Vivienne Westwood’s latest fashion endeavor is a collaboration with Virgin Atlantic to design new uniforms for the staff, which includes over 7,500 people in the cabin crew, Clubhouse staff, Virgin Holidays staff, and pilots.
Westwood and Virgin Atlantic president, Richard Branson first met through Westwood’s ex-husband, Sex Pistols band member, Malcolm McLaren, who Branson signed onto his label. The collaboration will fuse together fashion and eco-friendly awareness by combining Westwood’s signature figure-hugging tailored pieces with recycled materials.
Westwood says, “My clothes have always got a very strong dynamic rapport with the body – they are very body-conscious, they help you to look glamorous, more hourglass, more woman. I design things to help people to hopefully express their personality. I am always trying to find fabrics that are more friendly to the environment – working with Virgin Atlantic they managed to research into this and find more eco fabrics.”
Branson wanted to redesign the uniforms and a collaboration with Westwood was a perfect way to reinvent the signature red outfits that the crew has been wearing for the past ten years.
He said, “Virgin Atlantic has a distinct spirit and from a design perspective we continually try to challenge the norm and stand out from the crowd. Our current uniform has been around for more than ten years and we have seen other airlines start to copy it. When we were choosing the designer for this project, we wanted to work with a group of people who share our spirit of adventure, who believe in challenging the status quo and creating something truly memorable.”
The new reinvented uniforms will debut in July 2013, and be implemented in 2014. It looks like Virgin Atlantic is about to be the most fashionable cabin crew around!