Uniform Martinair wins award
The crew on board of Martinair flights has been known for many years trough their well kept appearance and uniform. Flight crews are the company’s ‘red’ calling card and are highly valued by Martinair.
The uniform won a Corporate Fashion Award in November 2008, in the Representative Corporate Wear category. In addition to the prize in this category, Martinair also won the prize for best uniform in general. The prize was organised by Holland Career & Workwear, a member group of MODINT, the trade association for fashion, interior
design, carpets and textiles.
As per the end of August 2008 the flightcrew is wearing the designer uniform. Designer Erny van Reijmersdal signed for the womens uniform: very feminine and also pretty powerful for the needed appearance of authority. Moreover the uniform had to be comfortable to work in. For the men Oger created a Napels Blue uniform with red accents.
Martinair’s flight attendants will receive new uniforms during the 2008 summer season, but did you know that Martinair’s flight attendants have not always been dressed in red?
In 1958 the crew also looked very smart. The uniform consisted of a grey skirt and jacket with a white blouse. Along with it, the female flight attendants wore dark blue bowler-style hats with curved edges.
From the mid-sixties the crew was dressed in new dark blue uniforms, designed by Edgar Vos. Already after two years however, a new uniform replaced these uniforms, this time designed by Dick Holthaus.
It was the first time the flight attendants wore jackets in the red coloured trademark, which in those days was combined with a dark blue miniskirt and a hat.
The uniforms underwent two makeovers in the seventies. In the early seventies Dick Holthaus designed a grey dress with black buttons and an orange red jacket. A sporty beret and a red lined Shetland robe. The heels of the black lacquered court shoes worn on board of the airplane measured exactly 2.5 centimetres, but out on the streets the crew wore higher heeled shoes.
Towards the end of the seventies the crew received an orange flaring skirt with a turnover and a silver grey blouse with an orange red vest. A grey blazer was worn over the vest and of course the crew had a new hat in the shape of the sporty beret. For the first time these uniforms had the Martinair signature, the 'Chevron' logo, on the blazer, vest and scarf.
In 1982 Martinair introduced the well known thin woollen red dress with red jacket and a small felt hat that was put on for landing and takeoff. Even the lipstick was bright red!
Towards the end of the eighties the uniform’s red hue changed and the silver grey blouse was replaced by a white blouse. The red hat was worn on the back of the head.
The picture in this article was taken at the presentation of the uniform Martinair introduced in the nineties. The man photographing the eight ladies is ex-royal family photographer Paul Huf.