Aerolíneas Argentinas has just unveiled a brand new uniform for ground and flight service personnel designed by Benito Fernández and Ricky Sarkany. But the end result has been a little bit of a disaster in our view with ill-fitting...
Aerolíneas Argentinas has just unveiled a brand new uniform for ground and flight service personnel designed by Benito Fernández and Ricky Sarkany. But the end result has been a little bit of a disaster in our view with ill-fitting suits and colours that seem to exude holiday camp hosts, rather than international glamour.
Under the slogan ‘The modern world demands a modern uniform’, the designs have adopted the brand colour palette in plenty. While these uniforms will certainly make the Aerolíneas crew easily identifiable in the airport, that’s not always a good thing. The airline and designers have tried hard to bring the airline into the 21st Century, and we can’t help but feel there’s a little bit of “Joon” at play here, where an airline tries a little too hard. Especially when you compare that to the simplistic elegance of Aegean’s recent threads.
“To achieve the final result, the company carried out a satisfaction survey associated with the current uniform, from which it emerged that more than 70% of those who work in the company agreed to make a change that would allow them a greater sense of comfort and convenience when performing their tasks,” states the press release, and that’s always a challenge when you are designing a uniform for the 95th percentile. It’s like designing by committee, you usually end up with a watered down result that falls flat. It’s usually better to involve crew at the beginning, and a core small team on roll out to ensure that brand and product remain true to a core vision.
Interestingly, trainers are order of the day at Aerolineas Argentinas. While some other airlines offer trainers as an option, it’s always been complimented by more formalwear shoes too. But our biggest issue here is the fit. The suits (even in the press photos) look ill-fitting, boxy and unflattering. Comfortable, for sure, but this is also about injecting a sense of pride, and yet even some of the cheapest suits you can buy from international fashion brands have more flattering fits.
In a polar-opposite shift to emerging trends, the airline has also reversed the approach to a capsule collection, limiting the number of pieces down to just 6, making it more regimented in look and this doesn’t always work with every body shape.
“This uniform shows what we want to be and what we are: on the one hand, a modern airline that adapts to social changes and new ways of flying, without losing the classic elegance that characterises Aerolíneas Argentinas. In a way, it represents exactly this moment in the company, in which changes have been made that have allowed us to grow without losing our essence,” Pablo Ceriani, President of the airline explained.
“The concept was born in part from thinking about abstract ideas and morphologies that represent today’s world through the work of an airline: modernity, comfort and elegance are present in this uniform. It is a dream come true and a milestone in my career to be able to represent my country through a brand like Aerolíneas Argentinas,” said Fernández.
While this renewal comes after 13 years of maintaining the same uniform, it seems to have fallen flat in comparison to recent uniform reveals the world over. It will be interesting to see how this very bold, striking and somewhat challenging uniform dates over the coming years.
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