Sartorial Safari

Safari print lived rent free in my mind for a solid six years before I found this dress.

🐅🐘🦓🦏🐆🦛

the banana republic safari print dress

Set the scene: summer 2014, Labor Day weekend. I took a vacation weekend at my parents’ house on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I spent my time mostly floating around the pool, but also shopping. My mom drove us to the Gulfport outlets where I hit the Banana Republic Factory Store that I worked at during high school and undergrad. Holla, store 6295!

There, a safari print dress caught my eye. It was a stretch cotton poplin blend number, sleeveless, with a dark olive safari illustration print on a cream colored background. I think it was intended to be somewhere between mini and knee length, but on my six foot, two inch frame, it erred on being extremely mini on me. I passed on the dress.

Just because it was too short did not mean I stopped thinking about this dress. It lived rent free in my mind for nearly six years. During the first summer of the pandemic, I had entirely too much time on my hands. I googled Banana Republic Factory Store Safari print dress hoping to find it on the secondary market and lo and behold…

Banana Republic had a dress on the market with a very similar Safari print. It had spaghetti straps in lieu of sleeveless. Black on cream in lieu of olive on cream. Cotton linen fabric in lieu of stretch cotton poplin fabric. Most importantly, it was available in tall size range, eliminating the possibility of a wardrobe malfunction.

I am wearing this dress in a size ten tall. The back has a stretch smocking panel that allows for weight fluctuation, praise!