The Zieglers At Home and at the Office, January 1985

Kevin Sarkki emailed me out of the blue and said he’d found some exciting stuff in his archives for us. I told him I squealed when I saw the photos of the Zieglers in their offices at Banana Republic. The photos are everything you’d want to see.  Mel is in full regalia in command at his impressive, no-doubt antique desk, water buffalo (fake) mounted on the rustic wooden beams. Patricia is at an entirely more modern and stylish work table, fabric samples and inspiration hanging on the wall. Lots of framed vintage prints as you’d expect. The real kicker for Kevin was seeing his cover to the #12 Catalog on the wall behind Patricia.

The article is a pretty light affair, and tells stories we’ve heard before (Franco’s Short-Armed Paratrooper Shirt), but it’s a fantastic look at the founders of Banana Republic in their prime.I think the best observation in the article is that Banana Republic owes it’s success to the Ziegler’s “integrity and awfully good taste”. True enough!