![]() ![]() “For those without other forms of cultural capital,” says Peiss, “fashion can be a way of claiming space for yourself.” The garment had “profound political meaning,” wrote Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man. ![]() To some men, the suit’s ostentatiousness was a way of refusing to be ignored. These were ad hoc outfits, regular suits bought two sizes too large and then creatively tailored to dandyish effect. “It came right off the street and out of the ghetto.’’įox was one among many, from Chicago to Harlem to Memphis, who took credit for inventing the zoot suit-the term came out of African-American slang-but it was actually unbranded and illicit: There was no one designer associated with the look, no department store where you could buy one. Though the zoot suit would be donned by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, it was “not a costume or uniform from the world of entertainment,” the Chicago big-band trumpeter and clothier Harold Fox once said. By the ’40s, the suits were worn by minority men in working-class neighborhoods throughout the country. The flowing trousers were tapered at the ankles to prevent jitterbugging couples from getting tripped up while they twirled. ![]() ![]() With its super-sized shoulder pads, sprawling lapels and peg leg pants, the zoot suit grew out of the “drape” suits popular in Harlem dance halls in the mid-1930s. This story is a selection from the April issue of Smithsonian magazine Buy Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12 ![]()
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