Varig

1 · POSITION

Varig was founded in 1927 at Porto Alegre by the former German pilot Otto Ernst Meyer, and its operation collapsed in 2006, almost all domestic and international routes being cancelled on 20 July of that year. Brazilian coverage records it as a reference for luxury on the country’s international routes. A university study traces that standing to deliberate spending: from 1966 the company invested in on-board service, sales and public attention, and in the 1980s gave on-board service special attention. [2, 4]

2 · THE CABIN WAS STAFFED BY WOMEN FROM 1955

Until 1955 the cabin was worked by young men. The airline introduced women on the Porto Alegre to New York service flown by the Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation, and the study records that it was in that service that the company introduced the presence of young women. In the middle of the 1960s the airline divided into a domestic arm and an international one, each with its own uniform. From 1969 the international crews wore a uniform created by Louis Féraud. [1]

3 · UNIFORM AND INTERIOR WERE DESIGNED TOGETHER

In 1971, when the Hawker Siddeley 748 replaced the DC-3 on the Rio Grande do Sul routes, the uniform drew on the state’s traditional dress and set a worked leather band around the head in place of a hat. With the DC-10-30 in 1974, tropical colours were carried into the seat linings and the curtains, and the costume designer Fernando Bedê introduced the jumper, a garment for use on board only. New uniforms followed on 31 May 1981, built on the navy Chanel tailleur. [1]

4 · WHAT SURVIVES IS CLOTH AND CHINA

The Boeing 747-200B carried close to 380 passengers and the 747-400 that arrived in 1992 about 408. Through the 1990s the clothing became simpler in design and in the quality of its fabrics and finishing. The Museu Varig collection holds china from the on-board service. In June 2017 a Porto Alegre newspaper reported the exhibition Elegância nas alturas at the Boulevard Laçador, extended indefinitely, showing a 1955 uniform rebuilt from original pieces and a 1960s garment from the Rio de Janeiro to New York route. [1, 3]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ This entry establishes dress and cabin colour, not dining. No page fetched for it described a Varig menu, a first-class seat or a lounge, and the phrase first-class company found in the university study describes a reputation, not a cabin. The uniform dates rest on one academic paper and were not cross-checked. The passenger figures for the two 747s are approximate in that paper. The 20 July 2006 date is the press report’s, and the register’s span is confirmed only at its two ends. [1–4]