On Tuesday 1st July, leading British designer Vivienne Westwood officially launched her much anticipated red hot uniform collection for Virgin Atlantic. Following the announcement of the partnership last year, Sir Richard Branson, Dame Vivienne Westwood, and Blondie join a host of famous faces at a major red carpet event to see the grand unveiling.

Original design and sustainability are top of the priority list for Vivienne and Virgin in this long term partnership: upheld through intelligent cuts; beautiful tailoring; as well as polyester yarn made from recycled plastic bottles and a nano finish to extend the garments life and retain colour.

Vivienne Westwood has redesigned the iconic cabin crew look with an elegant, and feminine red jacket inspired by the “Bettina” jacket designed in the early 90's with a matching red pencil skirt with a cheeky dart to the rear. The hand drawn wing designs are a recurring theme across all members of the team while a new addition of bags for ground staff has also been introduced by the Ethical Fashion Initiative in Nairobi in collaboration with the International Trade Centre, United Nations.

Vivienne Westwood's design references her enduring interest in 40s French couture cutting, with a double breasted 'drape coat' for women, and updating the classic red shoe with Westwood's iconic hourglass heel. Male crew will be provided with a sharp Saville Row inspired three piece suit with a contemporary twist in a deep burgundy Oxford weave wool.

Over 7,500 staff including cabin crew, pilots, Clubhouse staff and Virgin Holidays employees will receive the new uniform consisting of 22 pieces in total which has been trialled across airports and on board over the past year.

Blondie and Goldie entertained guests at the Village Underground in Shoreditch before passengers will be able to see the uniform onboard Virgin Atlantic flights and airports from 1st September later this year.

For further enquiries please contact:

Darrin Thomas on Darrin.Thomas@fly.virgin.com

Notes to Editors

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic was founded by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson 30 years ago after he decided the UK aviation industry needed shaking up and having some style injected back into it. On 22nd June 1984, Virgin Atlantic's inaugural flight to Newark took place, on an aircraft filled with personal friends, celebrities and the media.  

Today, Virgin Atlantic flies to 34 destinations worldwide, including locations across North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Far East and Australia.  

In 2013 Virgin Atlantic launched a domestic airline, Little Red.  Little Red flies across the UK, with 24 daily flights between Manchester, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and London. Passengers can experience seamless connections onto the airline's long haul routes at Heathrow airport.

In the winter of 2012, Virgin Atlantic announced a joint venture with Delta Air Lines, creating an expanded trans-Atlantic route network and enhancing competition between the UK and North America.  The two airlines now codeshare across 108 routes, offering passengers seamless connections to 66 destinations. 

Virgin Atlantic has pioneered a range of innovations setting new standards of service, which its competitors have subsequently sought to follow.  Recently it redesigned its Upper Class cabin, which included a new seat and a futuristic bar, which is the longest in the sky.  Additionally, its entire leisure fleet of aircraft recently competed a £50 million renovation and includes a newly designed more comfortable seat and a brand new touch screen in-flight entertainment system, offering over 300 hours of the latest films, television shows, music and games.

Virgin Atlantic has enjoyed huge popularity, winning top business, consumer and trade awards from around the world. The airline has been awarded a Smart Technologies Award from The Wearables 2014 for its innovative trial of Google Glass and Sony Smart Watches in its Upper Class Wing.  Other awards include best longhaul airline and best airport lounge at the Telegraph Ultra Travel Awards and Europe's leading airline lounge for the Heathrow Clubhouse at The World Travel Awards. The airline was recently placed 8th in the UK Coolest Brands League and last year was named Travel Brand of the Decade . And now, yet still unofficially, the best ever in-flight leisurewear.

Virgin Atlantic currently has a fleet of 39 aircraft which includes comprised of Boeing 747s, Airbus A340-600s, A340-300 and A330-300s as well as four leased A320s on Little Red routes. The airline is expecting delivery of 16 Boeing 787 Dreamliners from September 2014.    

For additional information, visit the Virgin Atlantic website.