This piece originally ran in the January 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.

Complete vintage stewardess uniforms are hard to come by, and the EAA Aviation Museum is lucky to have this recent donation in its collection. From 1969, this is the American Airlines “Americana” uniform. The plaid vest, along with the ruffled necktie and raccoon hat, took inspiration from the American Revolution. The ads for American Airlines, which showcased this uniform, depicted fashionable stewardesses alongside American Revolutionaries, showing America’s past and present side by side.