One of the answers of the aspiring cabin crews, when they are asked the reasons for pursuing this career path is to get to wear the stunning flight attendant uniform. Aren’t we all?
Looking back at our history, the story of the flight attendant’s journey has been flying for more than a decade with the first cabin crew Heinrich Kubis and Ellen Church. The men were the first hired flight attendants and the appearance of Ellen Church in the flight paved the way for more professional women to start the journey in the sky. As others assume that the uniform of flight attendants is just simply created without context. This is actually wrong.
A recently retired assistant director of the SFO Museum at the San Francisco Airport and also the renowned curator of aviation – John Hill, explained that there is a psychological meaning or element to airline uniforms. Let’s take a short look back to the limelight of the evolution timeline of the Cabin Crew’s uniform in the museum exhibition of Hill in 2016 which was referred to as the “Fashion in Flight”.
The 1920s: The commercial airlines produced a uniform with heavy clothes, outbalancing, and a military type of style. Their reason for such style is to add more poise and professionalism to the outlook of the flight attendants when the uniform is worn.
The 1930s: In this era, the traditional style of uniform revolutionized into a more creative and developed dress code.
The 1940s – 1950s: A small heeled shoes, midi-pencil-skirts, and styles of wearing hats were added with the so-called “Fashion in Flight” where the look was regarded as a suitable design for the rich customers.
Considerably, on the 50s to 60s period, additional new planes took place and the hiring of flight attendants have been more competitive and stern with the implemented rules, namely;
- The flight attendants must not be married.
- Their weight must correspond with their height.
The purpose of these specified rules is for the female flight attendants to be more sexual and attractive for their male customers. That specific reason resulted in the additional style to the uniform of the cabin crew which we could see those wearing tiny hot pants and knee-high boots to maintain the attractive type of look for more profits for the airlines.
Luckily, not all airlines have followed these stereotyped and disturbing rules. After the period of 60s, more professional uniforms have appeared. Their uniforms are designed with a knee-length skirt with less rough items of clothing including short heel shoes. Transitioning to the 80s, we can observe that the uniforms appeared to have a waistcoat and sleeveless jumper in some of the airlines.
While most of the airlines focused on investing in the professional look for their Cabin Crew, the Indonesian Super Air Jet modifies the standards and created their branding image! They used a different, special, and distinct uniform combining the two tones of colors white and brown to the “Khaki” which has a resemblance to earth and Asian skin color. It also reflects the winning attitude of the flight attendants as cheerful and relaxed towards success.
Until the 21st century’s day and age, some airline companies have been more creative in styling flight attendants’ uniforms around the world. Fortunately, the image of the cabin crew to stay professional has been more valued and cherished by the airline companies. The flight attendant uniforms may be evolving until today, but it won’t change the well-respected dignity of our well-trained cabin crew.
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