Zoot suit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A zoot suit is a style of clothing popularized by African Americans, Filipino Americans, and Mexican Americans in the late 1930s and 1940s. A zoot suit or Zooty is also the term given to a style of rowing clothing in Australia (known as a uni suit in the United States.)
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[edit] Characteristics
A zoot suit has high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed pegged trousers (called tramas) and a long coat (called the carlango) with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. Often zoot suiters wear a felt hat with a long feather (called a tapa or tanda) and pointy, French-style shoes (called calcos). A young Malcolm X described the zoot suit as: "a killer-diller coat with a drape shape, reet pleats and shoulders padded like a lunatic's cell." Zoot suits usually featured a key chain dangling from the belt to the knee or below, then back to a side pocket.
Zoot suits were for special occasions – such as a dance or a birthday party. The amount of material and tailoring required made them luxury items. Many young people wore a more moderate version of the "draped" pants or styled their hair in the signature "ducktail."
The oversized suit was both an extavagant personal style and a declaration of rebellious self-assertion. By their dress, Zoot suiters expressed defiance, at a time when fabric was rationed due to the war effort, and in the face of widespread racial prejudice.
[edit] History
Zoot suits first gained popularity in Harlem jazz culture in the late 1930s where they were called "drapes". The word "zoot", according to the Oxford English Dictionary, probably comes from a reduplication of the word 'suit'. It was probably first coined by Mexican American pachucos as part of their slang, "Caló". They were extremely popular with the African-American and Filipino-American youth, and also with young Latinos, most particularly among those Mexican American youths in Los Angeles who styled themselves as "pachucos". In March of 1942, the War Production Board banned zoot suit production - allegedly because it deemed the style wasteful of valuable suiting material during wartime, but the measure was taken in a climate of general anxiety and fear of Latino youths. The fashion persisted, despite restrictions placed on the amount of fabric in the production of garments.
[edit] In popular culture
Zoot suits were satirized by Al Capp in 1943 in the comic strip Li'l Abner, in which Abner Yokum appeared as "Zoot Suit Yokum", a gullible but near-indestructible man chosen by a clothing manufacturer to serve as role model for white youth through dangerous, staged heroic feats. The story ended with mainstream businessmen also taking to the zoot suit, whereupon it suddenly went out of style.
This type of suit inspired the album Zoot Suit Riot, by the American band Cherry Poppin' Daddies. The name of the song was based on the riots caused by military personnel in Los Angeles during World War II, who would beat up any Latino they found wearing a zoot suit.
Zoot Suit is also the name of a musical play by Luis Valdez, featuring music from Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero, the "father of Chicano music." When it debuted in 1979, Zoot Suit was the first Chicano play on Broadway. In 1981, Luis Valdez also directed a filmed version of the play.
[edit] See also
- 38th street gang
- Pachuco
- Zazou
- Zoot Suit Riots
- A swing album called Zoot Suit Riot, featuring a song of the same name, was released by the American band Cherry Poppin' Daddies in 1997.
| Topics related to Chicanos and Mexican-Americans | Image:Calendário Asteca.jpg |
|---|---|
| Terms: Chicano · La Raza · Latino · Mexican-American · Hispanic | |
| Pre-Chicano Movement: Mexican-American History · Mexican-American War · Sleepy Lagoon Trial · Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo · Zoot Suit Riots | |
| Chicano Movement: Aztlán · Catolicos Por La Raza · Chicanismo · Chicano Blowouts · Chicano Moratorium · El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán · El Plan de Santa Bárbara · Farm Worker Rights Campaign · Land Grant Struggle · Colegio César Chávez | |
| Supreme Court Cases: Hernandez v. Texas · Plyler v. Doe · Mendez v. Westminster | |
| Culture: Chicano Park · Chicano rap · Chicano rock · Cholo · Estrada Courts Murals · Lowrider · Pachuco · Teatro Campesino · Tortilla art · Zoot suit | |
| Lists and Categories: List of Caló words and expressions · List of Chicano poets · Majority Hispanic U.S. Cities · Notable Chicanos · Notable Hispanic Americans · Category:Mexican Americans · Category:Mexican-American organizations[edit this footer] | |
