Fashion In The Sky
We look at how fashion has changed over the decades with Air New Zealand
AirNewZealandAir New Zealand’s first six female in-flight attendants were employed in 1946, quickly becoming the face of the airline for many. Passengers' safety was always a large part of their duties and in the early days, they had to be unmarried. The first female flight attendants wore long black double-breasted jackets, ties, knee length skirts and a military style hat. Influenced by WWII, the look was formal and military.
Air hostesses model their new uniform for summer, 1959.
The uniform of the late 50s was heavily influenced by the post war era with female cabin crew wearing what resembled a ‘nurse’s outfit’ – white, clean and clinical.
The 1960s was a decade in which fashion was revolutionised – in the air as well as on land. The decade also marked the start of the jet era for Air New Zealand with the arrival of the first DC-8 jet. To mark this in 1961, Air New Zealand’s hostesses became the first in the world to have a wardrobe designed by Parisian House of Dior.
The official description was: “white silk blouse and turquoise worsted Trico tine skirt. Cravat top of blouse displayed over the rounded, collarless neckline of jacket. Blouse and skirt banded together with wide belt giving top a blouson effect which looks like a one-piece dress. Topcoat with set-away collar to show cravat. Pillbox style hat.”
From 1969 to 1973, a new look was also introduced for flight hostesses, without abandoning their tailored Dior-designed outfits, which had lost none of their contemporary feel or appeal.
In flight, hostesses changed to kaftans in four colours – turquoise, watermelon pink, lilac and strawberry – with a stylised hibiscus motif on sleeves.
Hostesses pose in new “lollipop” uniforms in 1970, also known as the ‘jelly bean’ style of uniform which was said to reflect the ‘age of liberalisation’. Air New Zealand staff wore short A-line skirts, in a range of pastel colours including lilac, orange, pink and aqua. Each dress had a distinctive frangipani embroidered on the cuff. Short A-line dresses were also favoured. These ‘lollipop’ or ‘jellybean’ uniforms, as they were known, were vibrant in bright green, pink and blue and were worn with a distinctive helmet shaped hat, knee high white boots or black loafers.
In 1976, a uniform for international crew was designed by Parisian fashion house Nina Ricci. More than 12,000 items including shoes, handbags, hats and ties were needed for the complete changeover.
The uniform was described as ‘featuring a geometric border print in toning shades of blue and teal with white”. Up until this era, the male uniform remained relatively unchanged, their uniforms resembling what pilots wore – black suits, white shirts and ties, and a peaked round captain’s hat. However, 1976 marked the introduction of a teal/green suit worn without the captain’s hat.
AirNewZealandIn 1987, Isabel Harris of Thornton Hall was chosen as the designer in place of Nina Ricci’s international uniform. Harris began the process by meeting international and domestic cabin crew to ‘pick up the vibes’ of what she should pay attention to.
She settled on teal as the main colour early in the process, saying the attendants were lucky to have that as the corporate colour. A new introduction to the Harris uniform was a blouse and skirt made from poly-cotton, featuring a patterned print with a subtle Koru motif in random squares of navy and teal on a white background. This collection had many combinations of the basic colours of teal and navy. The dress uniform in mid-teal featured a double breasted jacket with brass buttons and epaulettes. A look reminiscent of the ‘power dressing’ of the 80s.
The uniform created by New Zealand designer Barbara Lee, was first introduced in 1992 and refreshed in 1996 with the introduction of Air New Zealand’s Pacific Wave Livery. The look delivered a new sophistication and contemporary image in the blue/green colours of New Zealand.
AirNewZealandIn 2010, Air New Zealand announced that Trelise Cooper, another of New Zealand’s fashion designers had been engaged to design the uniform. The uniform was created to reflect New Zealand’s heritage and the new interiors of the aircraft. The collection has varying levels of formality, especially for cabin crew. The change required 90,000 garments to create a uniform that is now worn by more than 5000 staff.
