Aloha Airlines flight attendant uniforms preserved for decades have been donated to the University of Hawaiʻi's Fashion and Design Merchandising Program.
The collection of uniforms reflects a 60-year history of fashion trends along with the local designers and manufacturers that produced the attire.
Professor Andy Reilly, also the collection's curator, said the uniforms weren't just utilitarian, they were part of the brand marketing.
"Part of the way of branding the airline and showing the localness of the airline is to show what people in Hawaiʻi were wearing at the time. I think everybody who has lived here during the time that it was in service has a memory of flying on Aloha Airlines and that it was so iconic and ingrained in the islands here," Reilly said.
The donation was made by former Aloha Airlines flight attendant and UH Mānoa graduate Debbie Martinson, who has kept the uniforms in pristine condition since the airline's last flight 15 years ago.
The uniforms have been added to the UH Historic Costume Collection, which already has more than 10,000 items of dress related to the people and history of Hawaiʻi.
In 2009, the costume collection was declared a treasure of historic importance by the state Senate and is used by students, faculty, and scholars for research.
Aloha Airlines was a passenger airline from 1946 to 2008.
