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Join SCAD FASH Assistant Director of Fashion Exhibitions Christina Frank online and in-person for this special conversation on the cultural significance of the zoot suit with Clarissa Esguerra, associate curator of costume and textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.To attend this event in person at SCAD FASH, email [email protected] by Monday, July 5. Space is limited.
For additional information and to register to tune in virtually at bit.ly/SCADFASHZootSuit
Zoot suits were extreme variations on the full cut “drape suit” of the 1930s. Worn by young jazz enthusiasts across the U.S. in cities like Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York during the 1940s, the oversized suits were tailored to achieve exaggerated, padded shoulders and full, balloon-like pleated trousers that were pegged at the bottom. The look was usually completed with a porkpie hat or a fedora, a long watch chain, a thin belt, and matching shoes. Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter’s re-creations of the historic garment for the 1992 film Malcolm X bring this cultural phenomenon to life in the current SCAD FASH exhibition "Afrofuturism in Costume Design," on view through Sept. 12.
About Clarissa Esguerra
Clarissa Esguerra joined the LACMA curatorial staff in 2008 and has since overseen numerous award-winning costume and textile installations, both for LACMA-organized exhibitions as well as loans to national and international museums. She has written regularly on historic dress and has authored, co-authored, and contributed to exhibition catalogs, journals, and magazines. A specialist on the development of historic garment construction, Esguerra oversees LACMA’s online educational resource Undertaking the Making: LACMA Costume and Textiles Pattern Project, which publishes free downloadable garment patterns from extant objects in the museum’s permanent collection.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion and Film, 1600 Peachtree St NW, Atlanta, GA 30309, United States