{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O135195"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O135195/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LB4983/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LB4983/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018LB4983","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018LB4984","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT5476","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Cherry Parker","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O135195","accessionNumber":"T.467, 468-1994","objectType":"Skirt suit","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This black and white chalk-striped wool two-piece suit formed part of a ‘zoot suit’ outfit recreated for the exhibition <i>Streetstyle, From Sidewalk to Catwalk, 1940 to Tomorrow</i> held at the V&A in 1994-5. The complete outfit consisted of the suit, a printed rayon scarf and an original 1940s hat (loaned). Recreated by Cherry Parker in 1994, the suit was based on a two-piece worn by performer Lena Horne in a dance routine in the 1943 film ‘Stormy Weather’. Helen Rose’s costume designs for this film are among the few surviving sources showing female ‘zoot suits’.\r\n\r\n‘Zoot’ meant something worn or performed in an extravagant style and the term came to be applied to suits with  outrageously padded shoulders and trousers sharply tapered at the ankles worn by young black and Hispanic men in 1940s America. At a time when black Americans were expected to assume a subservient attitude to whites, the ostentatious zoot suit was a direct challenge to the social order. Its extravagant use of fabric also made wearers unpopular in wartime America.","physicalDescription":"Black and white chalk-striped wool two-piece suit (jacket and skirt).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Parker, Cherry","id":"A19958"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wool","id":"x40131"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wool","categories":[{"text":"African Diaspora","id":"THES48873"},{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"},{"text":"Streetstyle exhibition 1994","id":"THES282706"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2018LB4983","2018LB4984","2006AT5476"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES325736"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES325736"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Jacket","id":""}],[{"text":"Skirt","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1994","earliest":"1994-01-01","latest":"1994-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Weight","value":"0.4","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Registered File number 1994/814, Streetstyle exhibition 1994-1995, in the exhibition it was part of an outfit called 'Zoot Suiter USA (1994 replica)' : includes the scarf T.469-1994.","historicalContext":"'Black and white chalk-striped wool two-piece suit, printed rayon scarf, Cherry Parker; original 1940s hat.\r\nHelen Rose's costume designs for the film 'Stormy Weather' are among the few surviving sources showing female zoot suits. The two-piece worn by Lena Horne in a dance routine formed the basis for this reproduction, which captures the exaggerated 1940s styling favoured by female Zoot suiters.\r\nHat lent by Philomena Papirnik. Compiled by Cherry Parker.'","briefDescription":"Skirt suit: jacket and skirt, black and white striped, wool, Cherry Parker, London, Great Britain, 1994, replica of 1943 design","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Surfers, Soulies, Skinheads & Skaters : Subcultural Style from the Forties to the Nineties","id":"AUTH352425"},"details":"","free":"Described in the exhibition publication, part of an outfit called 'Zoot Suiter USA (1994 replica)'"}],"production":"Designed and made by Cherry Parker in 1994. Replica of 1943 design.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.467-1994","T.468-1994"],"accessionNumberNum":"467","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1994,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Jacket","Skirt"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2007-05-22","availableToBook":true}}