An Incomplete History of the Zoot Suit

The Zoot Suit was often imitated, widely celebrated, and unfortunately hated by the narrow-minded of the 1930s and 1940s. The zoot suit was a garment worn by both men and women of the era and featured a high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed suit worn with a long coat, wide lapels, and wide padded shoulders. You could accessorize your new suit with long shining watch chains, wide-brimmed hats adorned with feathers, and a cool attitude. The zoot suit essentially accentuated the ideal male form, broad shoulders, narrow hips, and a focus on form over utilitarian function, which was unique for that time.

This fashion trend traveled to American dance halls from across the pond, inspired by the “drape” suit worn by the then Duke of Windsor, Edward VIII, and popularized in London. Young people were inspired by the full shoulders and narrow waist of the drape suit, which accentuated the chest and “draped” over the body forming elegant pleats and wrinkles. African American and Latino’s put their own spin on the design and exaggerated the proportions even more, taking too-large suits off the rack or from hand-me-downs and altering them at home. Everything about the zoot suit was big, bold, and proud. In the 1930s and ’40s these were not superlatives America wanted to subscribe to marginalized communities of the time.

The eye-catching suit could be seen worn by teens in Chicago and Pittsburgh and eventually sported by jazz singers and famous actors in the dazzling nightclubs of Harlem, San Diego, and Los Angeles. This oversized fashion trend was popular among young marginalized black and brown communities, including Mexican Americans and Filipino Americans on the West Coast and African Americans on the East Coast.

Once the zoot suit spread in popularity, it could be seen on the silver screen with the likes of Cab Calloway in the 1943 film, "Stormy Weather.” The suit was popular among singers and artists of the time because the loose fit allowed for greater mobility and expression on stage. Each shake of the leg or twist of the hips was accentuated by the billowing fabric, and the sharp shoulders easily outlined the performer's silhouette.

Nan Zabriskie, who is a designer and costume artist based in Chicago, said she believes the zoot suit was created by young people tailoring their parents' oversized suit jackets and pants into the fashionable style. She says these 1940s Mexican-American teens would forgo a “car or even food but, boy, did they have the look.” This is an interesting statement and shows that for generations, the older and wiser have been critiquing the next generation's values. Teens of all ages and races have turned to fashion to differentiate themselves from the previous generation and help express their personal values, gender, sexuality, politics, and beliefs. This is especially true among marginalized communities whose rich culture, and fashion trends are often watered down and co-opted by the white majority.

CONTENT WARNING - DISCUSSION OF POLICE VIOLENCE AND THE MURDER OF TRAYVON MARTIN AND THE ZOOT SUIT RIOTS

I completely understand if you need to skip this next paragraph. I will be discussing the murder of Trayvon Martin and police violence but not exploiting his memory or going into unnecessarily gruesome detail.

Please scroll to The Dichotomy of Fashion if you wish to skip this content and continue reading about the proud history of the zoot suit and its influence on fashion and culture.

What made the Zoot Suit so controversial?

Fashion and clothing today are still political and used as an excuse for discrimination. We know this from the murder of Trayvon Martin, the innocent 17-year-old African American teenager who was killed walking home from the convenience store in his father's neighborhood in Florida. George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old Neighborhood Watchman, fatally shot Martin after calling the police on him because he thought he looked “suspicious.” Zimmerman called 911 on the teenager that night saying: “this guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something,” he also made sure to note that Martin was wearing a hoodie.

This innocuous garment that almost every person of every background has in their closet was used as a justification for deadly suspicion that eventually resulted in the tragic murder of an innocent teenager. Unfortunately, this was not the first or last instance of racial injustice and murder by police (or those acting as though they are members of the police.) I highlight the killing of innocent Trayvon Martin here because he was only one year older than me. His murder also sparked the first Black Lives Matter protests of the 2010s. All around the nation, people took to the streets in hoodies as a symbol of protest, and debates raged about what African American teens should wear to arouse the least amount of suspicion in the hope of avoiding murder by racists with guns. The answer is, it doesn’t matter what black and brown people wear or do. They will always be seen as targets in this oppressive society we live in.

The Zoot Suit Riots

The vitriol and violence black and brown communities faced in the 1940s for wearing the infamous zoot suit was an earlier example of fashion used as a justification for harm.

The zoot suit was actually seen as “unpatriotic” by many White Americans at the time. The flowing style used more fabric than other closely tailored suits of the day, bucking the WW2 austerity measures and rations. This simple suit became a symbol of jazz culture and rebellion by its wearers, there was even a name for them in the Latino community: “Pachuco”

In Los Angeles, the zoot suit was popular among the Latino community, and young people could be seen swishing down the boulevard in their tall pompadour hair and freshly pressed suits. Los Angeles was a major hub for the military in WW1 which began in 1939. Tens of thousands of newly drafted soldiers passed through LA, on their way to the pacific theater and beyond.

Other fashion of the early 1940s was austere, with clothing designers and consumers opting for more simple looks in light of the war and rations. Shades of brown, green, and dark blue were popular, along with straight lines, squared-off shoulders, and simply tailored suits were popular. Silhouettes were straighter, sleek, and streamlined especially compared to the flapper fashion of the 1920s and later with Dior’s “new-look” 1950s.

With millions of Americans employed by the war effort, many people could be seen walking around most of the time either in war uniform or in a factory work uniform. This conservative fashion was in stark contrast to the loud and vibrant styles of the “pachuco” and zoot suitors of the era.

In the hot summer of 1943, this contrast sparked an act of mob violence. White servicemen and police in Los Angeles assaulted hundreds of young black and brown people for their supposed affront to the war effort and for wearing stylish suits, (and because they were racist.) This was just one of the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. Similar attacks occurred throughout the continent over the summer in San Diego, Detroit, New York, Toronto, and other population centers. The police and even the military were called out and proceeded to rip the offending clothes off of the young men and women, beating and arresting them.

The Dichotomy of Fashion

The White Americans who had adopted the style were not assaulted. White Americans have a history of suppressing marginalized groups based on cultural expressions of clothing, hair, food, and visible religious practices. The zoot suit was seen as a marker of gang affiliation and painted a target on the back of any black or brown person seen wearing one. This discrimination was codified into law when in 1942, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution outlawing the zoot suit. Hundreds of black and brown Californians were rounded up and thrown in jail in early 1943 for wearing the suit.

The thugs who assaulted the pachucos and black zoot suiters justified their actions by wrapping themselves in the holy cloth - the American flag. White Americans claimed that those who wore zoot suit were un-American, “rebels were shirking military duty” and wasting precious rationed cloth during the war. However, many zoot suit wearers were teenagers ineligible for the draft and used ready-to-wear or second-hand pieces to tailor into their slick outfits. No one was stealing silk from the para-troopers to sew a zoot suit.

Ironically, wide shoulders, high-waists, wide-legs, and wide ties were all popular in men’s suits in the later decades- showing that African-American and Latino fashion trends are often seen as controversial, low class, and portrayed in a negative light until they are co-opted by the white majority and become “fashionable” in the mainstream.

The Zoot Suit in Media

“Zoot Suit” is a play written by Luis Valdez, featuring music by Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero, and is based on the Sleepy Lagoon Murder of 1942 and the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 in Los Angeles. The 1979 Broadway play features Henry Reyna and the 38th Street Gang, tried for the Sleepy Lagoon murder in Los Angeles, during World War II. The play beautifully blends lines in English, Spanish, and the Caló dialect, along with popular music, slang, and dance of the “pachuco” subculture. In the play, Henry Reyna and his friends navigate a landscape of racial intolerance, unjust law enforcement, media manipulation, and a discriminatory legal system.

Tom and Jerry

In this 1944 short of the classic American animated cartoon Tom and Jerry, we see Tom sporting a zoot suit. Tom writes a valentine to the female cat Toots and tries to impress Toots by playing the ukulele, singing, and other party tricks. Tom gives her a bouquet of flowers, but in classic slapstick Tom and Jerry humor, a loose floorboard smacks him in the face and knocks him flat.

Toots makes fun of Tom in “jive talk,” which was the name for AAVE slang of the era, born out of Harlem jazz culture. She basically tells Tom he’s a square, uncool, and needs a better suit. Tom hears a commercial on the radio for a zoot suit and decides to make his own zoot suit, the orange hammock on the porch. This wins him points with Toots for the time being, until more hijinks ensue. In the picture below, we can see Tom in his homemade zoot suit with a wide-brim hat, cigar, and long pocket watch.

The Zoot Suit Today

The Zoot Suit is still worn today by the Pachuco subculture in Los Angeles. West Coast Mexican Americans. Women wear their hair in a tall bouffant, and men sport their wide-brimmed hats and flowing zoot suits at car shows, concerts, restaurants, and photo shoots.

We can see echoes of the zoot suit in the baggy fashion popularized by rap artists and hip-hop music of the 80s, 90s, and into the 2000s. I think my generation can remember the crispy white t-shirts and sagging jeans of our middle school and possibly high school days. Although by high school, the skinny jean was becoming ubiquitous, leading to an interesting look of “sagging” skinny pants.

(let’s all take a moment to appreciate the wide leg [are those jorts or high waters?] and sweatband sported by Beyonce’s husband, Jay Z)

This voluminous fashion, paired with bold colors and heavy gold chains, once again assaulted the prim sensibilities of the American masses. Brands like FUBU, founded in 1992 by Shark Tank’s famed Daymond John, ushered in a new era of urban hip-hop inspired streetwear. Later in the decade, artists like Jay-Z, P.Diddy, and Russell Simmons created their own popular clothing brands.

Streetwear styles are still popular today and place an emphasis on bold colors, loose baggy fits, and fabrics like denim and cotton, often paired with sneakers from Nike or New Balance. These popular styles, which originated from urban black and brown communities, created yet another wave of discrimination among law enforcement and the media. Young men who wore oversized shirts, baggy pants, and sported gold chains were seen as “thugs” and criminals. However, when popular boybands of the 90s and 2000s wore these styles, they were seen as cool and edgy.

What inspired this article?

"Amidst a sea of staid black suits, Tyler James Williams broke the mold in perfectly slouchy proportions and trippy tie-dye. To keep the nautical metaphor going: Williams brought fresh water to a desert island of menswear." - Jake Silbert, News Editor via HighSnobiety.

Tyler James Williams, who currently plays school teacher Gregory Eddiie in the hit ABC comedy “Abbot Elementary,” won a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series this January. As he walked the red carpet, I was immediately struck by his navy blue suit, which reminded me of the infamous zoot suits of the 1940s. His outfit was striking compared to the usually safe and boring menswear found on the red carpet.

Williams wore a navy blue tie-dye suit from California luxury streetwear designer Mike Amiri’s Spring 2023 Menswear Collection. Amiri founded his label in 2014 from his LA basement and is now a popular label among artists and celebrities, selling jeans for over six grand a pair. The silhouette of the suit is not a carbon copy of the zoot suit. We can see Williams's pants are not cropped at the ankle in exactly the same way, but the overall looseness of his trousers with the high waist and cropped jacket echo the zoot suit, in my opinion.

The angular collar, with its triangular design, also references the zoot. The crop on his suit brings it into the modern day instead of making it look like a costume. These changes also better fit Williams's slim proportions, where a huge zoot suit would swallow him up, this suit accentuates his height. On the runway, Amiri styled this suit in a much more dressed-down way with a baseball cap and white sneakers. The suit jacket was also buttoned to the neck and untucked on the sides from the model's waist.

On the red carpet, Williams stylist Ashley North added a white button-up under the jacket, which nicely frames his face and helps highlight the contrasting colors in the tye-dye pinstripe fabric. The fabric itself looks very vintage to me and reminds me of well-loved sun-bleached clothing found in a grandparent's closet. In a year when very few celebrities wore jewelry on the red carpet, Williams can be seen sporting a distinct lapel pin and chunky rings. To me, the chain on his lapel pin looks like a call back to the chains people would wear on their belt loops in the zoot suit.