Twenty, Twenty and One Hemp Safari Jacket!

 

We call it “the Millennial era”.

The Era that made technology so glued to our fingers whenever, wherever. 

Growing up in an “always logged in” account or “phone battery low” being a drama, this kind of behaviour has shown dramatic shifts in youth behaviour attitudes and lifestyles. Some positive ones but also some concerning ones. Think about your parents, grandparents, cousins. For sure you will be able to see both differences and resemblances in their attitude, opinions or lifestyles. Let’s alter time for a moment and travel back in the 1900, a far more different Era than the one stated above.

Buckle up and get ready for a front row history lesson. 

 

The History of The Safari Jacket

 

120 years ago people were still people, the world was made of water and land and human bodies needed to be covered for various reasons, just like nowadays.

But did you know that The Safari look made its debut back in the time in Kenya?

Yes, you read that right, Kenya not Paris fashion week. So let’s just consider Kenya the Paris of the Safari Jacket, ok?

The “Safari Jacket” or “Bush Jacket” was originally designed (as you might depict from its name) for the purpose of going on safari in the African bush. It is considered to be one of the staple menswear garments born from the human being’s desire to kill - so something good can come out of that. It is no secret anymore or breaking news that most clothing items first originated in the military, especially menswear. Clothing worn in combat needed to be useful because it had to serve the soldier’s purpose. In terms of colour, giving the fact that people had to stay “undercover” in a way or another, on the battlefield, you might think it makes sense that all things Army tend to incorporate the colour “Khaki”, right? Well, the same thing applies to the Safari Jacket.

The jacket was meant to be lightweight and it may sometimes incorporate epaulettes in its design, but most of the time, your typical Safari Jacket will have pleated pockets and belts. The bellow pockets increased carrying capacity, the wide collar spread across the chest helped with cooling and the emblematic belt around the waist ensured that everything stays in one place.

The belt is the element that wraps everything together and “makes it work”

as how would Tim Gunn say.

 

The Contemporary Safari Jacket

 

Switching back to more contemporary times, the Safari Jacket kept these design elements included over the years while each and every designer took its own spin with the overall product. Designers like Dolce & Gabanna, Prada, Alexandre Vauthier or Chloé are some worth mentioning. Still, the most important name is the name of the one who actually included the term “Safari Jacket” under the fashion umbrella for the very first time. Any guesses? We would like to arrest time for a moment and practice a bow for the one and only Mr. Yves Saint Laurent who was in fact the first designer that chose to include the Safari Jacket we all know and love today, in the fashion area. 

 

The Hemp Safari Jacket - De IONESCU style

 

Many years later, we proudly present our own take (or we might say, our Hemp take) on this famous piece of clothing with the house of De IONESCU’s personal touch - Hemp!

The use of Hemp as fabric for the garment allowed us to create an organic item even though its design had been previously used in wars and battlefields. Poetic, isn’t it? To create something organic out of the battlefield ashes? We chose to include this item into our collection because both the Safari Jacket as well as De IONESCU stand for the same things:

comfort, practicability, lightweight and of course appeal.

At De IONESCU we understand that today’s most valuable asset one can have is - time, and time can be well spent, well counted but mostly valued, so we kept the bellow pockets as spacious as we could because we know how busy people need their “assets” always around nowadays. Fashion isn’t all about appearances. It is about sustainability, confidence, practicality. Fashion is or should be more about how one item can make you feel, and who do you feel while wearing it? Is it the confident you? The chilled out you? The unstoppable you? The Hempster you? We like to think that people who wear De IONESCU clothes feel liberated, alive and in touch with their inner core just like hemp grows out of Earth’s Core.

These are some of the reasons on why we chose to put our own spin on this timeless classic design and transform this garment into one that stands for both our values and beliefs because it is entirely made of organic fabric - Hemp and it also respects the body of our clients while giving them room to breathe, to be comfortable, fashionable and hip at the same time. For us, that means a perfect combo!

Think of it as being a classic with a twist, a fashionable item reinterpreted in a Hemp way, for a Hempster millennial, always on the run.

You can find our spin on the Safari Jacket in the New Collection signed by De IONESCU.