{"id":9145,"date":"2020-08-21T18:52:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T18:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secretfanbase.com\/banana\/?p=9145"},"modified":"2025-09-25T21:08:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:08:02","slug":"1983-summer-catalogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secretfanbase.com\/banana\/1983-summer-catalogue\/","title":{"rendered":"1983 Summer Catalogue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Two versions of the Summer 1983 catalogue. Cover illustration by Kevin Sarkki. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have the Summer 1983 catalogue in the standard newsprint and also a glossy paper version, the first and only glossy BR catalogue I’ve ever seen. As you can see the newsprint version is announcing the opening of the new Stanford store, so I am left to assume it came out after the glossy which doesn’t mention Stanford. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This cover was drawn by staff artist Kevin Sarkki and he told me he was trying to emulate Patricia Ziegler’s style. It’s a wonderful view of a Banana Republic store with a tin roof awning out front. Inside we see Livingstone the zebra at his food dish, as well as a jaguar, a monkey, an antelope and a bird. To the left is a Jeep piled with BR T-Shirts and on the shelves we see hats and bush jackets and more. In the back there is a mural painted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m fascinated with this cover for another reason: It seems to have been inspired by the artwork created to pitch Banana Republic’s third store! Moving into the prestigious, high-end Stanford Shopping Center was a big step. When the Zieglers pitched their store they ignored all of those standards and proposed an outlandish concept; What would become the classic Banana Republic Travel & Safari Co store, including the jeep in the window, a life sized giraffe, a neon sign on a tin roof…It was all laid out in this drawing (below) which was originally a color drawing which they copied into sections of foam core to make a 3D mockup of the store. The art helped to sell the Stanford Mall on the concept. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Patricia Ziegler Stanford store mockup <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n

This is the first catalogue with the new logo and logotype designed by San Francisco based designer Primo Angelli who was brought in to elevate the branding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This surplus Army soap dish was not bought at a Banana Republic, I bought it from a surplus dealer, but it\u2019s the same variety that was sold in several early catalogues.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
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A couple of other things that caught my eye is a BR shirt with the oval logo on the breast pocket and an “Expedition Bag” that looks for all the world like a Brady bag without the leather trimming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Browse through the entire catalogue below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n