A safari jacket or bush jacket is a garment originally designed for the purpose of going on safari in the African bush.
Popularized by turn-of-the-20th-century Anglo-African adventurers, safari-style jackets were engineered for comfort and function.
A safari jacket is commonly a lightweight cotton drill or lighter poplin jacket, traditionally khaki in color, with a self-belt and often with epaulettes, with four or more expandable bellows pockets. Safari jackets have been worn as mainstream casual clothing since the 1950s, when the look was popularized by Ernest Hemingway. Bush jackets are particularly popular with photographers, as their many pockets allow a convenient way to carry film, lenses, flashes, and other small photographic equipment.
The bush shirt is similar to the safari jacket, but without a belt or waist closure, and it is often produced without shoulder epaulets.
It is believed that the safari jacket is based on certain British khaki drill military apparel worn in warm climates. The leisure suit, a short-lived fashion fad, seems to have been influenced by the safari jacket. The Marvel Comics superhero Wonder Man wore a red safari jacket with black pants as his costume for a period of time.
Roger Moore's James Bond wore beige safari jackets or bush shirts with matching pants in The Man with the Golden Gun, Moonraker, and Octopussy. Also, the safari jacket was a favorite of J. R. Ewing in the 1980s evening soap-opera series Dallas, where he usually paired it with a kerchief.
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