Airline: Identity, Design and Culture

by Keith Lovegrove

This fascinating book examines every aspect of airline style, from the company liveries and interior designs of planes to advertising, haute couture, and airborne haute cuisine.

Divided into four sections covering fashion, food, interior design, and identity, Airline shows how airborne culture has changed since the 1920s.

The book spans the conservative to the outrageous, from saris to hotpants, from Hugh Hefner's private jet to the huge Airbus A380. A wide selection of retro styles are illustrated with illuminating archive material and images of ephemera. Airline uncovers the style, image, and experience of the parallel universe that exists at 30,000 feet.

Genres: History, Design, Photography, Nonfiction, Fashion, Travel, Art

Paperback

First published October 8, 2000

Reviews

[Nancy G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at the air and space museum by Dulles. I enjoyed the history of fashion, cabin design and airline food. the book offers an overview of design and style of the airline industry.

[Richard ZZ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Due to the travel experience of the travel agency, I often come into contact with various airlines. I am very fond of the civil aviation industry, so occasionally I read civil aviation-related books. Recently, I read a book called "Airline Style at 30,000 feet" (Lovegrove, 2013), which talks about the identity, design and culture. These are the three aspects of the civil aviation industry development and change.
When I borrowed this book, I was attracted by the fine binding, the book was produced beautifully, the author carefully designed the content a lot of beautiful aerial theme photos, and this is a good choice to use to understand the history of the last century's aviation. Content is easy to read, through the text and pictures of the last century, and the world's most famous airline's prosperity. But this book is only to show the appearance of the aviation industry, focusing on the introduction of Europe and the United States airlines. About fashion, it did not introduce those who designed these beautiful uniforms; about the plane meals, it did not present the development of aviation food factory; about the design, it did little to recommend the development of this industrial design aircraft. So this book is still relatively simple.
I cannot recommend this book, because in the rapid development of the aviation industry today, this book has been outdated. If you just want a simple understanding of the history of the civil aviation industry before 2000, you can read this book; but if you want to know about more modern content, I suggest to please choose other newer books.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book on my visit to the Museum of Flight. The airline fashions grabbed my attention, but this book also covers interiors and food. The food section was particularly fascinating. People used to be served edible food on airplanes! People used to dress up for a flight, instead of dressing like they are still in bed. The seats used to be far enough apart that you didn't have to lock elbows to use the arm rest and someone's little viper wasn't able to jump up and down on the fold down tray attached to the back of your seat for the entire flight. It looks like flying wasn't too bad up until about the 1970's. Then we can pinpoint the start of the decline of civilization. Of course, I can only judge flight from my class - economy. The author hinted that flying can still be the height of the trip, but you're gonna have to pay for it - first class.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hits two of my favorites: travel and marketing. Fascinating plus I loved looking at the pictures from the golden age of airlines. So interesting to see how much things have changed. They used to have a powder room for ladies on some planes (1940s/1950s) and you could fit 2 people in it! That just amazes me.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG. Better than I thought it would be when P ordered it and I picked it up off the coffee table. A weird and wonderful walk through airline history from within the walls of the plane. (Warning: Poorly written, but you'll read the text that accompanies the photographs anyway.)

[Salsabrarian]

Plenty of pictures to pore over and study. Uniforms, food, interior design...from funky to elegant to WTF!