Uniforms were mandatory from the get-go, with the first flight attendants in the 1930s wearing reassuringly nurse-like kit to inspire confidence in plane passengers.
Since then, uniforms over the years have woven together aviation history and vintage fashion, with female attendants regularly being at the forefront of popular imagination.
Some uniforms were impractical, but memorable. Here, a collection of 25 amazing vintage photos that show beautiful flight attendant uniforms from between the 1930s and 1970s.
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The airline industry's first stewardesses ready for inspection for Boeing Air Transport, 1930. |
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Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) uniforms, 1939. |
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United Airlines uniforms, 1939 |
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Stewards serving passengers on board an airplane, circa 1945. |
BOAC breakfast crockery, including egg cup, 1940s. |
A male flight attendant walks with his arms linked with two female flight attendants in front of a small plane in the 1940s. |
In the ’50s, flight attendants donned crisp collars and white gloves, with perfect coifs under their caps, 1956. |
Japan Airlines stewardesses dressed in navy suits, c.1958, designed by Mohei Ito. In 1960, Ito shortened the skirts to just above the knee and added gold buttons. |
Air hostesses Penny Gillard and Jackie Bowyer prepare to board a BEA passenger plane for Paris, 1963. |
Braniff International uniforms by Emilio Pucci, 1965. |
A United Airlines stewardess chats to a passenger in a simulated cabin of a Douglas DC-10, 1968. |
United Airlines uniforms by Jean Louis, 1968. |
Air hostesses in shorter skirts at a London airport pose in 1969. |
Icelandic Air stewardesses pose with a model Douglas DC-8, 1960s. |
A uniform for TWA stewardesses from 1971 was made up of "mini-pants" worn with a safari shirt dress. |
BEA's popular uniforms, designed by Sir Hardy Amies, 1972. |
Stewardesses from a plane hijacked during a San Francisco-to-Los Angeles flight and forced to fly to Cuba on Jan. 8, 1972, left the plane as they arrived in Miami a day earlier. |
Middle East meets West in the 1970s with Gulf Air's adaptation of the Muslim headdress; legs are covered by smart trousers. The uniform was originally designed by Joy Stokes. |
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American Airlines stewardesses face the press in the mid-1970s. |