SFO Museum Exhibits Vintage Flight Attendant Uniforms
Courtesy Braniff International Public Relations Archives, History of Aviation Collection, UT-DallasDid you know that San Francisco International Airport has a museum? It's free to visit, located before security, and currently exhibiting flight attendant fashion from over 85 years of air travel. Highlights of the "Fashion in Flight" show are cabin crew uniforms designed by the likes of Pierre Cardin, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Emilio Pucci, André Courrèges, and Hermès as well as by Hollywood costume designers. Recent pieces, like Virgin Atlantic's current uniform by Vivienne Westwood are on loan from select airlines. "This show is a continuum, so each uniform leans on the next one," says Hill.
Courtesy SFO Museum/ TWA Clipped Wings International, Inc.Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) uniforms, 1939
Although today's airline uniforms are quite stylish, Hill remarks that the history of uniforms hasn't been all drab: "There's some exceptional tailoring and design in the propliner era. It's an interplay between the nursing attire—it was a requirement in the earlier days for a stewardess to be a registered nurse—and the blend of militarism in the cuts and colors."
Courtesy United Airlines ArchiveUnited Airlines uniforms, 1939
"The very first [cabin crew] uniform originated in SF. The first female hire in airlines as cabin crew as a stewardess, the term of that day, was 1930 for Boeing Air Transport. She was hired in San Francisco and the uniform was designed in-house by a manager for Boeing Air Transport, one of four subsidiaries combined into a start-up called United Airlines back in the 1930s."
Courtesy SFO MuseumTranscontinental & Western Air (TWA) uniform by Howard Greer, 1944
"The utility-chic period was wartime, when there were restrictions on the amount of fabric that could be used. They started doing less with more, which turned out to become really popular. These sort of minimalist designs made designers get more creative on a reductive level," says Hill.
Courtesy SFO Museum/ Estate of Audrey McNamara NevisTranscontinental & Western Air (TWA) uniform by Howard Greer, 1944
Hollywood fashion designer Howard Greer created this fitted suit in light blue wool gabardine. With suggestions from supervisor of hostess services Ida Staggers, Greer introduced the “blou-slip,” a combined undergarment in rayon and satin that did not need constant tucking in.
Courtesy SFO Museum/Terry J. RicePan American uniforms by Don Loper, 1959
"When you talk about international carriers that brings in flag airlines, which are state-owned, like Lufthansa or Air France. Air France is a national carrier and the U.S. doesn't have that. Pan American was the closest we got to that here," notes Hill. Pan Am, as it was usually called, presented their flight attendants as examples of femininity and elegance. It's no wonder the uniforms remain highly collectible even today.
Courtesy SFO MuseumBraniff International uniforms by Emilio Pucci, 1966
Since the exhibition debuted in June, we wondered what uniforms are seeing the most interest from visitors. According to Hill, the most popular has been the vibrant, go-go pattern ensemble by Pucci for Braniff International. "These uniforms were so wild in their colors and silhouettes, and so different in that they were a reimagining of what a uniform is. They embody a time. Up and before that point, uniform fashion was trying to keep up with general fashion...and for this brief period you could say that airline fashion leapt out ahead of [the fashion industry]."
Courtesy Braniff International Public Relations Archives, History of Aviation Collection, UT-DallasBraniff International uniforms by Emilio Pucci, 1965
"We couldn't do the whole history of uniforms for every airline. We've kept to more of a western fashion history, which would be to say Paris, New York, and Hollywood," says Hill. As expected of a west coast institution, the SFO Museum's collection features a large percentage of U.S. airline fashion.
Courtesy United Airlines ArchiveUnited Airlines uniforms by Jean Louis, 1968
"United Airlines dates back to Boeing Air Transport so of course that's one of the first airlines for San Francisco." explains Hill of the show's extensive variety of United uniform collections on display.
Courtesy SFO MuseumUnited Airlines uniforms by Jean Louis, 1968
"By the 1970s the youth culture was in full swing and psychedelia and the space race were happening and jet-setting was going on. Uniforms are macro-artifacts of what was going on at the time."
Courtesy SFO MuseumAir France uniforms by Cristóbal Balenciaga, 1969
As for Hill’s personal favorite uniform of the collection, he singles out a seemingly plain, navy blue uniform: “I’m a big fan of Cristóbal Balenciaga. He did a uniform for Air France and it sort of sits between some of the first colorful, mix-and-match uniforms by U.S. carriers and the California wild uniforms, and yet it’s extraordinarily elegant, kind of understated, and sort of the pinnacle of fashion in flight because it’s beautiful, the tailoring is sublime, and the simplicity is profound.”
Courtesy United Airlines ArchiveUnited Airlines uniforms by Stan Herman, 1976
"Of all the garment types in history, [airline uniforms] are just loaded with symbolism and meaning projected onto the them. And they project outwardly, of course because they are corporate identity, they're trying to be fashionable, and they're carrying a lot of cross purposes. They have to be functional and you have to look glamorous even though it's a physical job."