PROM TALES, PART 1

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Tuxedo Junction in Pearlridge outfitted Justin Akamine-Nakakura in full zoot-suit prom-going regalia, including hat, chains, cane and shoes.

Za za zoot!

Of all the formal alternatives
to a tuxedo, nothing has the
eye appeal of a zoot suit

If your first prom wasn't perfect, try, try again

---

By Betty Shimabukuro
bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

The word "zoot" is a jazz term referring to something extravagant, something with flash. The zoot suit of the '40s was all of that.

Like much fashion, it symbolized rebellion, ethnic pride, an in-your-face declaration of youth. The zoot suit even inspired hatred and violence, igniting several Zoot Suit Riots nationwide in 1943.

Mexican poet and social commentator Octavio Paz called the zoot suit "a symbol of love and joy or of horror and loathing, an embodiment of liberty, of disorder, of the forbidden."

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Kristi Orita's Mandarin-style gown is matched with Justin Perez's ensemble via a coordinated vest. Perez is wearing a long coat called the Napoleon, inspired by the zoot suit and today's gothic look.

But that was then. In the new millennium, the zoot suit is going to the prom.

While it is doubtful that the choice of a zoot suit represents horror or loathing among any prom-goer, it does embody liberty from the restrictions of the cummerbund and the bow tie (what is the purpose of those things, anyway?).

A zoot suit is more relaxed than a full-on tuxedo, more comfortable for a formal night out. Yet it definitely projects style.

"It looks cool," says Jodie Gyotoku, general manager for Tuxedo Junction.

"It's a tux, but with a feeling of individuality," says Fergus Ramsey, sales associate with Gary's Tux Shops. "This prom season, they've been so popular that we're basically scrambling to get as many as we can."

"Smooth," pronounced our zoot-suit model, Justin Akamine-Nakakura, a junior at Moanalua High School.

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM A long, formal coat is often accessorized for a "goth" look.

What's a zoot suit? A broad-shouldered, wide-lapeled, loose-cut jacket; baggy pants tapered at the ankle; plus accessories of felt hat, loopy chains at the waist and shiny black-and-white shoes.

Neither Gyotoku nor Ramsey would call the zoot suit the No. 1 choice for the prom, nor is this the first year of its resurgent popularity. But it is certainly on the rise. "It is very popular, very much asked for," Gyotoku says. "We do have to turn people away."

To suit up in full zoot will run a little more than $100 in rental fees at either shop, but give up a few accessories, and you can get by for less.

Today, the zoot suit is a nonthreatening expression of style. The worst that could happen is that your date would find it silly. And in that case, you wouldn't be wearing one anyway, right?

But the zoot has a dark side. Stuart Cosgrove wrote a fascinating history of the suit for the History Workshop Journal published by the Oxford University Press in 1984.

In "The Zoot Suit and Style Warfare," Cosgrove traces the roots of the zoot to black and Chicano youth gangs at the beginning of World War II: "In the subcultural world of Harlem's nightlife, the language of rhyming slang succinctly described the zoot suit's unmistakable style: 'a killer-diller coat with a drape shape, reet pleats and shoulders padded like a lunatic's cell.'"

When rationing came, use of wool in fabrics was severely curtailed, and that made it no longer practical to manufacture the loose-cut zoot suit. Demand remained high, though, and bootleg tailors met it. Thus in the eyes of the establishment, the zoot suit was not just a fashion choice, it was the fashion choice of hooligans -- and was flatly unpatriotic.

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM To be properly zoot-suited is to be outfitted in felt hat, chains and two-toned shoes -- and, if you're really feeling suave, a white-tipped cane.

For several weeks in June of 1943, smoldering tensions between zoot-suiters and chino-clad servicemen exploded in racially charged street fights in Los Angeles, spreading to other large cities. Often, a zoot-suit riot would result in a group of servicemen beating and stripping a zoot-suiter, sometimes burning the offending costume.

All these decades later, the threat of the zoot suit has subsided. It stands more as an icon of the swing generation than anything intimidating.

When it comes to formal attire, Gyotoku says, young people tend to take their cues less from history and more from the movies.

One style born of the zoot suit is the long, gothic-style coat, a sort of vampire-looking thing popularized in "The Matrix" and "Wild, Wild West."

Also big is a coat with a Mandarin collar, a la Bruce Lee. "I don't know if it's a Hawaii thing, but it's very fashionable, and once again it's a tux that doesn't necessarily have the look of a tuxedo," Ramsey says. "They're dressed up but they're still comfortable."

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