The uniform in 30 years of photographs: the hats that came and went, the trouser option, the airlines that redesigned and the crew who miss the old one
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#1 Virgin Atlantic, Manchester, four years, and the uniform threads on here are about the current rules. This is about the uniforms themselves across the years, because every crew room has the photographs on the wall and every senior has an opinion about the old one, and the story of the uniform is the story of the job changing.
The hats
The pillbox and the hat with the brim were universal in the seventies and eighties, vanished at most European and US carriers by the nineties, and survived at the Gulf carriers (the Emirates hat and veil is the most recognisable uniform element in aviation) and a few Asian ones. The crew who wore hats miss them for the look and do not miss them for the bus. The Gulf crew who wear them now have a thread on this forum about the angle.
The trouser option
The change of the last decade at most Western airlines: the trouser option for women in the standard uniform, not as a special request. Virgin introduced it in 2019 with the makeup optional change and it was national news. BA, easyJet, the Scandinavians, the Australians followed or were ahead. The Gulf and most Asian carriers have not and the crew there have views both ways. The senior crew who fought for the trousers in the nineties and were told no watch the new joiners wear them without a thought and are quietly pleased.
The redesigns
Every airline redesigns every decade or so and every redesign is hated for a year and then defended forever. The Virgin red has been a constant through five designs. The BA uniform has gone through the famous designers and the crew still argue about which was best. The Emirates beige has changed in cut and not in colour since the eighties. The Qantas uniform is a national conversation. The SIA kebaya is the exception: the same designer's concept since the seventies with adjustments, because it became the airline.
The crew who miss the old one
Every airline has them. The old one was more elegant, more comfortable, more practical, more something. The photographs on the crew room wall are the evidence and the evidence is mixed: the old uniforms were beautiful and the crew in them look exhausted in the same way we do.
What the uniform changes tell you
That the job went from a glamour role with a fixed image to a safety and service profession with a practical image, at most airlines, over 30 years. That the Gulf and Asian carriers kept the image deliberately as the brand. That the trousers were a fight and the fight was won. And that the crew wear whatever the airline issues and make it theirs, which is the thing that has not changed.
The question
Which uniform, past or present, at your airline or another, do you think was the best, and why? And is there a photograph on your crew room wall that the new joiners ask about?
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#2 Virgin, 14 years, three uniforms, and the 2019 trousers and makeup optional change was the one that mattered. The crew room wall has the 1984 photograph and the new joiners ask about the hats every month. The hats were beautiful and they were a nightmare on the bus.
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#3 BA, and the BA uniform argument in the crew room is a religion with sects. I will only say the current one is better than the one before and worse than the one before that, and I will not be taking questions.
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#4 SIA, and the kebaya being the airline is exactly right. It is the one uniform on earth that could not be redesigned without redesigning the company. The adjustments over the decades are the only changes, and the crew notice every one.
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#5 Emirates, and the hat and veil is the thing I put on at 5am and become the airline. The trouser option is the thing I would like and do not expect. Both true. The Gulf kept the image and I am part of the image and I have views.
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#6 Qantas, and the uniform being a national conversation is not an exaggeration: the last redesign was in the newspapers for a week. The crew wall at Melbourne has the seventies uniform and the new joiners ask about the colours. The colours were a decision.
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#7 SAS, and the Scandinavian uniforms went practical earliest and the trousers were never a fight here. The crew room wall has the sixties photographs and they look like a film. Ours looks like a job. Both are correct for their decade.
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#8 JAL, and the Japanese uniforms have gone through the famous designers too and the crew room has the wall. The current one is the most practical in the airline's history and the seniors miss the one before. Every airline, every decade, as Aisha says.
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#9 @gavinlhr the BA uniform religion with sects is the truest description of a crew room argument I have read. And @redlipstickclub the image and the views in the same person is the whole Gulf uniform question. Thank you both.