The goal of this blog is to create an easily browsable archive of vintage Banana Republic Catalogs for collectors and resellers, as well as to celebrate and document the history of Banana Republic of the 1980s. You can browse the catalogs individually, or browse by clothing type (Women’s shoes, Men’s Pants, etc). Hopefully this makes it easier to find the proper names of a garment and understand it’s place in the BR timeline. eBay sellers are encouraged to use the site to research items and are free to use catalog scans to illustrate this auctions.

My story is this: I loved Banana Republic clothes when I was a teenager. That made me a bit of an outsider among my peers, though my close friends shared the enthusiasm if not the wardrobe. I was never comfortable with teen fashion in the 80s, it all seemed pretty ridiculous to me. Nonetheless, the aggressively retro style and infusions of adventure and romance that Banana Republic traded in was right up my alley. I visited the BR store each time I left New Mexico for a larger city. San Francisco, Washington DC, New York and London stores all got a visit from me. I wish I had kept the clothes of course, but styles change and things get tossed. 

I picked up my first catalog from my father, who actually WAS the adventure traveller I would never be. He lived in the Alaskan wilderness while I grew up in the suburbs of a New Mexico town. The illustrated Banana Republic catalog was particularly attractive to me as a young artist. So distinctive and beautifully rendered, I’m still kind of astonished they pulled it off as much as they did. 

It’s been eating away at a little corner of my brain ever since, because what I am is a collector and amateur archivist. So when I came across a giant collection of catalogs on eBay I decided it was up to me to put an archive together.

It was a grand day when 35 vintage Banana Republic catalogs arrived at my house. That same week I picked up a vintage BR shoebox to keep them in and a Bi-Plane gift box I have big plans for.