The Illegal Suit

"The Illegal Suit – When wearing baggy clothes was an act of treason" investigates the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. During WWII, fabric was rationed for the war effort. The US government banned wasteful clothing like cuffs and pleats. However, young Mexican-American men (Pachucos) in Los Angeles continued to wear "Zoot Suits"—massive, baggy, flamboyant outfits—as a symbol of cultural pride and rebellion. Historian Victor Cloth details the violence that followed. White servicemen, viewing the suits as unpatriotic, roamed the streets beating anyone wearing one, stripping them naked, and burning the clothes. The police arrested the victims, not the attackers. "The Illegal Suit" is a micro-history of how fashion becomes political. It shows how a style of dress became a proxy for racial tension and how the state tried to police patriotism through the cut of a man's trousers.