Fashion History: The Suit that Led to Nationwide Riots…

Fashion has always been and is still political. A deeper dive into the OG uniform of unity and resistance: zoot suits.

Protesters getting teargassed from the No Kings protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 14, 2025.

The political and social climate of 2025 has been overwhelming, to say the least. It’s unsettling to witness widespread unrest and chaos unfolding in real time; it can feel like we’re on the cusp of something worse every day. As a child of second generation with Bay Area roots (an area rich in culture, food, and history shaped by the labor and love of immigrants), the criminalization of our undocumented neighbors is disheartening and infuriating. The Trump administration's latest and boldest attempts to demonize Brown immigrants has been taking America by storm since the turn of this year.

It's important to remember that this sort of prejudice is not new. The roots of conflict trace back to historical events that contextualize what is happening today. I recently fell down a TikTok rabbit hole and learned about the Zoot Suit Riots, an incredibly important piece of Mexican-American history. The Zoot Suit Riots are just another example of how fashion has always been and is still political.

Mexican-Americans dressed in zoot suits getting arrested, from the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles (circa June, 1943).

Typically how most Mexican Americans styled and wore zoot suits. (circa 1940s)

While zoot suits are an important symbol of Mexican-American resistance, the zoot suit started in Harlem and was worn by Black Americans in the 1930s. It was later revolutionized and adopted by Mexican Americans barrios of Los Angeles. Zoot suits, or pachucos/pachucas, was a symbol of cultural resistance and political rebellion amongst the Mexican American communities during the 1940s. The zoot suit was a fashion statement in its own right: defined by exaggerated shoulder pads, large lapels, long blazers, high-waisted, balloon-like trousers, often accessorized with flamboyant hats. 

Zoot suits first became controversial because of the material used to make these suits. The composition of the zoot suits was wool, which was considered a scarce fabric at the time. This was all happening during World War II, when the American government imposed rationing on many resources, including wool. In time, it became illegal to manufacture these suits, but nonetheless, these suits were still getting made. The excessive material used in a zoot suit came to symbolize an act of resistance, given the wartime context. By continuing to wear the zoot suit, Mexican American youths were labeled as “unpatriotic”, rejecting the demands of wartime sacrifice.

While the American mainstream saw the zoot suit as unpatriotic and wasteful, for Mexican Americans, it was not just an act of defiance but also a statement of asserting their presence and rights in a society that had largely marginalized them.

The zoot suit was political because it questioned the cultural and social hierarchies that made Mexican Americans feel like second-class citizens. 

For more historical context, racial tensions were at an all time high in California. There was a stark increase of Mexican immigrants who came for field work and railroad projects. The California government called upon Mexico to send workers, promising U.S. citizenship, housing, basic health care, and more. Unfortunately, that was not the reality for many Mexican workers once they arrived. Americans were not welcoming, marking the start of wrongful stereotyping and racial tensions.

The 17 Mexican Americans who were wrongfully convicted for The Sleepy Lagoon murder in 1942.

The start of the criminalization of zootsuiters (aka Mexican Americans who wore these suits) came from a murder case that happened in 1942. Famously called The Sleepy Lagoon murder, a young Mexican-American man named Jose Gallardo Diaz was found dead by a reservoir in Commerce, California. The murder remains unsolved; however, 17 young Mexican Americans were wrongfully convicted. This case was sensationalized in mainstream American media, used as propaganda to fuel hatred towards Mexican immigrants. 

These cultural tensions led to the Zoot Suits Riots in 1943, a series of riots between Mexican American men and white American servicemen. Most of these riots took place in Los Angeles, as that was where many white American servicemen were stationed.

Zoot Suit Riots make it onto the headline for The Oakland Tribune from June 11, 1943.

A zoot suiter with his clothes torn apart, aftermath of the Zoot Suit Riots.

The first riot of this series happened in June 1943, when a group of young Mexican men wearing zoot suits got into a physical altercation with a group of white sailors. This incident gained mass media coverage, where it was overly exaggerated and, once again, used to paint a false narrative of zoot suiters. This incident caused white servicemen, sailors and Marines to go into Mexican American barrios in East Los Angeles and physically attack anyone in a zoot suit. Evidently, it was Mexican Americans who were being targeted by white servicemen, where they were brutally beaten and had their clothing destroyed. The police often sided with the servicemen and would, in turn, arrest the victims (the majority were Mexican Americans and, to put this plainly, were hate-crimed) who had been attacked, which worsened racial tensions. The aftermath of the riots led to greater political mobilization amongst Mexican Americans, highlighting the racial disparities and inequality they faced compared to their white counterparts. 

The criminalization of zoot suiters in the 1940s reveals how deeply fashion and identity are intertwined with politics. The zoot suit was seen as an act of defiance, a form of cultural identity, but it was also weaponized against those who wore it, just as today’s immigrant communities are falsely painted as threats. The backlash against zoot suiters during the Zoot Suit Riots became a turning point, revealing how fashion, like immigration status, could be used to stereotype and stigmatize an entire community.

Fashion has always been used as a powerful tool for self-expression and resistance. Just as the Mexican American youth in the 1940s wore their zoot suits with pride, rejecting societal norms and asserting their right to be seen, today’s immigrant communities continue to use their cultural identities as an act of resistance. This can be especially seen through fashion, as a means of not only self-expression but a statement. Fashion is not only political, but fashion is a statement of non-conformity.