ZOOT SUITS: HISTORY & STYLE
" A zoot suit had baddy pleated trousers with narrow, pegged ankles and a jacket with wide lapels and long tails (drape), usually to the back of the knees
BRIEF HISTORY
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The word "zoot suit" is derived from African American slang
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Zoot suits weren't associated with a brand and there weren't places where you could just buy one
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people normally bought suits two sizes up​
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1930s: Very popular in places like Harlem dance halls (in New York) and Chicago, Illinois, and Memphis, Tenessee
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Historical figures to musicians all embraced the zoot suit
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1940s: Zoot Suits were commonly worn by minority men in working-class neighborhoods, but also women and white working class men took part in wearing zoot suits​​​
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- Smithsonian
HISTORY
PACHUCO/PACHUCA
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Pachuco and Pachuca are terms coined in the 1940s to refer to Mexican American men and women who dressed in zoot suits or zoot suit-influenced attire. Though there is no definite origin of the word Pachuco, one theory claims that the term originated in El Paso, Texas. The city of El Paso was typically referred to as “Chuco town” or “El Chuco.” People migrating from Los Angeles to El Paso would say they were going “pa’ El Chuco” (to Chuco town). These migrants came to be known as Pachucos. This term moved westward to Los Angeles with the flow of Mexican workers migrating to industrialize city centers. - Pamona College
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"Pachucos are male members of a counterculture associated with zoot suit fashion, jazz and swing music, a distinct dialect known as caló, and self-empowerment in rejecting assimilation into Anglo-American society that emerged in Los Angeles in the late 1930s." - Google Arts & Culture
STYLE (MEN)
tando (hat)
- flamboyant, sometimes had a feather attached
tacuche
(suit)
- broad shoulder drape jacket with long lapels and long tails
lisa (shirt)
- worn under suite
necklace w/
cross
- Mexican Americans were commonly Catholic
drapes
(pants)
- baggy pleated balloon leg trousers that usually go down to the knees
belt
- used to hold up pants
calcos
(shoes)
- calcos (shoes)
cadena
(chain)
- typically worn down to the ankles
tando (hat)
necklace w/ cross
tacuche (suit)
lisa (shirt)
drapes (pants)
belt
cadena (chain)
calcos (shoes)
STYLE (WOMEN)
"The Mexican American woman zoot suiter, or pachuca, often wore a V-neck sweater or a long, broad-shouldered coat, a knee-length pleated skirt, fishnet stockings or bobby socks, platform heels or saddle shoes, dark lipstick, and a bouffant. Or she donned the same style of zoot suit that her male counterparts wore. With their striking attire, pachucos and pachucas represented a new generation of Mexican American youth, which arrived on the public scene in the 1940s. - Duke University
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The pachuca style in 1940s Los Angeles was variable; she could wear a cardigan underneath a broad-shouldered jacket, a knee-length skirt, and platform sandals or an actual zoot suit, with dark lipstick and her hair styled in a high bouffant. While the zoot suit was seen as a racially charged symbol of delinquency by whites, la pachuca was also a contested figure in the Mexican American community; some young women admired and wore the style while others saw her as dangerous and disruptive of the ideal Mexican American womanhood. - States of Incarciration