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Zoot Suit : The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style by Kathy Lee Peiss; ProQuest (Firm) is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Zoot Suit : The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style about?

ZOOT SUIT (n.): the ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit. —Cab Calloway, The Hepster's Dictionary , 1944 Before the fashion statements of hippies, punks, or hip-hop, there was the zoot suit, a striking urban look of the World War II era that captivated the imagination. Created by poor African American men and obscure tailors, the "drape shape" was embraced by Mexican American pachucos, working-class youth, entertainers, and swing dancers, yet condemned by the U.S. government as wasteful and unpatriotic in a time of war. The fashion became notorious when it appeared to trigger violence and disorder in Los Angeles in 1943—events forever known as the "zoot suit riot." In its wake, social scientists, psychiatrists, journalists, and politicians all tried to explain the riddle of the zoot suit, transforming it into a multifaceted symbol: to some, a sign of social deviance and psychological disturbance, to others, a gesture of resistance against racial prejudice and discrimination. As controversy swirled at home, young men in other places—French zazous, South African tsotsi, Trinidadian saga boys, and Russian stiliagi—made the American zoot suit their

Who reads Zoot Suit : The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style?

Author

Kathy Lee Peiss; ProQuest (Firm)

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Published

2011

Language

EN

ISBN

9780812204599

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

History, Science, Folklore

Rating

3.5 / 5 (23 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14