A thousand outfits, but not a thing to wear

Courtesy Marjolein Huize

Cliff Muskiet took his passion for air travel and turned it into a collection of more than 1,000 flight attendant uniforms.

The address for his website — uniformfreak.com — says it all.

Cliff Muskiet, an aviation-crazed kid who grew up to be a flight attendant for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, has a collection of more than 1,000 flight attendant uniforms.

“Only stewardess uniforms,” Muskiet told msnbc.com in an interview between flights. “The female uniforms come in various colors, materials and with different accessories like hats, scarves and gloves. Male uniforms all look the same: jacket, pants, plain shirt and a tie, most men’s uniforms are dark blue and quite boring.”

Muskiet got his first few uniforms in the 1970s and 80s. After a 1993 stop in Ghana, where he picked up some old Ghana Airways uniforms, he began collecting in earnest.

Slideshow: Style in the Skies

“I love the 1970s psychedelic patterns and color combinations: yellow, red, orange, purple, green, white and blue; every color was used and everything was possible," Muskiet said. “Also flower prints, dots or checked fabrics were used a lot. I love the big pointy collars from the 70s and synthetic fabrics.” 

Muskiet keeps his collection of uniforms and accessories in closets, containers, garment bags and suitcases in two rooms of his home in Amsterdam. For display in his online museum, he photographs each uniform on his one mannequin, which is a size 2.

“I have uniforms in a size 2, but also in a size 10 or 14,” he said. “When she has to wear a size 14, I use pins to make the uniform look nice at the front.”

Among his favorites are two KLM uniforms that have sentimental value: a circa 1971 uniform that was the first one given to him and an example of the KLM uniforms worn from 1975 through 1982. “The uniforms remind me of my childhood and the many trips I made to the USA on KLM with my mother,” said Muskiet. Some of his other favorites are the uniforms worn by female flight attendants on Asiana Airlines in the 1990s, on Kuwait Airways and United Airlines from 1968-1971 and the current outfits worn by TAP Portugal and British Caledonian.

“In the late 1960s and 1970s, a lot of different colors were used and that is something I really miss,” he said. “Especially in the USA, flight attendant uniforms have become a bit boring and look like business outfits.”

A tour through Muskiet’s online museum is anything but boring. “From looking at so many uniforms, you can see trends that correlate with the events of the time and learn about the role of the flight attendant throughout history,” said Kathrine Browne, collections assistant at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Browne helped put together two popular exhibitions featuring flight attendant uniforms — called "Style in the Aisle" — taken from the museum's 1,500-piece collection. She is unaware of an online collection that can compare with Muskiet’s. “The collection is exceptional.” 

Muskiet is always on the lookout for more uniforms and says he enjoys everything about his job as a purser for KLM. “Except the time differences. One week you are in Hong Kong and the next week you are in New York: time difference 13 hours! The older you get, the more difficult it is to deal with this, but it is all worth it.”

Especially if you’re wearing the right, stylish uniform.

More stories you might like:

Read more stories by Harriet Baskas on Stuck at The Airport.com and follow her on Twitter.

Discuss this post

What????

    Reply#1 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 9:08 AM EDT

    so !!!!

      Reply#2 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 12:56 PM EDT

      I try not to be a judgmental person, but a dude that dresses his mannequin in different stewardess uniforms gives me the full on heebee jeebees.

      • 1 vote
      Reply#3 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 3:07 PM EDT

      Yet how many men own clothing stores & dress the mannequins they have on display? Or male fashion designers who try their outfits on...mannequins...before fitting them on models? It's not like the guy's wearing the uniforms himself... In fact, he's made good use of his collection by displaying it publically, unlike the many men who have blow-up/sex dolls in hiding. Personally, I feel bad that the poor guy only has one mannequin. Someone really should donate quite a few, and some display space in an airport(s), perhaps.

        #3.1 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 10:14 PM EDT
        Reply

        Can you say flakey flamer?

          Reply#4 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 4:00 PM EDT

          The reason the flight attendants outfits look like business outfits is because it is a BUSINESS. Duh!

            Reply#5 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 4:25 PM EDT

            Wow, can you people be any more judgmental and obnoxious! I think it's rather cool that he has a historic collection of airline uniforms. Perhaps you all would be more satisfied if he had a collection of guns or dead animal heads.

            • 4 votes
            Reply#6 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 7:33 PM EDT

            BubbaGump.....what a surprise it was to see your from Texas....enough said!

              Reply#7 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 10:30 PM EDT

              Hmmm... kinda kinky if you ask mua but guess he could be doing something far worse with his time

                Reply#8 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 10:46 PM EDT

                Collection of uniforms? I think it is cool.

                • 1 vote
                Reply#9 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 10:53 PM EDT

                The site was the most helpful site for recreating an exact replica of the "Catch Me if You Can" Pan Am flight attendant costume because you can see the details and changes say between 1967 and 1969. As a costume designer these are the kind of niche websites I lave to find. We all geek out some where!

                • 2 votes
                Reply#10 - Tue Aug 2, 2011 11:01 PM EDT

                I think most of you would be very surprised at how much a collection like this is worth to an Airline Memorabilia collector. He's sitting on a small fortune. Good for him.

                • 1 vote
                Reply#11 - Wed Aug 3, 2011 7:56 AM EDT
                You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
                As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.