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TWA Hostess Uniform IN 1943, IN THE MIDST OF WORLD WAR II, women occupied a third of TWA’s jobs in Kansas City and across the country. These included places on the national board as well as positions as mechanics, link trainer instructors, baggage tossers, riveters and photographers. Miss Georgia Bryan became a staff photographer at that time, and observed that some of her job required crawling through narrow passages. She further noted that this was no job for a fat person or for a woman wearing a skirt. She was thus accommodated and became likely the first TWA woman to wear slacks on the job.
Women have had important positions in the aviation industry from the beginning. Their uniforms illustrate interesting changes in society as well as in the industry. This folder documents the history of the hostess/flight attendant and the evolution of their uniforms.
The first US flight attendants were men, serving in 1926 aboard Stout Ford Tri-motors. In 1928 Western Air Express began using stewards. The concept was to demonstrate just how safe, reliable and comfortable air travel could be.
In 1929 Transcontinental Air Transport, which later became TWA, hired couriers on their Tri-Motors, usually the sons or relatives of company directors. Box lunches were served, catered by the “Pig and Whistle” restaurant in Hollywood. In 1929 Pan American introduced the position of “cabin boy” and hired only good-looking alert youngsters for the job.
In 1930, Boeing Air Transport Company (later United Airlines) shocked the commercial aviation industry when they hired eight female crew members. Registered nurses all, they were the first air hostesses or flight attendants. In 1931 Eastern Airlines hired seven young women, on a year’s probation, as hostesses on their 18-passenger Condors. American Airways trained registered nurses as their stewardesses in 1933, and in 1935 TWA competitively hired nurses as air hostesses.
TWA’s 1935 advertisement called for applicants who must “… be registered nurses, not more than 5 feet 4 inches tall, not more than 26 years old and weigh not more than 118 pounds.” Hostesses were selected from 2000 applicants to come to Kansas City for training. Another physical requirement was added to the criteria. The letter received by the newly-hired included this paragraph:
“With all passengers seated in the plane, a hostess’ feet are especially conspicuous. If you know that your feet are larger than average for your height and weight, we ask that you discuss the matter with a local representative and avoid an unnecessary trip to K.C.”
TWA president Jack Frye selected the first uniform. This was a soft grey flannel skirt that reached 12 inches below the knee, with a matching long fitted jacket worn over a long-sleeved red silk blouse. The “Overseas” style hat featured stitched-on wings incorporating the company logo, and was worn at all times. The summer uniform was of white “Zero” cloth, featured white pearl buttons and a stitched-on red logo. White laced oxfords with brown heels were worn with brown silk stockings.
Chief Hostess Gladys Entrekin designed a new uniform in 1938. These were made by the women’s tailor at Peck’s Department store in Kansas City. This outfit was illustrated by George Petty and was known as the “Petty Girl.” This image is still featured on postcards, menus and advertisements.
In 1944 Hollywood designer Howard Greer created the well-known TWA uniform with the prominent red and blue “TWA Cut Out” on the shoulder of the bodice, such as the one in the Kansas City Museum’s collection. It became a silhouette much copied in advertising, films, cartoons or wherever an air hostess was pictured. This uniform, originally made by Shotland of New York and later by Briny Marlin in Kansas City, was of blue wool gabardine over a navy crepe “blouslip”. The hat was of the same blue fabric, with silver wings pinned onto a red and blue cockade. The hats were made by the Stetson company.
In 1955 TWA replaced the “Cut Out” with a design by Oleg Cassini. Briny Marlin made these new uniforms that were color coordinated to the interior designs of the Super-G Connie. Meal trays, blankets, curtains and uniforms all coordinated in shades of brown and white. It was at this time that the first African-American hostess, Mary Tiller, was hired through a joint initiative of TWA and the NAACP.
A new “high fashion” look was adopted in 1960. Raymond Loewy and Associates designed the uniform made by Don Loper of Los Angeles. The two-piece suit featured a loose-fitting jacket, high-waisted straight skirt with an inverted box pleat, buttoned onto a white camisole under a white over blouse. Black stiletto pumps, black gloves and a red-lined black leather purse complemented the charcoal brown suit. The hat was really more of a cap with an upturned left brim where the new company insignia, gold wings, was fastened. TWA wanted to develop a costume for flight duty that was feminine yet adaptable to all in-flight functions.
In 1965 French designer Pierre Balmain introduced a turquoise, blue and white uniform. Balmain chose this color theme because it was becoming to most women, and coordinated with the décor of the Boeing 707 jetliner.
The cultural cauldron of the 1960s paralleled an ever-expanding market for air travel, and the industry took note. Advertising’s potent lures of sex, youth, liberation and personal expression strengthened the magic of consumerism. The airline industry’s response was to guardedly allow an “individual look” in uniform selection. Dalton of America was chosen to clothe TWA’s “Paragons of Femininity.” The basic suit consisted of a multi-ply wool dress and jacket, with basic color choice of avocado, gold or poppy. Multi-colored striped beret, long fringed scarf, poppy-orange cape coat and matching poppy shoes and purse complemented the basic unit. Power and freedom were the proffered rewards for the remade woman. The serving garment combined the three basic colors in a print of sketches of landmarks and cities served by TWA.
At this time, the TWA advertising agency advocated something “new and different” for in-flight services. They introduced a series of “foreign accent” costumes on domestic non-stop flights. Hostesses would serve meals in a thematically-matching paper-dress uniform. Kidney pie was served in a grey-flannel clad British serving wench; Italian veal in a toga; French cuisine in a gold cocktail mini; and American favorites in Manhattan-style hostess pajamas.
In 1971 Valentino of Rome introduced the mix-n-match uniform or ensemble as the hostesses referred to it. Washable polyester knit pants suits, safari dresses and hot pants were presented in plum, brown and tan.
1974’s in-flight look was designed by Stan Herman of New York and produced by Hart, Schaffner & Marx. Pants or skirt were worn with safari jacket (belted or sans) blouse or sweater, in royal blue, gold and soft brick. Caramel-colored shoes, bag and suitcase completed the picture. It was at this time we welcomed male attendants back into our ranks, and our titles changed from hostesses to flight attendants.
1978’s uniform, the last it turns out, was a clean cut uniform that went back to basics, designed by Ralph Lauren. Whether called “professional people pleasers” or “safety specialists,” hostesses or flight attendants, one thing is certain. For over 80 years they have served the public and the airline industry well.
Biography: FOR 42 YEARS, ONA GIESCHEN TRAVELED THE WORLD AS AN AIR LINE HOSTESS aboard the famous red and white airplanes of Trans World Airlines. Gieschen started her career at the famed airline in 1946 and served for several years as a TWA hostess, criss-crossing the globe to such cities as Paris, New York and Munich, Germany. She also worked in various other positions within the airline, including advertising, system reservations, hostess supervisor and director of customer supervisor, until her retirement in 1988.
A year after her retirement, the Save a Connie/Airline History Museum in Kansas City asked her to set up their archives and static museum, a job she directed for 11 years. Since then, she’s been working with the Western Historical Manuscript Collection in Kansas City in processing and digitizing TWA’s Skyliners newspaper, which published throughout TWA’s history. Every volume and issue from 1940-2008 has been microfilmed. She is currently working on locating issues from 1929 to 1939 and raising money for the project.
“We believe that the history of aviation is written in the pages of the Skyliner and its predecessors, starting with Lindbergh and the TAT Plane Talk,” Gieschen said.
In her spare time, Gieschen manages her first love, an inherited native tall grass prairie in Pettis County on the edge of the Osage Plains Major Land Resource Area. The prairie is enrolled in the Grassland Reserve Program administered by the U.S. Department Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The Comunity Curator program of Kansas City Museum invites historians and history educators from the Kansas City community to share their perspectives on artifacts they choose from the Museum collection. Lectures are presented with the actual artifact accompanying the observations of the Community Curator, so that audience members may examine them first-hand. |
