1939–1944 Germany; revived by swing-dance and historical-vintage enthusiasts

Swingjugend

Anti-Nazi German swing-kid subculture of the early 1940s — Anglophile zoot suits, long hair, gramophones and forbidden American jazz.

Palette: charcoal navy pinstripe tobacco brown ivory burgundy tweed grey
Signature garments: double-breasted English suit long English overcoat Homburg hat wing-collar shirt patterned tie knee-length pleated skirt short cropped jacket
Canonical brands: Magnoli Clothiers Cordings Etsy repro makers vintage thrift Heyday

About

Swingjugend (German for 'swing youth') were the middle-class teenage subculture in Hamburg, Berlin and other German cities (1939–1944) who openly rejected Nazi ideology by adopting British and American swing-jazz culture as their identity. The wardrobe was deliberately Anglophile and provocative: long English-cut overcoats, double-breasted suits with wide lapels, Homburg or Anthony Eden hats, umbrellas (regardless of weather), long shaggy hair worn over the collar, kerchiefs in breast pockets and Union Jack pins. Girls wore long permed hair, bright lipstick, lacquered nails, knee-length pleated skirts and short jackets. Many Swingjugend were arrested by the Gestapo and sent to concentration camps; the leaders were executed. The subculture inspired the 1993 Christian Bale film Swing Kids and is referenced today by historically-minded swing dancers and a small subset of European vintage menswear enthusiasts.

Not Zazou — Swingjugend was the German wing of the same anti-fascist swing-jazz youth movement; Zazou was its specifically French Occupation-era counterpart with its own coded uniform.

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