress 8 Some Pachucos became affiliated with early gangs in Los Angeles and embraced their presumed to be criminal status with the zoot suit 8 Others wore the zoot suit but refused to refer to themselves as zoot suiters 8 Mexican Americans who rejected Pachucos and zoot suit attire became known as squares who were said to believe in assimilation and racial uplift theory 8 Mexican American men were stripped of their zoot suits by U S servicemen in the Zoot Suit Riots Despite being attacked many were also arrested 27 This tension exploded in 1943 in a series of anti Mexican riots in Los Angeles that became termed the Zoot Suit Riots 27 For ten days white U S servicemen cruised Mexican American neighborhoods searching for zoot suiters to attack 7 In some cases youth as young as twelve were attacked and dragged out of establishments 7 Filipinos and Black zoot suiters were also targeted such as a Black man who had his eye gouged out with a knife by a crowd of whites 8 After being attacked Mexican and Black zoot suiters rioted against white U S servicemen 8 On the fifth day of the riots the zoot suiters repelled attackers in a coordinated effort 8 Busloads of police were brought in to rescue the retreating servicemen after which dozens of Mexicans were arrested 8 Military officials declared Los Angeles off limits to servicemen the next day 8 After hearing of the event an article for the Pittsburg Courier warned that Black zoot suiters could be the next target for the patriotic lawlessness of men in uniform and stated that both Los Angeles Negro and Mexican zoot suiters are closer together than they are to members of their own racial group 8 Norris J Nelson Los Angeles City Council member proposed outlawing zoot suits 8 An ordinance was then passed in Los Angeles that banned the wearing of zoot suits in the city indefinitely 9 Cesar Chavez sported zoot suit attire in his younger years and the zoot suit became an important cultural symbol for the Chicano Movement 30 The earliest youth who reclaimed the word Chicano as an identity of empowerment were in fact Pachucos 31 White Americans Edit Soldier inspecting the zoot suit attire of two white youths 1942 Throughout the 1940s white American views on the zoot suit varied The jive talk of African American hepcats had spread or been appropriated among white middle class youth in the early 1940s 32 This began to erase the origins of the zoot suit as a Black cultural symbol which made it more acceptable to white Americans 32 Prior to the Zoot Suit Riots the zoot suit was sometimes positioned as a symbol of American individualism and even patriotism in comparison to the fascist uniform attire and regimentation of Nazi Germany 32 White and Black soldiers would sometimes be seen zooting their uniforms in war effort photos with the press presenting the zoot suit as a symbol of youthful relatability rather than as an oppositional or unpatriotic symbol 32 Most of the visible tension surrounding the zoot suit prior to the riots was concentrated in the Los Angeles area regarding the spread of anti Mexican sentiment among whites in the city 32 Trinidad Edit calypso singers Zoot suits not only played a historical role in the subculture in the United States in the 1940s but also shaped a new generation of men in Trinidad These Trinidadian men who adopted this American fashion became referred to as the saga boys they wore these suits and embraced the glamorous lifestyle that they represented Their fondness for the zoot suit in particular signified a rejection of Anglo centric precepts not only about fashion but more profoundly about manhood 33 Therefore although the saga boys had the appearance of adapting to the urban American way of life they were in fact using this clothing and lifestyle as a way to improve their lives in Trinidad rise above the restrictions that imperialism brought and create through this oppositional dress a culture of their own 33 Swing revival era Edit Main article Swing revival In the swing revival era which started in 1989 and carried to about 1998 the zoot suit experienced a small resurgence mostly based in nostalgia of the 1940s era yet notably missed many of the racial dynamics that surrounded the zoot suit 11 34 Bands included The Brian Setzer Orchestra Royal Crown Revue and Cherry Poppin Daddies 11 One of the popular songs of the era was the Cherry Poppin Daddies Zoot Suit Riot which presented the historical moment of the Zoot Suit Riots through a lens of masculine power 11 Contemporary Edit Man in a red zoot suit at an event 2012 The zoot suit is regularly memorialized by the Chicano community today as a symbol of cultural pride 12 35 36 Some of this is owed to Luis Valdez s 1979 play Zoot Suit and its subsequent 1981 film which carried knowledge of the era and interest in the style forward 37 38 Outside of memorialization events such as those held on the anniversary of the Zoot Suit Riots 35 12 the zoot suit is still sometimes worn by Chicanos for special occasions including proms usually as a dual display of formal wear and cultural pride 13 39 It is also worn in certain urban areas in Mexico for similar purposes 40 Characteristics Edit African American man in zoot suit 1940s Traditionally zoot suits have been worn with a fedora or pork pie hat color coordinated with the suit occasionally with a long feather as decoration and pointy French style shoes citation needed A young Malcolm X who wore zoot suits in his youth described the zoot suit as a killer diller coat with a drape shape reet pleats and shoulders padded like a lunatic s cell 41 Zoot suits usually featured a watch chain dangling from the belt to the knee or below then back to a side pocket A woman accompanying a man wearing a zoot suit would commonly wear a flared skirt and a long coat 42 The amount of material and tailoring required made them luxury items so much so that the U S War Production Board said that they wasted materials that should be devoted to the World War II war effort 43 When Life published photographs of zoot suiters in 1942 the magazine joked that they were solid arguments for lowering the Army draft age to include 18 year olds 42 This extravagance which many considered unpatriotic in wartime was a factor in the Zoot Suit Riots To some wearing the oversized suit was a declaration of freedom and self determination even rebelliousness 44 45 Some observers who claim that the Edwardian look suits with velvet lapels worn by Teddy Boys in Britain are a derivative of the zoot suit 46 Media Edit Entertainers wearing zoot suits for Hit Parade of 1943 Eddie Rochester Anderson and Katherine Dunham in the Broadway show Star Spangled Rhythm The Zoot Cat 1944 animated short film directed by Joseph Barbera Book Revue 1946 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett It features Daffy Duck wearing Zoot Suit Tin Tan a famous Mexican actor from the 1940s wore zoot suits in his films In the 1951 Three Stooges short Three Arabian Nuts Shemp finds a magic lamp complete with a genie whom Shemp refers to as the Genius His first wish is for a sharp new suit The wish is promptly granted leaving an overjoyed Shemp dressed in a spanking new zoot suit complete with a long watch chain Zoot Suit I m the Face 1964 debut single by The Who Zoot Suit Murders 1978 murder mystery novel by Thomas Sanchez Zoot Suit 1978 play by Luis Valdez Zoot Suit 1981 film by Luis Valdez Alright Single by Janet Jackson The music video features Janet Jackson wearing zoot suit in homage to Cab Calloway Batman The Animated Series The villain Joker is seen frequently wearing zoot suit The Mask 1994 film film based on the comic book character by Dark Horse Comics starring Jim Carrey The character is featured in a zoot suit Zoot Suit Riot 1997 compilation album by Cherry Poppin DaddiesSee also Edit United States portal Latino and Hispanic American portalZazou Subculture in France during World War IIReferences Edit Calderin Jay 2013 The Fashion Design Reference amp Specification Book Everything Fashion Designers Need to Know Every Day Rockport Publishers ISBN 978 1 59253 850 8 Walker John 1992 A Glossary of Art Architecture and Design Since 1945 3rd ed G K Hall amp Co ISBN 9780853656395 Maddan Heather April 29 2007 Zooting up Brighten prom night with flash dash and panache The San Francisco Chronicle L A In the Zoot Suit Era Zoot Suit Discovery Guide The Zoot Suit and Youth Culture a b Peiss Kathy 2011 Zoot Suit The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style University of Pennsylvania Press p 37 ISBN 9780812204599 a b c d e f g Zoot Suit Riots American Experience PBS www pbs org Retrieved 2023 01 17 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Macias Anthony F 2008 Mexican American mojo popular music dance and urban culture in Los Angeles 1935 1968 Durham Duke University Press pp 105 115 ISBN 978 0 8223 8938 5 OCLC 308677458 a b Franco Antonio 2018 06 28 Threads of the Zoot Suit Riots How the initial explanations for the riots hold up today Voces Novae 10 1 To curb this at the end of the meeting they voted on and approved a City wide Ordinance Banning the Wearing of Zoot suits within the City of Los Angeles indefinitely Sandoval Denise M 2013 The Politics of Low and Slow Bajito y Suavecito Black and Chicano Lowriders in Los Angeles from the 1960s through the 1970s In Kun Josh Pulido Laura eds Black and Brown in Los Angeles Beyond Conflict and Coalition Berkeley California University of California Press p 197 ISBN 9780520956872 a b c d Howard Sarah Elizabeth 2010 Zoot to boot the zoot suit as both costume and symbol Studies in Latin American Popular Culture 28 112 131 doi 10 1353 sla 0 0004 ISSN 0730 9139 PMID 20836266 S2CID 30345366 a b c 78th Anniversary of LA s Zoot Suit Riots in Commerce NBC Los Angeles Retrieved 2023 01 18 a b Little Emerson 2021 11 17 Estrella Family Fashions Zoot Suits at El Pachuco fullertonobserver com Retrieved 2023 01 18 Some of the store s busiest times of the year include Halloween and prom season a b Gregory Alice April 16 2020 A Brief History of the Zoot Suit Smithsonian Magazine McG Thomas Robert August 1 1996 Harold Fox Who Took Credit For the Zoot Suit Dies at 86 The New York Times Retrieved September 11 2012 Clipping from The Daily Telegram The Daily Telegram Adrian Michigan 1943 06 28 p 8 Retrieved 2022 04 06 Clipping from The Daily Telegram Adrian Michigan June 28 1943 p 8 Bird Christiane 2001 The Da Capo Jazz And Blues Lover s Guide To The U S Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 306 81034 3 page needed Nathan Elkus 89 Detroit retailer Daily News Record January 2 1992 Archived from the original on June 11 2014 Retrieved September 11 2012 Elkus Philip L August 4 1996 Zoot Suit Required Cutting and Cajoling The New York Times Retrieved September 11 2012 Powell Azizi 2014 02 12 Two Examples Of The 1942 Song Zoot Suit For My Sunday Gal pancocojams Retrieved 2022 04 06 Alvarez Luis 2009 The Power of the Zoot Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II Univ of California Press pp 92 93 ISBN 978 0 520 26154 9 Zoot Suit Riots History September 27 2017 Ramos Lisa Y 2010 Ramirez Catherine S ed She s Stylin La Pachuca Chicana Resistance and the Politics of Representation Reviews in American History 38 3 562 568 doi 10 1353 rah 2010 0021 ISSN 0048 7511 JSTOR 40865459 S2CID 143131289 Chavez Candelaria Cordelia 2004 Pachucos Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture Volume 2 Greenwood Press pp 610 11 ISBN 9780313332111 Ramirez Catherine Sue 2009 The woman in the zoot suit gender nationalism and the cultural politics of memory Durham Duke University Press ISBN 978 0 8223 4286 1 OCLC 272303247 Zoot Suit Girls National Museum of American History 2020 09 17 Retrieved 2021 07 12 a b c Perez McCluskey Cynthia Villaruel Francisco A 2007 Policing the Latino Community Latinos in a Changing Society Praegar Publishers pp 186 87 ISBN 9780275962333 Escobedo Elizabeth Rachel 2013 From coveralls to zoot suits the lives of Mexican American women on the World War II home front Chapel Hill pp 10 12 ISBN 978 1 4696 0206 6 OCLC 841229543 War Politics amp Suits The Zoot Suit Duchess Clothier Archived from the original on 2016 02 19 Retrieved 2022 04 06 Bruns Roger c 2011 Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers movement Greenwood ISBN 9780313386503 OCLC 846451052 Macias Anthony 2008 Mexican American Mojo Popular Music Dance and Urban Culture in Los Angeles 1935 1968 Duke University Press p 9 ISBN 9780822389385 a b c d e Peiss Kathy Lee 2011 Zoot suit the enigmatic career of an extreme style Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press pp 96 101 ISBN 978 0 8122 4337 6 OCLC 822890077 a b Neptune Harvey R 2007 Caliban and the Yankees Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press pp 105 128 Let s All Remember The Late 90s Swing Revival Stereogum 2016 05 16 Retrieved 2023 01 17 a b The Zoot Suit Riots Cruise brings back a forgotten era Los Angeles Times 2021 06 07 Retrieved 2023 01 18 Ruelas Renee Zoot Suit Pachanga celebrates culture history Las Cruces Sun News Retrieved 2023 01 18 Staff Daily Chela 2021 05 23 Lowrider Cruise To Commemorate Zoot Suit Riot Anniversary The Daily Chela Retrieved 2023 01 18 Bromwich Jonah Engel 2017 03 30 California Today Zoot Suit Memories The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2023 01 18 Valenzuela Eric 2010 03 23 Zoot Suit Riot Latino Los Angeles Retrieved 2023 01 18 They are still worn from time to time by pachucos and vatos who want to dress up WW FashionNetwork com Mexico s pachucos keep zoot suits defiance alive FashionNetwork com Retrieved 2023 01 18 Lennard John 2007 Walter Mosley Devil in a Blue Dress e book Humanities Ebooks p 45 ISBN 978 1 84760 042 4 Retrieved 2009 04 22 a b Zoot suits Life 1942 09 21 p 44 Retrieved November 20 2011 Rottman Gordon L 2007 FUBAR Soldier Slang of World War II Oxford Botley p 117 ISBN 978 1 84603 176 2 Osgerby Bill 2008 Understanding the Jackpot Market Media Marketing and the Rise of the American Teenager In Patrick L Jamieson amp Daniel Romer ed The Changing Portrayal of Adolescents in the Media Since 1950 New York Oxford University Press US pp 31 32 ISBN 978 0 19 534295 6 Icarus Films Seven Songs for Malcolm X icarusfilms com 1993 09 15 Retrieved 2022 04 06 Mazon Mauricio 2010 The Zoot Suit Riots The Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation University of Texas Press ISBN 9780292788213 Retrieved 30 January 2016 Further reading EditAlvarez Luis The Power of the Zoot Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II University of California Press 2008 Cosgrove Stuart 1984 The Zoot Suit and Style Warfare History Workshop Journal 18 77 91 doi 10 1093 hwj 18 1 77 Archived from the original on 2014 08 13 Republished in Cosgrove Stuart 2005 The Zoot Suit and Style Warfare In Cameron Ardis ed Looking for America The Visual Production of Nation and People pp 264 80 doi 10 1002 9780470774885 ch10 ISBN 978 1 4051 1465 3 Turner Ralph H Surace Samuel J 1956 Zoot Suiters and Mexicans Symbols in Crowd Behavior American Journal of Sociology 62 1 14 20 doi 10 1086 221893 JSTOR 2773799 S2CID 143875170 Tyler Bruce 1994 Zoot Suit Culture and the Black Press The Journal of American Culture 17 2 21 33 doi 10 1111 j 1542 734X 1994 00021 x Alford Holly 2004 The Zoot Suit Its History and Influence Fashion Theory 8 2 225 36 doi 10 2752 136270404778051807 S2CID 194180401 del Castillo Richard Griswold 2000 The Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots Revisited Mexican and Latin American Perspectives Mexican Studies 16 2 367 91 doi 10 1525 msem 2000 16 2 03a00080 JSTOR 1052202 External links EditThe Zoot Suit Riots Article about the zoot suit riots of 1943 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Zoot suit amp oldid 1141654558, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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