Over the next few weeks we are going to profile a few of the costumes used throughout the series. From the way they’re made to why they were designed the way they were. This week is Zoot’s costume. Click any of the costume pictures for a larger view.
Zoot was only a part of The Tribe for the blink of an eye and yet his character remains one of the most well- known and, surprisingly, well-loved.
Perhaps it is because we were able to get into the head of the guy that thought Power and Chaos was the way when we saw how he behaved with his daughter and got to take a look at how he turned from Martin to Zoot in the Pre-Tribe scenes.
Whatever it is, Zoot is alive and kicking in the hearts and minds of many Tribe fans.
The Zoot look started out as a bad boy biker one but with the addition of an adapted police outfit Zoot was definitely born.
Starting at the bottom we can see that Zoot wears some comfy looking boots. Ex-army surplus store, these boots are leather and come up to just above the ankles. They are designed to be long-lasting and it looks like they are. No platforms here thanks, Zoot is rough and rugged and his boots are well-worn and lived in.
The boots come up over the bottoms of the leather bikers pants that Zoot wears. Made of hard-wearing leather these pants seem to be fairly comfortable although like Slade’s jacket they are heavy.
The back is made of blue leather and the seams are sewn with matching blue cotton. There is an
oblong panel of white leather with white stitching down the back right hand side of the trouser leg stretching from the waistband to the mid-thigh.
To the left of that there is a half -moon raised patch of blue leather with blue stitching and there’s another raised half-moon panel on the back left trouser leg.
The waistband is blue leather and there is a decorative silver buckle and blue leather strap in the centre of it with a brass popper on either side.
At the bottom of the back of each leg there is a vertical zip.
The front of the pants are red leather with red stitching. There is another white oblong panel on the left leg that matches the one that is on the back of the right leg.
There are also the same half-moon raised panels on both the front trouser legs as there are on the back though these are red rather than blue.
There is one small pocket on the right hand trouser leg at hip level.
The knees of the trousers are made for bending and have zipped pockets. Just underneath the knee pocket on each leg there is a raised red leather panel.
The trouser legs taper slightly and there is a piece of black elastic fitted that Zoot would put his foot through to help keep the trouser legs straight.
The waistband is blue leather and there are 2 blue leather belt loops attached. There is a long piece of blue leather that has 4 brass holes in it for the belt toggle to go through – and there has been one more hole added – obviously Zoot has a very slim waist!
The belt buckle is plain silver, nothing fancy and underneath the belt buckle there is a silver popper and a zipper.
Worn over the knees are knee-guards. These are made of a soft black denim material with foam inserts to give a solid shape. A black plastic knee pad is stitched on and it sits high on it’s material backing.
There are silver studs glued on to the plastic cap as well as 2 pieces of elastic with a silver belt buckle attached – purely for decoration. 3 holes are cut out of the plastic cap on each side.
The knee-guard has black elastic stitched on which goes around the back of the knee and then reattaches on the other side to Velcro.
There is an oblong piece of metal with small holes drilled into it that has been attached to the knee-guard by 2 metal studs. The whole metal piece has been spray-painted red.
There is a piece of metal chain that is attached to the bottom of the knee-guard by soft black leather and metal studs.
Zoot wears layers and the first one is a shirt and tie. Well, nothing like any other shirt we’ve seen! A good quality cotton shirt, originally white it has been dirtied up a bit and shredded too!
Seen from the back, you will notice that the shirt has a split all the way from the bottom to the mid-back area.
The sleeves have been cut off and the front has been shredded, leaving only the collar and a piece of the shirt that can be tied to hold it all together.
The collar is worn buttoned up and a blue raggedy tie is worn with it.
The collar sits over the next layer which is a basketball top. Made of red, white and blue perforated material this top allows Zoot’s skin to breath!
The back is red with a big white 14 in the centre. The front is primarily red with a white and blue panel. There is a smaller white number 14 on the chest and the collar is also white.
Worn around the collar and over the tie and tops is an amazing necklace. Each side is the same and is made up of panels.
The first panel is made of very soft black leather. It has silver braces attachments at the top which would fasten to the shirt to keep it in place.
There are 2 holes punched through the leather towards the top and they have brass studs in them.
There is a silver metal star glued to the left leather panel.
A silver metal strap secures the next panel on each side which is made of woven khaki coloured almost metallic fibre. It is stuck to a stretchy blue-green material. Almost like a tubi grip bandage in texture.
At the end of these panels there is a silver metal band and the panels are joined together at the bottom by a bolt.
This marks the start of the metal horseshoe shape off which hangs a bone carving of a bulls face.
The bull is probably made out of cow bone and it has grooves carved into it to make the shape of the face.
Covering the top of this carving is a helmet made of tarnished silver metal. Attached to this are 2 horns, again probably made out of cow bone.
The horns are held in place by a slim silver metal band with circles decorating it. The helmet has intricate silver metal spirals, dots and flowers stuck on and there is an opal coloured stone set in silver at the centre of the hat.
This carving is attached to the horseshoe shaped clump of metal by 3 pieces of chain and a washer that sits in the middle of the horseshoe piece. This is held in place by a screw with a bolt at either end.
Over the shirt comes the jacket. This is perhaps Zoot’s best known item of clothing.
Viewed from the front we can see that the jacket is an old navy blue suit jacket. Lined with black silky material, this jacket is good quality.
Or should be say was good quality?
Zoot has made the additions of several safety pins and chains that appear all over the jacket.
The cuffs of the sleeves have been cut off so they look pretty ragged and there are black commanders stripes stitched onto the lower part of the sleeves.
The left breast pocket had a patch covering it and held on with large safety pins. It is black with red stitching and has a white emblem and the words Cress Earth painted on to it.
On the left lapel there are 3 silver numbers pinned on – 404.
The top of the sleeves have silver metal commanders stripes attached to them with silver nuts and bolts.
On the each shoulder there is a black twisted rope that stretches from the shoulder seam to the collar bone and is then secured with a silver button that has a crown emblem on it.
There are 6 crown emblem silver buttons on the front of the jacket and they have all been spray painted red.
The back of the jacket has a large emblem attached to it with safety pins. It is cream coloured flag material and has a red explosive emblem on it with the red words Keep Warm Burn The Rich printed on to it.
Hanging off the bottom safety pins are more safety pins and various silver chains.
There is also a large silver Roman coin attached to the back by a chain and safety pins.
The hat is another stand-out Zoot feature and it is an old navy band-player’s hat that has had a few alterations made.
There are safety pins all over the top of the hat and some goggles attached to the front above the peak.
These goggles look like they have come from an old motorcycle helmet.
Rarely seen without the hat, Zoot keeps his dreads underneath and that completes the unique, rebellious style of Zoot.