Flight Attendant Uniforms

March 12, 2025 6:01 AM

1,891 different flight attendant uniforms from 632 airlines (previously) (previouslyer) (previouslyest)

The world’s best and worst cabin crew uniforms

posted by Lemkin (19 comments total)

Maybe this is juvenile but I've always thought the pillbox-hat-and-veil look for Emirates attendants makes them stand out as the CLASSY SUPERMODELS OF THE SKY. They also appear pre-match at home matches for my beloved Arsenal (who play at Emirates Stadium in London) and that helps me enjoy them all the more.
posted by GamblingBlues at 6:25 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

If I got to rule the world, all flight crew uniforms would be very high on the comfortable, easy to wear working clothes axis (yes they serve you snacks, but they're also your safety team who can literally save your life in an emergency), but also very high on the garish colors & patterns axis, because if I'm going to die on a plane I at least want to have a good time.

For example, I would wear the yellow collared Lufthansa or blue striped Sabena shirt in a heartbeat
or pretty much anything from Air 2000, but while the Malaysia airlines fabric is gorgeous, no one's surviving a water um landing in a dress that constricting.

I like nearly everything going on with Air India. Webjet may have some crimes to confess.

I love looking at practical, fun clothes.

If I never see navy blue poly blend again it will be too soon.
posted by phunniemee at 6:54 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]

I love the fashion of cabin crew uniforms, but I do think many of them are impractical as hell, especially with the common expectation that women wear heels. In the unlikely event of an emergency, I would rather be aided by someone in yoga pants and running shoes.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:06 AM on March 12 [5 favorites]

Okay, so hold on. I’m going to assume that this person has a mannequin and has dressed up that mannequin at least 1891 times in order to take some pictures. Dressing up the mannequin once a day would take 5.18 years. If it happened once a week it would take 36.36 years. That’s….something else and quite the achievement.

There’s no question that a lot of thought goes into a flight attendant uniform design. I wonder if there’s an Edna Mode in the field?
posted by ashbury at 7:18 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

Aw, there’s the TWA uniform I remember my mother wearing when I was a kid. Although sadly I’m too young to remember any of the really cool older ones from the sixties and seventies.
posted by LizardBreath at 8:34 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]

If it happened once a week it would take 36.36 years.

He got his first uniform in 1980, so it seems about right.
posted by TedW at 8:43 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

Nothing beats the 70s hot pants and pleather knee high white boots...There may have been a headband also.
posted by Czjewel at 9:54 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

The Braniff bubble helmet should at least deflect some covid laden cough droplets, assuming they come from the sides.
posted by msbutah at 10:25 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]

Cool one
posted by amtho at 11:32 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

He needs this one from Pan Am, circa 2000.
posted by TedW at 11:48 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]

I love this kind of passionate archival stuff so much. This is the internet I signed up for. Thanks a lot for sharing.
posted by donuy at 1:05 PM on March 12 [2 favorites]

That Braniff helmet was crazy enough that it distracted me from the whole-body psychadelic patterning, complete with hat and tie belt finished with crystal bead chandalier dangles, a little further down the same page. Who designed that thing, and how much LSD were they on?

That must have been a hell of a thing to see coming towards you when you'd had a bit too much wine and the plane was starting to hit some turbulence.

That said, a lot of these are lovely, especially some of the East Asian ones. I'm not completely done going through, but Batik Air is my favourite so far.

And I think some of these hats look as weird as they do just because they're on a mannequin - and then I checked photos of 1970's stewardesses and they really did look like that. American Airlines' Raccoon hat c.1969 was something else, though.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 1:19 PM on March 12 [2 favorites]

I... Um... The mannequin creeps me out. I mean all mannequins creep me out but this one in particular really REALLY creeps me out.
posted by chasles at 3:54 PM on March 12

Who designed that thing, and how much LSD were they on?

Most of the psychedelic Braniff uniforms are Emilio Pucci.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:15 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]

They also appear pre-match at home matches for my beloved Arsenal (who play at Emirates Stadium in London) and that helps me enjoy them all the more.

Funny, we just saw a couple of Emirates Flight Attendant/models hand sharpies and tennis balls to the winner of the round of the BNP Open, to autograph and lob into the audience.
posted by ovvl at 5:14 AM on March 13

Mod note: This is gorgeous and wonderful, thank you for sharing! We've added it to the sidebar and Best Of blog!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:30 AM on March 13

For Uniforms in general, see Uniforms, by Paul Fussell
posted by BWA at 6:51 AM on March 13

Mod note: One comment by OP moved to the 'More Inside' section at OP's request.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 3:09 PM on March 13

Thank you for this, very much the kind of thing I love about the internet. I fly a decent amount, like 60 flights a year including a dozen international flights. I still feel joy seeing flight attendants walking toward me in terminals, especially non-US crews where Asian and middle eastern uniforms really stand out. There’s something classy about them that the “West Jet doing business as United Express” uniforms just can’t compare to.
posted by Bunglegirl at 6:45 PM on March 13