"Fashions are evolving," she said. Australian airline Qantas announced on Friday that it would scrap its gendered uniforms, allowing male cabin crew to wear makeup and female staff to ditch high heels.
Qantas said it had revised its regulations to better reflect modern expectations and make uniforms more comfortable for its staff from "culturally diverse backgrounds". The company had previously been criticized for the rigidity of its dress code, which included banning handlebar whiskers, controlling the length of rouflaquettes and specifying the ideal shades of the pencil for the eyes.
A dress code that fits into a new era
The new guidelines follow demands from unions, which have urged Qantas to remove the requirement for female staff to wear makeup. "Fashions are evolving and so are our styling guidelines over the years," the airline said in a statement. "Our uniform standards have always reflected the zeitgeist."
Qantas said the new "style and hygiene guidelines" would replace the old "male" and "female" uniform categories. Now, cabin crew can choose to wear makeup or not, opt for flat shoes and have long hair, as long as they wear them in a ponytail or bun.