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A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit [1]) is a men's suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. It is most notable for its use as a cultural symbol among the Hepcat and Pachuco subcultures.
Pachucas (from pachuca, the female counterpart to the pachuco) were Mexican American women who wore zoot suits during World War II, also known as "cholitas", "slick chicks", and "lady zoot suiters". The suit was a symbol of rebellion due to the rationing of cloth for the war effort.
Zoot suit fashion found its origins in the urban black scene during the 1940s. [26] This style of clothing cultivated a sense of racial pride and significance; however, the fashion statement soon made its way into the wardrobes of young Southern Californian Mexican Americans, Italians and Filipinos, who became the quintessential wearers of the ...
The opening scenes of the film American Me depict confrontations between pachucos and white American soldiers during the Zoot Suit Riots. The Sleepy Lagoon murder was a confrontation between two Los Angeles pachuco gangs that resulted in a crackdown on the culture.
The zoot suit was the popular style amongst hepcats. It incorporated baggy or oversize suits sometimes with loud colors, thick chalk stripes, floppy hats, and long chains. Many zoot suiters would often wear a fedora or pork pie hat, color-coordinated with the suit. Occasionally they would have a long feather on the fedora or pork pie hat as ...
The press at the time accused the pachucos in the U.S. of gang membership, petty criminality, and a lack of patriotism during World War II leading to the Zoot Suit Riots. [14] Continuing until the early 1970s, the typical Chicano hairstyle was a variant of the pompadour , piled high on the head and kept in place with large quantities of wet ...
In the movie of the same name, The Blues Brothers (who are blues musicians rather than jazzmen) wear black scant-brim fedoras as part of their black suit "uniform". The association of the fedora with the zoot suit and gangster culture has caused the general public to view it according to this limited connotation.
Most single-breasted suit jackets have two or three buttons, and one or four buttons are unusual (except that tuxedo dinner jackets often have only one button). It is rare to find a suit jacket with more than four buttons, although zoot suits can have as many as six or more due to their longer length.