Origination of Zoot Suits

The zoot suit has a vague origin and complex history. In fact, the exact origin of zoot suit will never come to light. The zoot suit played a major role in the urban music and dance scene during 1930s. It served as a symbol of minority social resistance, urban youth and working class pride.

A Zoot suit is a suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed pegged trousers and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. The suit was always worn with a long keychain that looped almost to the ankle. It was the rebellious fashion of young men during 1930s and 1940s. The oversized suit was an extravagant personal style and a declaration of freedom and auto-determination. Many people still consider it as a "rebellious garment of the era”. The zoot suit is described as a "killer-diller coat with a drape shape, reet pleats and shoulders padded like a lunatic's cell."

Harold C. Fox, the Chicago clothier and big-band trumpeter created and named the zoot suit. The zoot suit crated by Fox had reet pleat, reave sleeve, ripe stripe, stuff cuff and drape shape, and it was the stage rage during the boogie-woogie rhyme time of the early 1940's. The credit also goes to Louis Lettes who as a tailor in Beale Street and Nathan (Toddy) Elkus who was a Detroit retailer.

This style of clothing is popularized by African Americans, Mexican Americans, Filipino Americans, Italian Americans and Hispanics, during the late 1930s and 1940s. The Zoot Suit first gained popularity in Harlem jazz culture in the late 1930s where they were initially called "drapes". The suit became very popular among young Mexican Americans, especially among those in Los Angeles who styled themselves as "pachucos". It was popular in the Latino community.

Everyone wants to find the meaning of the zoot suit, but no one is quite sure what it means. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "zoot" comes from a reduplication of the word 'suit'. It was probably first coined by Mexican American pachucos as part of their slang, "Caló", evolving from the Mexican Spanish pronunciation of the English word "suit" with the "s" taking on the sound of a "z". But whoever coined the term created a splendidly apt name for what is surely the most bizarre raiment ever worn by the American male.

Zoot suits were used 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 "extra-bagged" pants. Often zoot suiters wear a felt hat with a long feather and pointy and French-style shoes.

Recently Stanford University, celebrated 1940's Mexican-American culture and the 50th anniversary of the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles, highlighting the complex relationships between fashion and social interpretations of the zoot suit, with screenings of Luis Valdez's "Zoot Suit" movie.