I look around, I do not see a Safari…

We introduced the name takm mazbūt without directly anchoring it to the term most commonly circulated: the safari suit.

The sartorial expression of takm mazbūt is shaped around a simple, quiet outfit. A familiar design — subtle, unspoken, and woven into Arab memory. From Tunis to Baghdad, from coffee shops to studios, those before us wore it without needing to name it, in a time of fewer choices. And in our view, the time has come to unify the idea, starting with what we are to call it. So here we are, naming it: takm mazbūt // outfit mazbūt.

Anwar el-Sadat, 1978.

This approach is not corrective, but generative. We do not wear the victimhood game well - we use it as fuel only, while remaining consciously deluded about the legitimacy of the excuses we are able to claim. It is also supported by fundamental sociological considerations in posing the right questions. Following the prescriptions of Pierre Bourdieu, one does not elude the analysis of the very lens through which an analysis is to proceed.

With the lens here being us, we ask:

Why did we never generate a name for a sartorial concept that flourished in our societies?

And what keeps us from doing so now?

Rather than asking:

How can we correct what has happened and continues, more obscurely, to happen?

The first line of questioning opens up agency. It permits movement, however small. The second demands a reckoning with histories too vast to resolve, and comes with the overwhelming reality of trying to fix anything today. Especially here. Especially now. It offers weight, not direction.

Historically, this sartorial concept has been known as the safari suit - a colonial term shaped by British officers and their expeditions. Safari, Swahili for journey, was adopted into English to frame a genre of adventure tied to conquest, exoticism, and the naturalised right to traverse. Hence: the safari suit, a garment adapted for warmer climates.

But when we look at photographs of our grandfathers wearing takm mazbūt, we do not see anything exotic. Just native men appropriately dressed for their normal environments. Nothing wild.