Initially an African American youth fashion, the “zoot suit” was an oversized statement of style and defiance. Closely connected to jazz culture, the style was co-opted by a generation of Mexican American kids in the 1940s, who made it their own in the face of widespread discrimination.
The "Zoot Suit" style.
The Zoot Suit generation of rebellious youth with attitude later became known as “pachucos.” The “cholos“ and homeboys of contemporary Los Angeles are shaped by their current violent context and by these earlier expressions of working-class rebellious identity.
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Pachuco [pa'tuko] noun (plural: -cos) (U.S.) a young Mexican living in the U.S., esp. one of low social status who belongs to a street gang. [ETYMOLOGY: 20th Century: from Mexican Spanish] (Mexico) 1. A peso bill (Mexican unit of money), 2) a youth who doesn’t study, generally one who is uncouth, a vagabound, uneducated and vulgar; often a gang member. They no longer print pachucos — there are only one peso coins. They saw Felix and Matthew fighting like pachucos in the streets.