Zazou

The zazous were a subculture in France during World War II. They were young people expressing their individuality by wearing big or garish clothing (similar to the zoot suit fashion in America a few years before) and dancing wildly to swing jazz and bebop. Men wore large striped lumber jackets, while women wore short skirts, striped stockings and heavy shoes, and often carried umbrellas.

During the German occupation of France, the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazi occupiers, had an ultra-conservative morality and started to use a whole range of laws against a youth that was restless and disenchanted. These young people expressed their resistance and nonconformity through aggressive dance competitions, sometimes against soldiers from the occupying forces.

The Zazous were to be found throughout France, but were most concentrated in Paris. The two most important meeting places of the Zazous were the terrace of the Pam Pam cafe on the Champs-Élysées and the Boul’Mich (the Boulevard Saint-Michel near the Sorbonne).

The Zazous of the Champs Elysées came from a more middle-class background and were older than the Zazous of the Latin Quarter. The Champs Elysées Zazous were easily recognisable on the terrace of the Pam Pam and took afternoon bike rides in the Bois de Boulogne. In the Latin Quarter, the Zazous met in the cellar clubs of Dupont-Latin or the Capoulade.

The male Zazous wore extra large jackets, which hung down to their knees and which were fitted out with many pockets and often several half-belts. The amount of material used was a direct comment on Government decrees on the rationing of clothing material. Their trousers were narrow, gathered at the waist, and so were their ties, which were cotton or heavy wool. The shirt collars were high and kept in place by a horizontal pin. They liked thick-soled suede shoes, with white or brightly coloured socks. Their hairstyles were greased and long. Many Zazous liked to dress in the style anglais with umbrellas (seen as a symbol of Britishness in France) a popular fashion accessory and their hair done up á la mode d'Oxford , had a fondness for speaking to each in English as it was more "cool" and loved British and American popular music. The French writer Simone de Beauvoir described the Zazou look in 1942 as "the young men wore dirty drape suits with 'drainpipe' trousers under their sheep-skinned lined jackets and brillianted liberally their long hair, the girls favored tight roll-coller sweaters with short flared skirts and wooden platform shoes, sported dark glasses with big lens, put on heavy make-up and went bare-headed to show their dyed hair, set off by a lock of different hue".

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Wikipedia