#FlyMe: Decades of Designer Flight Attendant Looks

There’s a rich history of chic, even sometimes kooky, flight attendant uniforms. Nearly every designer you can think of has created looks for major airlines; Dior, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, even Vivienne Westwood have all designed flight attendant uniforms. John Hill, of the SFO Museum, a museum operated out of the San Francisco Airport,

“It’s a great paradox. Can a uniform be couture?“

In the 50s and 60 airlines wanted the prestige of big-names designer attached to their brand –designers wanted the publicity.

The SFO Museum’s Fashion in Flight: A History of Airline Uniform Design exhibit, which you can find in the International Terminal of the SFO airport, traces the arc of the flight attendant uniform. From its pre-WWII beginnings to its glam midcentury glory days. Flying was SEXY! Says Hill,

“The stewardess had this vicarious role associated with jet-setting and a cosmopolitan lifestyle. People projected onto them these feelings and cultural manifestations. At the same time, stewardesses projected out this prestige and mystique.“

As airlines evolved so too did the stewardess uniforms. Before commercial airlines, flight attendants had to be registered nurses, believe it or not, so the first uniforms in the early ’30s were basically nurse’s attire, complete with the cape and cap.

After the war, airlines felt the need to differentiate themselves. They hired big-name designers and dressed their flight attendants in flashy, colorful uniforms that alluded to the exotic lifestyle they represented. Says Hill,

“For designers, it was a new movement that was exciting and ultra-modern. For airlines, the competitive nature was so they could be sustainable. Once you pull away the wrapping, they all used the same equipment…“

Like travel posters and company branding, stewardess uniforms became part of an airline’s identity—and each was always trying to one-up the others.

But besides Vivienne Westwood, the days glamorous designer uniforms seem to have gone the way of smoking on planes. But designers like Kate Spade, who created the Delta uniform in 2003, there’s also Italian designer Ettore Bilotta‘s uniforms for Etihad Airways. Hill says,

“It’s there, you have to look a little bit. They’re in this quasi-world between fashion industry and airlines. That’s the kind of crossover we wanted to emphasize [with the exhibition]. It permeates so many different parts of culture.“

You cee more flight attendant uniform designs in Fashion in Flight: A History of Airline Uniform Design which is on view in the international terminal of the San Francisco International Airport through January 8, 2017.

Here’s a brief tour of flight attendant uniform design…