Zoot Suit

Late 1930s and 1940s United States

Zoot suits were first popularized among youth minority groups,especially African Americans, Filipino, and Hispanic American men know as "Pachucos" in Los Angeles, people who had no voice, who were pushed to the “margins” of society in the late 30s and 40s.The zoot-suit was more than the drape-shape of 1940s fashion, more than a colourful stage-costume worn by Jazz musicians, it was, in the most direct and obvious ways, an emblem of ethnicity and a way of negotiating an identity.During World War II exaggerated suit was seen as deliberately flouting cloth rationing regulations and as being anti-patriotic, disrupting the social order,which was a factor in the series of violent eruptions of Zoot Suit Riots.

Men in police line-up wearing zoot suits.Life magazine 1942.Photographer:Peter Stackpole.

Poster for play Zoot Suit which ran in 1978.In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events when a group of young Mexican-Americans were wrongfully charged with murder--and the Zoot Suit Riots.



Designers hit the brakes on the ‘slim’ trend and reversed direction in creating a bigger, wider silhouette. Baggy and flowing pants in the style of 30’s ‘zoot suits’ were present in nearly every show.Dior Homme Spring 2009.

The “Pachuca,” the female counterpart of the Pachuco, had as strong an aesthetic sensibility as the male zoot suiter. 1942 female Zoot suit gang being taken away by the police.

John Galliano Spring 2002 collection inspired by zoot suits.