Airlines hope new fashions make financial statement

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2005 | by Barbara De Lollis

Designer fashions are hitting runways from Atlanta to Seoul.

Six international airlines, including Delta Air Lines, have hired high-profile designers to revamp uniforms for thousands of flight attendants, reviving a nearly dormant industry tradition. In earlier decades, Christian Dior, Bill Blass and Calvin Klein dressed the industry's most visible employees.

Today, airlines are turning to Christian Lacroix, a premier Paris designer, and Richard Tyler, a Los Angeles-based designer who has dressed Julia Roberts and two Desperate Housewives. They're creating suits, coats and dresses, as well as shoes, hats and handbags.

The fashion renaissance comes as many of the big carriers continue to hemorrhage money, and even the profitable airlines are battling sky-high...