Les Zazous...

was the name of a counter-culture group in France during WW II. There are different versions of the evolution of the title Zazous. What is clear is that Cab Calloway was hot in Paris pre-war, and za-zou was part of the scat he included in HiDeHo, among other performances. The Zoot Suit, again Calloway, influenced their distinctive look. and flew in the face of the occupying forces at the time. They danced swing, usually in underground clubs, while Cab kept American troops hep around the world.

Cab Calloway's music had many inter-cultural references, implying that Jewish, African and Asian Americans interacted with each other in making music among other things. African American influence in society and culture was much more widely accepted in France than the U.S., something that definitely rubbed the Nazis the wrong way. Les Zazous signified something uniquely French, young and passionate. Le Jazz Hot was forbidden, so threatening that they had to change the titles of the songs to get Nazi permission to publish recordings.

It's difficult to find a lot of information about Les Zazous, there weren't that many of them at any one time, probably less than 300 at their peak. This is taken from Wikipedia:

"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.

Female Zazous wore their hair in curls falling down to their shoulders, or in braids. Blonde was the favourite colour, and they wore bright red lipstick, as well as sunglasses, also favoured by some male Zazous. They wore jackets with extremely wide shoulders and short, pleated skirts. Their stockings were striped or sometimes net, and they wore shoes with thick wooden soles.

The Zazous were big fans of checkered patterns, on jacket, skirt or brolly. They started appearing in the vegetarian restaurants and developed a passion for grated carrot salad. They usually drank fruit juice or beer with grenadine syrup, a cocktail that they seem to have invented.

The Zazous were numbered in the hundreds rather than thousands and were generally between 17 and 20. There were Zazous from all classes, races, and genders but with apparently similar outlooks. Working class Zazous used theft of cloth and black market activities to get their outfits, sometimes stitching their own clothes. Some of the more bohemian Zazous in the Latin Quarter varied the outfit, with sheepskin jackets and multicoloured scarves. It was their ironic and sarcastic comments on the Nazi/Vichy rulers, their dandyism and hedonism, their suspicion of the work ethic and their love of �decadent� jazz that distinguished them as one of the prototype youth movements questioning capitalist society.

While they did not suffer like their contemporaries in Germany, the working class Edelweiss Pirates (some of whom were hanged by the Nazis), the Zazou subculture represented an important dissident minority in a society of widespread complicity and acquiescence."

They weren't a militant group, more of an artistic bunch of kids who identified with a look, sound and thought. The Nazis took them on, publicly shaving the heads of the Zazou men on the streets. Persistent Zazous were sent to work camps, not in large numbers, and the movement moved underground. I'll work on finding more pictures so you can see the look.