Higgy Vasquez has modeled zoot suits for artists and photographers. Growing up in the old Orange neighborhood of Cypress St., Higgy modeled for many of his father’s paintings, reknowned master artist, Emigdio Vasquez (1939-2014). His father would alter the pictures to different faces of pachucos, Chicanos, and various friends. His son had several zuit suits in an array of colors that helped his father create his images with an authentic look.
Another lover of zoot suit and perhaps an unexpected person, a ‘white girl,’ as she calls herself, living in a primarily 80% Latino community, is Katherine Bowers. Bowers is a documentarian, a photographer and lover of the arts. Turns out she was on her way to a play written by actor and playwright, Louis Olivos, called Zoot Suit. Active in community bi-lingual theatre in Santa Ana, Ca., Bowers said, “I was walking down Calle 4th St. to see Olivos’ play, and there they were, four latino men wearing zuit zoots with 1940’s cars. They were an eye-catching draw to the play entrance. The setting was fantastic, the models stood under old style street lamps and it was twilight. I thought I had stepped back in time, and indeed I did. I knew right then and there, I would be creating some zoot suits with old car images as a period-piece photography project. I wished I’d had my camera with me that night.” Two years later Bowers had rounded up the models, the cars, scouted locations and created the photo shoots. Her primary model? Higgy Vasquez.
Vasquez modeled for 3 days at different street locations with various 1940s cars. Bowers loved creating images back in time. People would often see her images and think they were truly vintage pictures, not photos created in the current century. “When I met Higgy and found out he had zuit suits, I knew my idea was starting to manifest. Higgy was a perfect model for me. First of all, he is the son of a Chicano,” says Bowers. “He has that creamy brown skin, and his personal style is classy. His hair is black and his whole groove is very vintage.”
After the photo shoot, Bowers spent a few months in the dark room, developing and printing a Zuit Suit series that was displayed as part of the Bowers Museum atists at the Santora Arts Building in the Downtown Santa Ana Artist District. “I don’t get in the dark room any more. That was a special time for me where I logged tons of hours working arhival prints. I think of those days with wonder now,” says Bowers, “but very glad that I did it.”
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.