Flight Attendant Uniforms

PowerPoint Show by Andrew

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How flight attendant uniforms have changed over the past 85 years

United Airlines flight attendants, wearing hats, skirts and jackets, pose in front of one of the carrier's planes in 1939.

Cabin crew from Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) - which was acquired by American Airlines in 2001 - are pictured in 1939.

Most early flight attendant uniforms were sophisticated and sweet, with long sleeves, swinging skirts, and—of course—the stewardess cap.1940.

A Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) cabin crew uniform designed by Hollywood fashion designer Howard Greer in 1944.

Some airlines, however, left slightly less to the imagination. 1944.

Oleg Cassini, who was Jacqueline Kennedy's official designer, created this Trans World Airlines summer uniform in 1955.

This Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) uniform by Don Loper, from 1959, included a fitted jacket with an hourglass shape.

In the ’50s, flight attendants donned crisp collars and white gloves, with perfect coifs under their caps.1956.

The Pan Am uniform's designer, Don Loper, was a well-known and multi-talented Hollywood figure and Beverly Hills designer.

The swinging 60's are represented in a uniform that Emilio Pucci designed for Dallas-based Braniff International Airways in 1965.

A Braniff International Airways flight attendant - wearing a space-inspired helmet - in a uniform designed by Emilio Pucci in 1965.

Braniff’s new identity - part of a campaign called 'The End of the Plain Plane' - shocked the airline industry (photo from 1965).

United Airlines flight attendants wore this uniform by Academy Award-winning designer Jean Louis in 1968.

A United Airlines attendant chats with a passenger.

Jean Louis' all-season uniform for United Airlines was a popular A-line, double-knit wool skimmer worn from 1968 to 1970.

In 1969, Air France flight attendants began wearing this winter suit by Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga.

Before she presented haute couture in Paris, designer Hanae Mori created this stylish outfit for Japan Airlines in 1970.

Frank Smith designed this outfit for Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) in 1971. It was called 'the uniform for the superjet era'.

Valentino made his mark with this business-like uniform for TWA in 1971. The plum polyester knit dress suit had signature buttons.

This three-piece United Airlines uniform by Stan Herman, from 1976, had a western theme and was called Classic U.S.A.

Qantas hired Yves Saint Laurent to create this uniform with a cropped, tuxedo-style jacket and kangaroo pattern in 1986.

Mexican fashion designer Macario Jimenez created this polyester knit suit for Aeromexico in 2008.

Virgin Atlantic introduced its current signature red uniforms - with a jacket and pencil skirt - designed by Vivienne Westwood in 2014.