Vintage aviation hostess photos
Wired's got a strange and evocative slideshow of paleo-air-hostesses from the early days of commercial aviation online. Did they really fly long-haul in miniskirts and knee-high high-heeled boots? Christ, they must have been in agony. Link
the latest
latest episodes
Not miniskirts. Hot pants.
Waaaayy more practical.
Just an FYI, The Museum of Flight in Seattle is running an exhibition called "Style in the Aisle" where they are showcasing flight attendant fashion over the last 75 years. There is a panel discussion on the topic this Saturday at 2PM if your around the area...
http://www.museumofflight.org/Display.asp?Page=styleaisle
Sad thing is now they are in their late 50s and still working as airline attendants..and guys with mustaches named Bruce and Elliot who torture us with their witty banter and feathered haircuts..
I'm in agony looking at those. Oooohhh, agony!
I can't remember where I read about this but when airlines were first really taking off in the 50s there was a kind of arms race between companies about who had the cutest stewardesses in the shortest miniskirts. They would take out ads in business men's magazines and brag about the amount of skin their stewardesses showed.
There was a Hooters airline for a while... stopped operations in 2006.
There's a wonderful music video which relates to this; surprisingly, it's melodic drum 'n' bass. I recommend you watch Sub Focus' "Airplane" for more nostalgic visuals:
>> http://youtube.com/watch?v=L5-9ynJlfI8
Delectably catchy!
You are looking at pictures of your grandma.
Kind of an unfortunate URL for this post, dontcha think?
#8:
And loving it!
At least in those days they were encouraged to be friendly. Nowadays, air hostesses (if they've been doing the job long enough) are almost inevitably cranky, miserable people. At least, that's been my experience when flying over the last couple years. Except in Southeast Asia (Singapore Airlines and their short-hop brand, Silk Air, in particular) where they almost are all young, beautiful, super perky women.
I won't lie, as uncomfortable as those boots may be, as a passenger it'd be a lot harder to stay irritable on a flight because of the cramped seats or horrible in-flight movie with those stewardesses.
Well, if they didn't mind having so much of their leg exposed, and as long as they had the opportunity to take those shoes off in the back...sheesh, yeah, the shoes are more than a little unbearable for 12 hour stretches on one's feet.
Unfortunate slug for the post: /vintage-aviation-hos
Whoah those hair styles are pretty awesome.
I wonder when they'll be coming back.
Those boots are fabulous!
As for agony, while stiletto heels are invariably uncomfortable, a well made pair of boots with a solid block heel like that can be remarkably comfortable to wear for walking. Of course, a poorly made pair of ANY kind of high heel can be torture, so it's just a matter of whether the boots were structured well or not.
But I dig the hotpants, too.
As has been noted by lots of other people: These are the same airlines who recently threw Kyla Ebbert off the plane for wearing an outfit WAAAY more conservative than this. See http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20638479/ .
How did you find pictures of me in High School? And FYI, those shoes look pretty comfortable.
I have a friend who flies Singapore Air a lot and he claims that the stewardesses on that airplane get fired if they ever fail to fit into their uniforms. Once you're hired you're basically on the scale until the day you quit or are fired.
"Did they really fly long-haul in miniskirts and knee-high high-heeled boots? Christ, they must have been in agony."
I don't see what's physically painful for them about wearing miniskirts? ;)
I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing air hostesses dressed like this nowadays.... as long as the "air hosts" (or should that be "male hostesses"?) were in hotpants too.
The Singapore Air female flight attendants uniforms have a pocket for a pen sewn into the inside-front of the outfit, so when you ask to borrow a pen to fill out your customs arrival card (which is stamped "death to smugglers), she leans forward, reaches into the front of her dress and pulls it out from her cleavage. No joke.
for for more vintage stewardess fashion goodness, check here:
(i'm pretty sure this link came from boingboing originally)
Ya know, if more air hosts and hostesses, wore go-go boots and hot pants, I probably won't mind it so much when my luggage was "lost," and kids kicked the back of my seat, and the businessman next to me decided to elbow me out of my own armrest.
Man, those legs go sky high...
Oh, sorry, didn't see you all there. Hi.
While we may pine for the days when one part of our anatomies were lifted a little higher than the rest by airlines, they were also when people were free to smoke in an enclosed, unventilated space. I'm not an anti-cigarette crusader, but I'm thankful for that small mercy.
Okay, as I remember it:
The stews first complained because they couldn't wear miniskirts. Twenty years later they complained because they had to wear miniskirts. Front office meanies never have much fashion sense.
I married a stew, so it isn't true that they were just shopping for rich men.
Men in hot pants? Hrm. I would have thought men in full dress uniforms would be a bit more appealing. With hats. And jangly things. And pants that fit.
Potentially stupid question: why is the picture in Boing-Boing's post bigger than the one on Wired? Do you have some inter-blog-better-image-quality-insider-trading deal? /mostly kidding, but still curious.
- HC
The second hostess in line looked like a dude. Eww! Anyone here listen to Flight of the Conchords. "You could be an airhostess in the 60s."
you want to talk about agony, try walking around the office after admiring this pic
They absolutely have the right to dress in burlap; and I have the right to drive instead of fly. I'll take driving. Someday, air travel may return to its luxurious beginnings, and if it does, I'll fly again. I see no reason to put up with seats designed by one-armed, one-legged midgets, "flight attendants" who bring nothing to my seat but a nasty, dried out bag of peanuts, and boarding authorities who want to stick their hands up my ass without the courtesy of a reach-around.
Air travel today is a miserable, lowest common denominator mechanism for achieving the most irritation from the most sources in the shortest possible time. No thank you.
Wow, bboing is particularly backwards today. People who actually like women usually don't have to tell anonymous strangers how much they do by being as brutish and course as possible.
Hey guys, I really like breathing. You have no fucking clue how hot breathing is. I get so turned on by pictures of clouds. Especially when those clouds are being treated poorly. Hot. The air, that is. I totally like air. Honest.
One of the few things worse than watching men use women's bodies as a medium to impress other men is knowing the history of sexual harassment. Twofer, bboing posters. Twofer.
I don't think you get it.
in any case; I flashed on Welcome To The Monkey House Ethical Suicide Parlor Hostesses. Anyone?
Ah, the stories my parents told of the days before de-regulation ... yes, you did have smoking ... but in return you got miniskirted air-hostesses who were required to have nurses training, and airlines competed on service ... none of that charging-$6-for-the-free-inflight-meal (which was actually edible in those days) ...
those are hot pants. and i am more concerned about the heels. OUCH.
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/02/glamour-of-flight.html
I think they only wore that outfit on Southwest when they started as "The Love Airline" and flew between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. So the flights were at most an hour long.
at most an hour long?
"Well listen here girls, I'm telling you now.
They call me lovin' Dan.
I'll rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a 60 minute man.
And if you don't believe I'm all I say,
Come up and take my hand.
As soon as I leave you go you'll cry
"Oh Yeah, he's a sixty Minute Man!"
* There'll be 15 minutes of kissin',
And then you holler "Oh please don't stop!"
There'll be 15 minutes of teasin'
And 15 minutes of pleasin'
And 15 minutes of blowin' my top! MOP MOP MOP!
Well if your man ain't treatin' you right
Come up and see your Dan.
I'll rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a 60 minute man.
** 60 (Minute Man)
Well they call me (lovin' Dan)
I'll rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a 60 minute man.
** Repeat
* Repeat
Well if your man ain't treatin' you right
Come up and see your Dan.
I'll rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a 60 minute man.
Oh yeah! 60 Minute,
Rock'em, roll'em, rammin', jammin' all night long
I'm a 60 Minute Man
Yeah, heaven forbid anyone actually enjoy looking at pictures of pretty girls.
Passengers wearing outfits like some of those would be kicked off a plane today.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20638479/
Anybody remember
Coffee, Tea or Me? The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses
http://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Uninhibited-Memoirs-Airline-Stewardesses/dp/0142003514