ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SIESTA KEY, FLA.
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
Harold C. Fox, whose stylized zoot suit was the uniform of trendsetters of the 1930s and '40s, is dead at 86.
Fox's wide-shouldered, narrow-cuffed zoot suit - with high-waisted trousers and a long, draped jacket - was the favored look of ``hep cats,'' devotees of swing and boogie-woogie music.
Fox, who died Sunday of cancer, was a designer and trumpeter who played occasionally for stars such as Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday.
``Since he thought [the zoot suit] was `the end of all ends' or `the coolest,' and Z was the end of the alphabet, he came up with `zoot,''' said Fox's daughter, Audrey Gregory.
Born in July 1910 in Chicago, Fox was a salesman for his father's woolen wholesaling business. In the 1930s he moved to New York City, joined a band and started designing suits for fellow musicians. His buyers included such musicians as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Sammy Davis Jr.
One of his original zoot suits is on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. - Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB