Windsor's Safari Suit (1925)

[alden]

This Safari Suit designed by Windsor for use on hunting trips to Uganda was made in 1925. It is crafted of heavy cotton corduroy. The features of the jacket include four large pockets, belt and sleeve extensions that can be buttoned on or removed.



The trousers of the suit include a set of leg extensions that the Duke devised for his expeditions: “When in East Africa I designed a special type of safari shorts. These were made of thick khaki drill, which could be worn long, in the bush, to protect the knees from long grass and thorny underbrush, or could be buttoned up above the knee for the sake of coolness on the march in more open country” (A Family Album, p. 86)



The button holes are hand sewn.



The Duke has designed the trousers with both belt straps and a wide series of belt loops.

[filangieri]

Thank you Mr. Alden for the informative post and the beautiful pictures.
In Italy, I would visit my shirt-maker, rather than my tailor, to order a bespoke Safari “giacca-camicia”.
My shirt-maker makes a lot of beautiful cotton, linen and corduroy bush-jackets (“sahariane”) and quite a few tweed “giacche-camicia” that look very much like the Windsor Safari jacket, but she makes them with a full button front.
It is an extremely versatile, “dégagé” garment, and a tweed “giacca-camicia”, when purposely made a little longer than usual, can be even put on over a country sport-coat or a cachemire sweater as an additional layer of clothing in early spring and late autumn (think March and October week-ends in Roma, Napoli or the Tuscan hills).

[alden]

Filangeri, do you mean something like this in 22 ozs tweed, unlined:



It's a staple of the weekend wardrobe. The same one in 6 ply fresco is pleasant as well.

Cheers

[filangieri]

The beautiful tweed "giacca-camicia" shown in the last picture is a precise illustration of the one that I described in my previous post.
Judging from what I see, it looks like a flawless specimen of the "short" kind: not intended to be put on as an extra layer over a country sport-coat, but to be used to cover just a country shirt or a pullover.
The shape of the collar can be more (or less) open just like in a real shirt, and I have even seen versions of the “giacca camicia” with short, uncanvassed lapels, pushing the garment very close to “field jacket” territory.
Regardless the style of the “giacca-camicia”, I believe that genuine, beautifully mottled horn buttons and hand-sewn button-holes are absolutely essential to get the job properly done.
Since it is my understanding that we’re discussing about a piece of clothing that is unmistakably linked to the family tree of the British country tradition, can anyone spread some light on the history and original destination of the tweed “giacca-camicia” ?

[uppercase]

I've long owned a RTW, cotton, unlined Safari style coat from the defunct Willis & Geiger.

It's a very evocative style coat, something akin to the trench coat, with a special provenance and resonance in my mind.

It's very versatile, particularly for travel, with all of its pockets; like all good clothing, it seems to gain character with wear, and a bit of wrinkling adds to its look as well.

I've long enterained the idea of having a bespoke, heavy linen Safari style coat made; I hadn't thought of it before, but going to a shirtmaker for this makes perfect sense. The coat is afterall actually a shirt in a particular style.

The use of an unconventional fabric such as tweed for this style coat is intriguing and indeed a safari coat, in linen or indeed tweed, sounds like a very interesting project.

Below is an interpretation by master shirtmaker Leonardo Bugelli pictured in front of his shop, Firenze.

[TVD]

I do not know about the history, but I guess the best starting point would be the colonial and sporting tailors. If any of them are still alive.

The one time I had a Safari jacket made, it all ended up as a bit of a disaster. The tailors are long defunct now, but it turned out they could not do the thing unlined, and the uncanvassed construction caused them all sorts of nightmares. Not an unqualified success. The outcome resembled more on eof Roger Moores outings as James Bond than the Duke's Safari suit! I wore it maybe twice.

I stuck to RTW on this ever since. Holland & Holland sometimes have useful stuff, but it depends on their current range. My father used to buy Thornhill jackets at Cordings, but that range has completely deteriorated / disappeared last time I looked. I am sure that Poole could do it for me, but I am less sure they would actually enjoy doing so. And there are higher priorities, I fear.

Another reason to learn Italian and travel to Naples. The list is getting longer by the day.

[RWS]

. . . . Since it is my understanding that we’re discussing about a piece of clothing that is unmistakably linked to the family tree of the British country tradition, can anyone spread some light on the history and original destination of the tweed “giacca-camicia” ?

I suspect that the tweed (and other woollen) "overshirt" may have originated in the United States or Canada, for I know that it has existed in New England at least since the 1890s, if not earlier.

[Guest]

Dear Filangieri, Dear Michael,

I love this style of jacket, but I have just a doubt.

This is Prince Charles with a Safary Shirt:


The shirts used by the Duke and the Prince Charles seem to be "real" shirt. The other ones seems to be used like coats. What is their intended use? A linen Sahariana is intended to be a shirt or a coat?

Giona.

[filangieri]

Dear Jona,
I believe that the crucial factor is the fabric: a “giacca-camicia”, a “maremmana” or a safari jacket made with any kind of suiting material (tweed, fresco, cotton drill, linen, canvas, moleskin, corduroy, “fustagno”, “lana cotta”, etc), even if it was made by a shirt-maker is strictly a jacket, and you are always supposed to wear a shirt before you put it on, while a “sahariana” made with shirting fabric is a (technically and practically) just a shirt.

[Guest]

Well, but in the case of the Duke the thick kakhi drill is making up for a shirt, not a coat. Or, maybe I'm wrong.

[filangieri]

I agree, but I suppose that the Duke used to wear it with a cotton undershirt to absorb perspiration and a foulard to cover his neck.

[uppercase]

I've always prefered the look of the safari coat which Pr. Charles is wearing, with belt and epaulets; the Duke's safari shirt is not such an attractive alternative IMO.

But I don't think that the full safari "suit" with matching trousers is particularly successful.

Then again, it seems that both gentleman actually wear their safari suits on safari, not otherwise as country or casual wear.

So when might today's man properly wear a safari coat?

Also, It seems as if Pr. Charles is wearing the coat without a shirt; so it seems that he is wearing a coat as a shirt, and he has buttoned it to the top.

As to the provenance of the safari coat, the coat that General Pace is wearing below appears similar in many details to a safari coat; does such a military uniform derive from the safari jacket?

[Ed]

does such a military uniform derive from the safari jacket?


Probably the other way around.
It's more likely the safari jacket derived from the
military uniforms used in desert campaigns.