Air France Celebrates its 90th Anniversary with - What Else? High Fashion

Ever since it was inaugurated in October, 1933, Air France has been flying high as an international beacon of the uniquely French art of travel and art of life. 90 years later, flying to France on the airline remains the best way to become immersed in French “savoir vivre” and elegance before you even touch French soil. 

 

Since its creation, the company has been celebrating excellence, French-style, a “je-ne-sais-quoi” recognized around the world.

 

So, to mark its 90^th anniversary, the airline asked Xavier Ronze, head of the costume design workshops at the Paris Opera ballet, to create a collection of five iconic dresses embodying the company’s legendary history.

 

Each dress is a unique interpretation of the different hallmarks of the airline – aircraft and technology; uniforms and fashion; Air France’s iconic posters promoting its international network; fine dining and tableware; design and architecture.

 

Get yourself on a flight to France soon! The haute couture dress collection is the focus of window display at the temple of luxury Parisian department stores running from 28 September to 10 October, 2023.

 

The display in a dozen windows of the Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann includes a selection of vintage Air France paraphernalia and will celebrate the romance and elegance of Air France’s approach to flying. Altogether with the profoundly Parisian haute couture dresses, the display highlights 90 years of in-flight lifestyle, legendary aircraft, designer uniforms, in-flight dining and design.

 

It will pique the travel imagination of everyone passing by on the streets of Paris!

 

Inside the store, Air France is opening pop-up stores offering a range of items specially created or reissued for this anniversary. The airline is offering a range of affordable and more limited-edition models of old and new aircraft, as well as a collection of comfort kits, postcards and baggage tags and notebooks sporting the 90^th anniversary motif. The company is also reissuing mythical items such as its famous vintage travel bag and iconic posters. Serious about collecting? A range of items is also available on a dedicated shopping website.

 

Air France is also teaming up with a number of luxury French brands to continue to promote French savoir vivre in a collection is exclusively available at the Galeries Lafayette.

 

And for the very first time in its history, Air France is offering visitors the opportunity to purchase original tableware signed by the painter Jean Picart Le Doux and used on board its La Première and Business cabins between 1966 and the 2000s.

 

The proceeds from the sale of these items will be donated to the Air France Foundation, which has been supporting children around the world for 30 years.

 

Throughout the anniversary period, Air France is offering visitors the chance to attend real fashion shows retracing 90 years of French elegance at Galeries Lafayette. Models dressed in the uniforms of pilots, cabin crew, airport staff and mechanics will be on show in a dedicated area of the store to retrace the company's legendary uniform heritage, past and present.

 

From the very first "barman" outfits to couture pieces signed by the greatest designers such as Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Christian Lacroix, the fashion show is a unique journey into the styles of the different founding eras of Air France.

 

A global network and a fleet of over 240 aircraft fly passengers on Air France to 200 destinations on 1,000 daily flights. So you can still enjoy the elegance, technology, innovation, style, fine dining and comfort Air France dedicated itself to when it began 90 years ago.