#20. Looking Back: A Fashion Event Celebrating 50 Years of United Airlines Featuring Five Fashion Designers

United Airline 50 Year Anniversary Celebration Program cover from May 14, 1980.

They Soared Into History.

That was the title of the program for United Airline’s 50th Anniversary celebration in May of 1980.

Former CFDA President Mr.Stan Herman hired Ebony magazine fashion editor Audrey Smaltz as the commentator for United Airline’s 50 year celebration event. The event spotlighted many of the original stewardess uniforms and new designs by five designers including Pauline Trigere, Stan Herman, Bill Blass, Bill Haire and Edith Head. The event traveled around the country commencing from The Plaza Hotel in New York City followed by Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. The proceeds from ticket sales benefitted charities supported by Clipped Wings, the association of flight attendants.

I first heard of this event during my joint interview of Audrey Smaltz and Betty Halbreich. Further research led me to find an article announcing the event but nothing on the actual event. Six month later during an archival search at Parson School of Design in NYC, to my delightful surprise, I found the original brochure of the event at The Plaza Hotel which listed the fashion show brochure! The program with uniforms starting from 1930 all the way to 1980 with futuristic designs by the five prominent designers. The uniforms were from airlines worldwide, including Alitalia, Air France, KLM- Royal Airlines, Japan Airlines, Korean Airlines, Thai Airway, Air India, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. The uniform from Trigère Inc was designed by Pauline's longtime associate: Lucie Porges. It showcased a top and dark pants ensemble with the letters "UA" emblemed on the center front vertically. The uniform designed by Stan Herman is accompanied with a pouch, considered this event took place in 1980 and was meant for futuristic design as what the uniform would look like in 2030, I am delighted to see a pouch which is the hottest trend currently in 2024!

The event program was accompanied an article:

“A new era in airline passenger safety and comfort began 50 years ago on May 15, 1930, when eight young nurses took to the air for Boeing Air Transport, a United Airlines predecessor, to become the world’s first stewardesses.

The “Original Eight”. — Ellen Church, Margaret Arnott, Jessie Carter, Ellis Crawford, Harriet Fry, Alva Johnson, Inez Keller and Cornelia Peterman — were not famous women. Yet each of these nurses had something in common — a certain spark in their makeup, a spark that ignited when they were given the opportunity to try something different, something daring.

Their duties required more grit than glamour. The stewardesses served cold chicken box lunches, comforted airsick passengers, joined bucket brigades to help fuel the airplanes and checked the wicker seats prior to each flight to make sure they were fastened tightly.

Thanks to their pioneer spirit, the flight attendant profession has grown to become an intergral part of commercial aviation.

The legacy of the “original eight” lives on in the world’s past and present flight attendants we honor here today.”