Zoot Suits?

[Chad Sanborn]

I have seen pictures of different suits on this site. But no Zoot Suits?

Chad

 

[Matt Deckard]

What's a Zoot Suit?

Just kidding. I think we have a few refferences to zoot suits on the forum. Wild Root knows more about the history and has a few good pics of vintage 40's zoots that he should post.

They are just not my style... They did have a resergeance in the early 90's for the dance scene.

I actually saw a few when I went to an event in South Central. They were done to perfection right down to the tall feathers in the hats. I should have taken a few pics

Do you have any?

 

[Mycroft]

I like Zoot suits, but only from reading Autobiography of Malcolm X.

 

[Raffles]

An awesome site for repro zoot suits and other stuff is - www.zootsuitstore.com they do nice hats too.

 

[PrettyBigGuy]

Check out this site too:
http://www.elpachuco.com/
They're in Fullerton, CA. I 've never been to the store, but I visited their booth at a big swing dance in LA once. They seem to know their stuff.

 

[Mycroft]

Speaking of Zoots does anyone have a pick of the conk or know how to do it? Just out of curiosity.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Hey root, we need you to post some of your original zoot suit pics in this thread.

 

[Wild Root]

NO! .... Ok, FINE!

J/K

Here I am to save the DAY!

Original photo of Cab Calloway in his Zoot.

The last photo is from a Life mag from the 40's. Not sure the issue but it's from Life.

I'll dig out some more soon.

Root.

 

[Wild Root]

This is the poor man's zoot. A larg sized suit with some ez tailoring.

This is what you would have seen more then the first two photos.

This was also a pop song of the 40's! I have a copy of it on 78 by Benny Goodman.

Root.

 

[Wild Root]

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...+case&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en

Click on that if you want to read about the 1943 LA Riots! Crazy stuff for sure! Good reading and you'll find out a lot you may have never known.

Root.

 

[Wild Root]

For those who may like to know I give you the fallowing…

The Zoot suit. A popular look among the colored youth of the late 1930’s and into the early 1940’s. This was a fad that started by some pop band leaders of the time. Cab Calloway sported wildly tailored suits on occasions in Soundies and film. The term Zoot means extreme or wild. Some I talk to think every suit from those years were Zoots! Not so by any means possible.

Zoot suits were suits that had pleated baggy tapered pants with a small cuff hugging the ankle. The coat was long as a top coat of the time with broad pointed lapels.

These trends were embraced by thugs, street gangs and pimps. Jitterbugs never really sported such attire. Some did and some didn’t.

With the out brake of WWII in the US, these suits became something anti American! They would find them selves picking fights with service men. They were called draft dodgers and many other names. With all things being rationed for the war, fabric was hard to come by. When a youngster or a young man would have a suit such as this made it was an out word statement that they couldn’t care about what’s happing “over there�.

The LA riots of 1943 were very bad. Involved sailors and other service men in the area. Soon civilians were part of the madness!

The Zoot has been a popular choice for swing dancers since the swing revival of the 1990’s. The big brimmed fedoras with Peacock feather, draped shape and stuffed cuff has become more popular today then it was when it was new. The Zoot suits of yester year were mostly controversial then excepted by the public.

Never the less we have the idea that all boys and men wore them. I wonder how that came in to being.

Root.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Cab makes great wallpaper

 

[Mycroft]

For those who may like to know I give you the fallowing…

The Zoot suit. A popular look among the colored youth of the late 1930’s and into the early 1940’s. This was a fad that started by some pop band leaders of the time. Cab Calloway sported wildly tailored suits on occasions in Soundies and film. The term Zoot means extreme or wild. Some I talk to think every suit from those years were Zoots! Not so by any means possible.

Zoot suits were suits that had pleated baggy tapered pants with a small cuff hugging the ankle. The coat was long as a top coat of the time with broad pointed lapels.

These trends were embraced by thugs, street gangs and pimps. Jitterbugs never really sported such attire. Some did and some didn’t.

With the out brake of WWII in the US, these suits became something anti American! They would find them selves picking fights with service men. They were called draft dodgers and many other names. With all things being rationed for the war, fabric was hard to come by. When a youngster or a young man would have a suit such as this made it was an out word statement that they couldn’t care about what’s happing “over there�.

The LA riots of 1943 were very bad. Involved sailors and other service men in the area. Soon civilians were part of the madness!

The Zoot has been a popular choice for swing dancers since the swing revival of the 1990’s. The big brimmed fedoras with Peacock feather, draped shape and stuffed cuff has become more popular today then it was when it was new. The Zoot suits of yester year were mostly controversial then excepted by the public.

Never the less we have the idea that all boys and men wore them. I wonder how that came in to being.

Root.

I heard lots about the riots and also because illegal Mexican workers (or their sons) and they were looked down by service men.

 

[Wild Root]

Here are some great shots of Cab. These are not Zoot suits but really nice tuxedos.

Enjoy.

Ever see a tweed tux? Well, you have now.

Root.

 

[Mycroft]

That tweed tux is awsome.

 

[Canadave]

We the cats shall hep ya!!!

Great shots. I actually saw Cab perform twice, once at Carnegie Hall and once at Massey Hall in Toronto. HE was old...I'm not that old! I believe he was around eighty, but he still had it. (This was in the mid to late 1980s.)

Ever notice my auto-sig?

David

 

[Wild Root]

You saw Cab preform? That's cool! I wish I knew who he was in the 1980's. Heck I think he was still around in the 90's. He was such a live person! What a preformer Deluxe! There will never be another Cab Calloway!

Root.

 

[Chad Sanborn]

Cabs Attire

Thanks for posting the pics of Cab. He sure knew how to dress.

I have one suit, although its not quite as 'Zooty' as those. I have a picture of me wearing it somewhere. I will have to dig it up and post it.

Chad

 

[The Wingnut]

To answer the question as to why so many people think that any suit of the '30s - '40s era is a 'zoot' suit, popular culture has a tendency to take the most outlandish, noticable feature of a trend, style or subculture, and focus in on it.

This is why you'll get called a zoot suiter when wearing a double breasted suit with a good pair of shoes and a fedora...it's the only thing people know. I've actually got into arguments over it! This is also the reason people pull 'gangster', 'mafia', 'Eliot Ness' and 'Al Capone' out of the hat when they see a properly-dressed gentleman. The most wild and oulandish aspect of the era has been beaten to death in popular culture, and it's all people know anymore. We have Hollywood's fascination with '30s crime fiction to thank for that...

I thanked a woman profusely when she called me Fred Astaire!

 

[Wild Root]

Very good point! I have argued with some people who didn't even know who the president was in the 30's but, they seem to know that all suits were Zoot suits and I was wrong no matter what I said. [huh] Oh well, there will always be those who just bug us. Its part life I guess.

We can't all be well dressed and well mannered I guess.

Root.