Delta Airlines

Background

Southern Airways was a regional airline operating from 1949 until 1979, when it merged with North Central Airlines to become Republic Airlines. On October 1, 1986, then became part of Northwest Airlines, which, in turn, was merged into Delta Airlines in 2008. Delta operates a museum of its history that is located on its corporate campus in Atlanta.

Project

In 2009, Delta wanted to create a permanent installation in the museum that paid tribute to Southern Airways. Within this exhibit, it wanted to display one of the attendants’ uniforms on a dress form. Since the vintage uniforms were too delicate or too aged to use,  it was decided that a re-creation would be commissioned for this use.

Photographs of one of the vintage uniforms were taken from multiple angles, and the measurements for the display form were sent for fitting.

The patterns for the 3-piece suit – jacket, skirt and blouse – were drafted by hand to maintain the same lines, seams and details of the original garment. A re-creation of the original pill-box hat was also part of the project and can be seen over the shoulder of the uniform in the image below.