It has been a long time I wanted to take the time and write this post. It is a little bit long, but I ensure you it is not just the photos that are interesting! 🙂
Who can become a flight attendant?
Not everybody qualifies for a stewardes. Flighat attendants need to go through a 6 weeks to 6 months training period that includes psychological, IQ and physical tests (depending on the airline’s requirements). Safety training includes, but is not limited to: emergency passenger evacuation management, use of evacuation slides / life rafts, in-flight fire fighting, survival in the jungle, sea, desert, ice, first aid, Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation, ditching/emergency landing procedures, decompression emergencies, Crew Resource Management and security.
But even those, who pass these tests and trainings, may fail. Some airlines have height and weight requirements. While airlines using bigger jets have minimum height limit, because air hostesses cannot reach the overhead compartments, regional carriers have maximum height limit as the ceiling of the aircrafts is very low. Weight is almost always a concern. Even if they do not communicate it, almost all airlines hire only girls with regular weight. Neither underweighing, nor overweighing applicants are accepted. Even later if somebody gains some weight do the airlines give out a new uniform to anyone.
Playmates, beauty queens
Sex has always been associated with flight attendants. There have been several playmates and former bueauty queen working as stewardesses. No wonder that if we take a look at the series of known women who worked as flight attendants before or after they became famous.
Some of them were:
- Ester Codet was a playmate of the motnh in October 1974
- Avis Miller was playmate in November, 1970
- Julie Woodson was playmate in April, 1973
- Jennifer Hosten was Miss World in 1970, first to win this title for her home, Grenada.
- Kate Linder is still an active US actress
- Evangeline Lilly is a Golden-globe nominated actress, most known for her role in Lost. She worked for Air Canada.
History of airline uniforms
The first stewardess uniforms were designed to be durable, practical, and inspire confidence in passengers. The first stewardesses for United Airlines wore green berets, green capes and nurse’s shoes. Other airlines, such as Eastern Air Lines, actually dressed stewardesses in nurses’ uniforms.
Perhaps reflecting the military aviation background of many commercial aviation pioneers, many early uniforms had a strongly military appearance; hats, jackets, and skirts showed simple straight lines and military details like epaulettes and brass buttons. Many uniforms had a summer and winter version, differentiated by colours and fabrics appropriate to the season: navy blue for winter, for example, khaki for summer. But as the role of women in the air grew, and airline companies began to realise the publicity value of their stewardesses, more feminine lines and colours began to appear in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Some airlines began to commission designs from high-end department stores and still others called in noted designers or even milliners to create distinctive and attractive apparel.
Famous fashion designers – famous uniforms
Christian Lacroix designs uniforms for Air France. British Airways flight crews and staff now sport designs by Givenchy star Julien Macdonald. Los Angeles-based celebrity designer Richard Tyler presented Delta Air Lines’ new line-up alongside his ready-to-wear collection during New York Fashion Week. Korean Air launched new outfits by Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre, including pants for the first time in the airline’s history.
Sexiest airline uniforms
And now let’s look at the list of the most sexy airline uniforms:
1. Hooters Air
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Malaysia Airlines
4. Delta Airlines
5. Thai Airways
6. Etihad Airways
7. Gulf Air
8. Air France
9. Wizz Air
10. Sky Europe
If you liked this collection, check out our other post about special aircraft paintings and our other post about airline meals!
By Szafi
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Just for the record: The Hooters girls were not part of the flightcrew. The aircraft was crewed by regular flightattendants in regular uniforms. The Hooters girls were only onboard to assist with service and entertainment in flight. They were seated in passenger seats below 10.000 feet.
Hi Andy, thx for the note. I couldn’t find anything about it on their website.
Haha great post and great info about Hooters Air!
Thanks 🙂
I need a ticket for a Hooters Air flight!! 😉
Great job again with the research btw.
Thx 🙂
In the meantime I found another one, I will update the post later.
Andy is correct that the Hooters Girls were not flight attendants, and that the airline had the required number of ‘real’ flight attendants on every flight. (In the US the FAA requires that commercial passenger flights have a minimum of 1 flight attendant on board for every 50 seats.) The Hooters Girls provided entertainment and did some of the serving. They had no safety training and provided no safety functions. Technically, and officially, flight attendants are on board to provide for passenger safety, up to and including evacuating the aircraft in case of emergency.
i want to become a stewardness. that is my biggest dream.
nice article. check here the sexy dresses of the 70’s.
good ole days
http://einestages.spiegel.de/external/ShowTopicAlbumBackground/a1943/l0/l0/F.html#featuredEntry
the uniforms from the middle east look so stupid. What woman would want a job where they have to wear head gear like that. Especially, a service industry job. If I was going to serve drinks and food, I’d rather do it on the ground where I can get tips and not wear silly hats and scarves
just so you know that the uniform you see is only worn while heading to the aircraft, but once you are inside the aircraft, they get to change to in-flght attire.. without the hat offcourse:)
DJ, i don’t know if you had been to the middle east in your life before or not, but they have different habits, social “rules”. Part of the population there takes old traditions still very serious and women are not allowed to show their faces and/or hair to anybody except their husbands and must wear scarfs around their heads. A more fashionable version of this old tradition is what you can see on the flight attendants from that region – it’s simply a tradition.
Regarding the tips, you may be right, though, there are no tips in the air! But they get a per-diem for every day spent abroad, as well as have rules on flying that in many cases a workday is followed by one or more free days – which are paid if you’re stuck abroad due to the flight schedules… What’s better than working on a flight to Thailand which is only once a week and you “need” to spend a week paid “vacation” there before flying back (and working) on the next plane?
DJ, what a stupid comment.. I am a flight attendant in the middle east, I do wear a hat with a veil (which, by the way, is only worn when walking in airport lobbies, hotel receptions, during boarding, etc), and I would never work as a waitress on ground, on the same place everyday, waiting for tips. We don’t get tips, but sometimes when we have some member of any royal family on the flight, we get a tip from them.. something around 2000 dollars… not bad, huh? It doesn’t happen very often, but how long would you have to work in a normal bar to get this tip?
I live in a part of the middle east where flight attendants wear nothing extraordinary…
hey, if you put the SQ and MAS crew’s uniform there, then you should put Garuda Indonesia’s too… because as u can see, all of them are similar and originated from indonesian women’s traditional clothes, called “kebaya”… Indonesian women are said to be very nice and welcome though…
This is an interesting read. Great work..
p/s – Amanda’s display picture looks so pretty ❤
Im a fashion student and I have decided to design a range of 5 possible outfits suitable for any airline (using generic colours)for my final design project. We need to do market research and this site seems to be quite helpful. The more info the better so any tips?
There’s a reason why stewardesses/flight attendants wore nurse’s shoes and/or uniforms back in the first days of passenger airline service, in the 30’s and even up to the very early 40’s – they had to BE nurses to be hired! It was thought that air sick passengers would benefit from their presence, as well as being able to at least begin to handle any other medical emergencies that might occur on board during flight.
Well, Thai is exotic, dreamlike and elegant, WIZZ Air is very original.
But I think the best is Singapore Airlines! Unique, colourful, undescribable, simply beautiful 🙂
And forget hooters air. It’s an ordinary null-quality “dress”, if you can even call it a dress…
Sg Airline, r u serious??????????????????
I donot appreciate the female flightattendants of middleastern airlines removing their veils often.they should be always in full uniform and i think that they look really elegant with the veils and hats.gulf air shouldnt have changed the peach and blue uniform of 90s.that was the best uniform I have ever seen.
I think headscarf for middle eastern airlines is stupid, but anybody who works for these airlines must wear there uniforms and if they dont like it or feel uncomfortabkle thjey shouldnt have found a job there, I do also think treating women as a different class is wrong by the customers expectations and the airline to force them to do this. isnt there soem sexual discrimination here
Middle eastern airlines for example, Emirates, they do wear hat with a scarf in public – full uniform. And i think they look great with the red hat. When they are onboard, they take off their hat & scarf and change to their service attire. U ever been onboard any middle eastern airlines, dude?
To Bindiya:
I work for a middle eastern airline, and we must remove our veils onboard for safety reasons. Heaven forbid we must evacuate an entire aircraft, the last thing you’d want is a long piece of fabric wrapped around your neck in that situation. I do agree that they look very elegant though 🙂
There is Airhostess Stripping for pilots—
http://www.airvids.net/view/229/hostess-fimed-stripping-in-cockpit-during-flight/
Sorry folks but Hooter airlines went goodbye back in 2006. As far as comparing uniforms there is certainly a trend of adding more and more cloths from the 70’s to now. Political correctness and ever growing waistlines is the culprit. I used to remember flight attendants looking like beauty contestants as a kid. Now you have fashion Nazis busting customers for not wearing enough clothing. Are we becoming Amish now in the states?
I flew Hooters Air some years ago just for fun. It was nothing special. The entertainment was just the girls walking around and being friendly. But they wore panty hose and were not allowed to touch passengers. Hell, I could have gotten more eye candy off the Internet than on that flight. But someone else paid for it, so no real complaints. Nice to be on a domestic airline where they actually smiled, though. Try to get that from a bloated cow working American domestic airlines.
WOW, Malaysia Airlines & Thai Airways look really nice.
it is indeed bad that gulf air changed the uniform of 90s. in any airport in world their old uniform made the cabin crews of gulf air look different and more attractive than others.no airline had such a perfect looking uniform.but its discarded by airline.the peach and blue combination was perfect.the uniform they newly adopted is very common except for the blue veil.i dont know what made them do it.
Hi everyoone! Cant belive my eyes what im seeing!!Etihad airways is in the top of the sexyest uniform:P hehe,good! i work for this airlane and never thought my uniform is sexy…hehe
This is how Pam Ann sees air hostesses:
I don’t really aprove of Hooters air
As a business man who travels frequently, I have to say I do not prefer sexy or attractively dressed cabin crew. I would feel safest if the cabin crew were dressed like rescue personnel, not fashion models. Nomex with boots and portable oxygen would be perfect. I may never be on a plane where something goes wrong but in that unlikely event, I want someone who can lift me out of the seat with one hand and toss me out of the nearest emergency exit.
its been a great pleasure to see the top ten most beautiful uniforms in the airline industry, but as iv’e observed, I liked most the thai airways uniform.
Some of the uniforms you show are definitely not sexy. Please look for Spanish airline recently out of business Air Comet Uniforms: see:
http://airline-memorabilia.blogspot.com/2009/12/air-comet.html
and:
And if you find it, also do look for the previous one (until 2007), all red with thin mauve stripe, still sexier (including the special one for the chinese stewardess on the flight to China).
Frank, thanks for the comment. By the way, here is our article about Air Comet shutting down:
Sorry to see such an airline go out of business, especially with such stylish Stewardess uniforms… 😦
Hi, I want to meet Ms. Rasheda –Airhostess (Malaysia Airlines)
Could you give me her Mobile or Email Address,,Pls?
the best uniform is malaysia airlines and singapore airlines..
very original and very classic..btw..nice kebaya..
Great website! Love the stewardess photos of Hooters Air!
I worked at Walt Disney World for 18 years, and in some ways, being a theme park host/hostess is similiar to working as flight attendents for the for the airlines.
Lots of guests would come through Walt Disney World to visit, and you would have to accommodate them for the theme park attractions, many hotels, and especially for the Disney transportation systems at the Disney Parks.
We had some well-designed but practical costumes/uniforms that we wore. They have evolved from cotton and wool blends, to polyester jumpsuits (for EPCOT in 1982), and then back to cotton and wool shirts and pants again. Easier to wash and wear.
The same can be said for Universal Studios, Sea World, Cedar Point, Six Flags, and other theme parks, too.
Some of my friends who worked in the aquatic water parks said the females had to worry about yeast infections from working in water shows, from Pearl Diving shows, to wearing special outfits like wetsuits. Yuck…
But on the whole, the polyester outfits at EPCOT, during the 1980’s were the spiffiest outfits ever made for theme parks. if you had a good shape, it made you look good.
I have found that the Asian Airlines (Korean Air, Thai Air, etc.) have the best looking stewardesses.
I looove Whizz Air’s style of uniform. Simple, tasteful, functional. I’m a big Star Trek (Next Generations) fan and I’ve always admired the uniforms Star Fleet crew wore on space ships and on bases.
The French designer for Singapore Airlines is smart to use primary colours for the signature sarong kebaya, unlike Malaysia’s sarong. It’s just more memorable with blue and red.
That being said, isn’t it astounding that the Delta and AirFrance uniforms barely look like uniforms? That would create some awkward situations, especially when one of the crew members are not together in the airport.
Hello, I am liquidating my parents estate, and some of my collectibles on ebay, and I have listed several times my American Airlines 1970s Stewardess outfit with NO takers! Would anyone here be interested? There is NO hat or blouse, BUT, there is a Ladies size 10 petite Jacket, a size 8 petite Vest, A 10 petite skirt, (the skirt was/is brand new in the 1970s and still has tags on it. Our vintage AA Stewardess never got to wear it, a AA Stewardess Cabin Cleaning wrap around apron, and her AA belt. They are all in nice condition. There is also her ink pen which has her Captain’s name on it. If you have any interest in seeing photos of my pieces I would be happy to send them to you. *I’m trying to earn money for plane tickets to visit my children on some kind of regular basis as I’m in Portland Oregon and they are in Los Angeles and Ohio! Would love hearing from any of you regarding the possible purchase of my wonderful old AA uniform~! Thanks all for your time here! Cheryl Monteiro
for me not a uniform basis even the uniform very nice but the intertain to passenger is bad atitude coz some steward they have a bad habit we know that…if you are wearing a simple uniform but the manner is very very good you are the number 1 steward of the world…..we love him……………………………………
hooter air steeward is not allowed to arab country that kind of uniform…..may be if they saw the police they will say haram….hahahhahahhahahhahh..thanks for your time….
My favourite uniforms are the kind that BA stewardesses wear, namely the smart jacket and matching knee-length skirt. In fact, i think the BA uniform is the smartest of all the airlines. A close runner would be that of the Virgin Atlantic stewardesses.
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wow, they absolutely hottest, more on when you closed to them
Malaysian kebaya look very nice…for your information, kebaya was come from Malaysia… it look so sweet…
Excellent blog here! Additionally your web site
I like Air France and Korean Air -Classy and sophisticated!
I like Malaysian airline dress code