Zoot suits are part of Urban-American fashion. They have not yet faded away. In the 1930's and 1940's Zoot Suits became the height of fashion for Mexican-Americans, self-titled as "pachucos", to distinguish themselves and set their own distinctive style. These suits are a type of exaggerated three piece suit.
Jim Carrey made a mockery of the style in the "Mask" movie. The Zoot Suit jacket is very long with wide lapels and padded shoulders. The pants are worn high at the waist, being cut very wide and pleated in the leg area. The Zoot Suit has a vest with a very long gold chain hanging down from pocket to button which can also be attached to a pocket watch at the one end that is held in the vest pocket.
They pinnacle of the look is the fedora hat, that often has a very long feather (from the peacock or pheasant) from the side brim of the hat towards the back of the hat and downwards. Even though Mexican-Americans invented the style, African-Americans and Italian-Americans also picked up on the style and began to wear these suits in the forties. They were worn by men that really wanted to stand out and be noticed, especially the ones that were part of the street culture or the underworld at that time.
There was even a Zoot Suit Riot in Los Angeles, when the WWII effort was underway. The Zoot Suit Riot was caused by US soldiers embarked on a campaign to eradicate the "subversive" elements, with the tacit approval of the Los Angeles Police Department. The soldiers went into the neighborhoods of East Los Angeles to physically beat up any Latino man that happened to be wearing a Zoot Suit at the time. The reaction of the neighborhoods to these indiscriminant beatings, to which the police turned a blind eye, was to riot.
In more modern times, Zoot Suits are part of the nostalgia movement, that also includes antique automobiles that have been meticulously restored. Take an antique car from the 1940's, chop it (meaning make it ride very low to the ground, a "Low Rider"), repair and replace all parts with original parts if they are still available or custom made parts if the original parts are no longer to be found. Then paint the car in the most outrageous ways, with metallic colors and flames running down the sides. Now you have an excuse to wear a modern, custom-tailored Zoot Suit which is available from any number of specialty tailors found online.
The restoration of such a car may set you back $20,000 to 40,000 if you do most of the work yourself or hundreds of thousands if you buy such a car at antique car auctions that is already fully-restored. If you are going to go to all the trouble to restore such an old car, or if you can part with the gigantic amount of money necessary to buy one, then you need to also be properly dressed and the only way you can possibly look super hot in a fully restored 1940's car is when you are wearing a custom made suit, Don't forget to also wear your fedora hat with one gigantic feather in the brim.
Hendrik Pohl is the owner and founder of http://www.ties-necktie.com/. Ties-Necktie.com offers a wide range of quality handmade silk ties, as well as useful dress code tips for men, men's fashion advice, necktie knot instructions, and more.
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