Seersucker is an iconic Louisiana fashion statement, especially in the political arena

There comes a time in many Southern children’s lives when their parents dress them in the cool, striped, puckered fabric known as seersucker. Yes, the choice is particularly fashionable in Louisiana, but the fabric is also sensible for a hot Louisiana day. 

Seersucker, which originates from the Persian phrase shir-o-shakhar, meaning “milk and sugar” for the alternating stripes, has a distinct crinkled and puckered surface that is lightweight and ideal for the heat of summer in the South. The puckered surface of the textile, typically made of cotton, is achieved by manipulating the threads at different tensions as it’s woven.

“The idea is that if the fabric is puckered in that way, then it doesn’t lay flat against the body. Therefore, it doesn’t absorb perspiration,” said Michael Mamp, director and curator of the LSU Textile and Costume Museum. “It’s a little looser and cooler to wear, allowing for the body to have more room to cool off and not get weighted down by a wet fabrication.” 

Mamp explained that many textile scholars and fashion history experts point to British colonial times as the emergence of seersucker in the marketplace, as the British Empire was establishing colonies in India where the climate was hot and humid. Colonial officials were outfitted in the material and often had entire suits cut from seersucker. 

The uniquely textured fabric was exported to the American colonies by the early 18th century and was made available in many patterns and an assortment of colors. Local legend claims that Joseph Haspel Sr., a haberdasher in New Orleans, established the seersucker suit in the early 20th century.

However, Lydia Blackmore with The Historic New Orleans Collection found that the first mention of “seersucker suits” in New Orleans newspapers is in an 1867 ad for Robert Pitkins’ Fashionable Clothing Emporium on Camp Street. The suits weren’t exactly similar to the ones Haspel made that became synonymous with male fashion in the South. 

“More mentions of seersucker suits come in the 1880s,” Blackmore reported. “The May 6, 1886, edition of the Daily Advocate in Baton Rouge declared that ‘Straw hats and seersucker suits are all the go in Franklin.'” Blackmore adds that reports from Washington, D.C., describe congressmen in seersucker about this time (predating the modern congressional summer tradition of ‘Seersucker Thursdays’ by a century).

Mamp emphasized the long history of Louisiana politicians wearing seersucker. 

“Over time, what started as a practical choice, because of the heat, became a cultural symbol of the South,” he said. “And what better way for someone to demonstrate their prominence as a cultural leader in the South than to wear a seersucker suit?” 

Particularly in politics, clothing is used to communicate more than what meets the eye. 

In 2015, when Hillary Clinton was the first woman to earn the major nomination of a party, she wore a white pantsuit. That was a purposeful choice, Mamp said, as white is traditionally a color of the women’s suffrage movement.

Mamp remembers that Clinton also wore white when she attended the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2016 as a way to symbolize the history of women fighting for the vote in the country and then ultimately being a part of the political landscape. 

Trump has also had his hand in creating clothing that transcends function with his well-known “Make America Great Again” paraphernalia. 

“A MAGA hat has become a symbol — a political symbol, a cultural symbol, a divisive symbol. A symbol that either causes people to be elated or to be enraged,” Mamp said. “If a hat that says, ‘Make America Great Again’ can literally represent the polarization of the country, then we’ve only scratched the surface of the power of clothing as a symbol.”

Whether one is in politics or not, clothing is a body language all on its own, full of meaning and nuances that come in all shapes, sizes, prints and textures. 

In the 1920s, young college boys began wearing seersucker to form their own sense of “preppy” fashion. It was then, Mamp said, that seersucker became a nationwide phenomenon.

Haspel’s company played a large role in this phenomenon, particularly as New Orleans was at the epicenter of seersucker fashion at the turn of the 20th century. 

“When you think of objects that humans interact with, there’s no closer object to the human experience than the clothes that we put on our body every day from birth to death,” Mamp said. “Everything in between clothing and the textiles of clothing are adjacent to us in some of the most memorable and important moments of life.” 

Lydia Blackmore with The Historic New Orleans Collection contributed to this report. Founded in 1966, The Historic New Orleans Collection is a museum, research center and publisher dedicated to the stewardship of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South.