Characteristics
A zoot suit has high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. Often zoot suiters wear a felt hat with a long feather and pointy, French-style shoes. 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".[4] Zoot suits usually featured a watch chain dangling from the belt to the knee or below, then back to a side pocket.
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.[5] This extravagance during wartime was a factor in the Zoot Suit Riots.[6] Wearing the oversized suit was a declaration of freedom and self-determination, even rebelliousness
History
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-bandtrumpeter;[7] Louis Lettes, a Memphis tailor;[8] and Nathan (Toddy) Elkus, a Detroit retailer.[9][10]
Zoot suits first gained popularity in Harlem jazz culture in the late 1930s, where they were initially called drapes.[11] The zoot suit became very popular among young Mexican Americans, especially pachucos in Los Angeles. Anti-Mexican youth riots in Los Angeles during World War II are known as the Zoot Suit Riots.
[]See also
- The Zoot Cat (animated Tom and Jerry cartoon)
- 38th street gang
- Zazou
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