Zoot Suit

ズートスーツ / 1930s–1940s / Style / Subculture Style

The earliest street style: suits with wildly exaggerated shoulders and pegged trousers, by which Black and Mexican-American youth asserted their existence in a discriminatory society.

Zoot Suit — Young man in a zoot suit 1943 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Young man in a zoot suit 1943 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Zoot Suit — Zoot suiters 1943 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Zoot suiters 1943 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Zoot Suit — 映画『ストーミー・ウェザー』ロビーカード 1943 キャブ・キャロウェイ — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — 映画『ストーミー・ウェザー』ロビーカード 1943 キャブ・キャロウェイ — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

Exaggerated shoulders
Knee-length jackets
Pegged wide trousers
Long watch chains

Best used for

Tailoring a garment whose exaggerated proportion is itself the statement
Clothes for dancing whose outline lines up when a group stands together

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Dictionary entry

Type: No lettering, the chain and the tilt of the hat do the signalling
Composition: Wide shoulders, jacket to the knee, trousers pegged hard at the ankle
Material: Generous heavy worsted cut in one light color throughout
Caution: Toning down the shoulder and the peg removes the tension in the proportion and leaves an oversized vintage suit. Do not use it as costume, since it carries a history of racism and riots.
Further study: The Zoot Suit Riots, 1943 / pachuco culture / the clash with wartime fabric rationing

Related entries

Harlem Renaissance (ハーレム・ルネサンス)Shared effects: Exhilaration / Rebellion.Compare Zoot Suit and Harlem Renaissance
Hip-Hop Fashion (ヒップホップ・ファッション)Shared effects: Exhilaration / Rebellion.Compare Zoot Suit and Hip-Hop Fashion

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/zoot-suit
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