Think an Air France flight is just a way to get to your next destination?
When setting foot on one of the airline’s planes, you’re in fact entering an embassy of all things Gallic, meant to showcase “the best of France,” Benjamin Smith, chief executive officer of parent group Air France-KLM, said in 2019.
And this is as much strategy as a style throughline for the 90-year-old company, born in 1933 from the fusion of five airlines, including the famous Aéropostale.
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On board is also what Sylvie Tarbouriech, the airline’s global brand and marketing communication vice president, defines as a condensate of France’s history.
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“We have also accompanied the evolution of France in terms of fashion, arts of the table and gastronomy, for which it is practically the most reputed country in the world,” says the executive.
During Paris Fashion Week, the airline took over the windows of the Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann, showcasing items drawn from its archives alongside five fantastical silhouettes epitomizing the various facets of the company imagined by costume designer Xavier Ronze, who also heads the Paris Opera Ballet’s costume workshops.
And it’s in fashion that Air France is “taking elegance to new heights,” the slogan in its latest brand film, which features a model in a flowing red gown by Paris-based couturier Rabih Kayrouz.
Its crew is no less than “a part of national patrimony,” designer Olivier Rousteing recently told the airline’s inflight magazine Envols, after showing Balmain’s fall 2021 collection in the airline’s maintenance hangars.
“No other company has worked with the greatest fashion designers [of their time],” claims Tarbouriech.
Although cabin crew were male in the first decade — pilots wore military-style garb and cabin crew wore barmen suits — once women came on board at the end of World War II, competition as far as outfitting the crew would indeed be hard-pressed to compare with a roster that includes Dior under Marc Bohan’s tenure, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Patou, Nina Ricci and Christian Lacroix. as well as a slew of other designers and postwar couture houses.
Even four decades ago, Air France’s aura was such that the uniforms designed by Balenciaga in 1968 were the “only time he ever did ready-to-wear,” says Tarbouriech. “He had decided to close his couture house in 1968 and that was the year he created the uniforms for Air France that were worn until the mid-’70s.”
Not that they were exactly off-the-rack, either. “Ahead of the 90th-anniversary celebrations, we wanted to recreate some [for events at Galeries Lafayette] but after looking at them for their patterns, our current manufacturer ended up telling us that jackets had been adapted to the morphology of whoever had owned that jacket, so it was almost demi-couture,” Tarbouriech points out.
Throughout the years, signature details emerge, such as the bow that jumps from the belt of a Dior outfit to a hat and returns as the lavaliere of a Patou silk dress aboard the Concorde, or a topstitching that starts on a jaunty hat from the 1960s and returns on the lapel of the current Lacroix-designed overcoats, part of the uniforms he designed in 2005 and still used today.
The palette has likewise revolved around the blue, white and red of the French flag, going from demure pastels in the early days meant for the youthful air hostesses to more urbane navys and dark reds in contemporary times.
Where there were two or three silhouettes a season in the early decades of the airline, the latest iteration designed by Lacroix in 2005 has hundreds of items. Air France personnel can have their pick from a wardrobe that includes dresses, trousers, tailored jackets, all manners of shirts and separates but also gloves, bags and deerstalker hats for ground staff operating outside in the cold.
“We had a design brief in which the uniform should be adapted to all physical types, skin tones, hair hues,” says Tarbouriech, joking that the introduction of elastic fibers had been a game changer in uniform making.
“It creates complexity in managing stock to ensure we have enough stock to appeal to everyone but at the same time, everything has been made to work together whatever permutation you make,” she says. “It creates [visual] diversity and that’s really interesting.”
Also complex is managing the clothes once they can no longer be worn. The airline has long been working to recycle their material, collaborating with partners to transform the fibers into new textiles — uniforms themselves have to be destroyed for safety reasons — but has recently introduced a secondhand program where still-usable pieces are available to employees at a lesser cost. (Employees select their wardrobe using a points-based system.)
Tarbouriech describes the company’s outlook as “the culture of ‘and,’ that French ability to reconcile things that appear paradoxical,” such as preserving tradition and at the same time, looking for innovation.
In that vein, the likes of Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé and Andrée Putman created cutting-edge interior arrangements for the travel agencies the airline once had, as well as planes and ground facilities.
On-board dining sets were at first modeled on what could be found in a well-to-do household, with fine china tableware and silver cutlery. Over time they followed major movements in design, tapping luminaries such as French-American industrial Raymond Loewy or Putman, but also mirrored evolutions in society, such as the democratization of air travel, with meal trays and more casual dining presentations being introduced along economy class.
Hardy enough to survive wear-and-tear as well as midflight turbulence, dinnerware and cutlery are “luxury that can be lived in,” says the executive.
These days, there is still Christofle cutlery — a supplier since the early days — in business and first class, albeit sporting an of-the-moment two-tone matte and high shine polish, and Jean-Marie Massaud designed dining sets that play on topographical markings with a Japanese inflection.
That said, not everything comes from France — or needs to.
Its many routes meant that the company “connected worlds, allowing people, including designers, to discover other parts of the world,” she says, pointing out the parallels between Loewy’s Concorde dining set and the bento-style boxes popularized these days in offices everywhere. “To rationalize the tiny space of an aircraft, we’ve had ideas that came from other countries and that’s fantastic and beautiful.”
While the wardrobe and design reflect French elegance, there is another field where expectations are sky-high: gastronomy.
If you ask François Adamski what his role is, he’ll tell you that he is “corporate chef of the largest and highest restaurant in the world” in his role at Servair, the airline catering service that creates and prepares the majority of the 55 million meals a year served aboard the French airline’s flights.
Holder of a Bocuse d’Or and named “Meilleur Ouvrier de France,” or MOF, a state-recognized distinction for the finest artisans in their specialty, Adamski cut his teeth at the official residence of the French prime minister, the Ritz in Paris and the Plaza Athenée before snatching up a series of Michelin stars under his own name.
Over the past six years, Adamski has worked with a cast of culinary luminaries including Michel Roth, Thierry Marx, Mauro Colagreco and, most recently, Anne-Sophie Pic and Emmanuel Renaut, who are respectively signing menus until next spring in Air France’s long-haul business and the “La Première” first-class services departing from Paris.
For Michelin three-star chef Renaut, the end game onboard is “maintaining the excellence of recipes even at 10,000 meters of altitude,” while balancing the constraints of in-flight catering with the “values of seasonality and origins” he wants to transmit in his cuisine.
All this amounts to being the only airline with “such a mythical, rich patrimony,” says Tarbouriech. “That’s what sets us apart, even from other legacy airlines. It’s ‘being’ over ‘appearing’ — the French spirit, in essence.”
In the archives, recently moved to a larger facility within the Air France complex at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport, are items that range from the leather helmets of pioneer aviator Jean Mermoz and Barbie dolls to seating from the Concorde, all those uniforms from throughout the years and even menus.
An endowment fund was also created to protect all the works of art Air France commissioned, in the eventuality that the business faces financial problems, is acquired or absorbed by another company in the future. There are also reams of documents such as executive committee minutes and other archives that will help historians tell its story.
If such a comprehensive array is “what makes big brands and major [luxury] houses,” as Tarbouriech puts it, it is also fuel for the long haul since one “can’t ‘be’ without knowing what was done before.”
Air Plate Mode
Developing a menu with a partner chef takes eight to 12 months and requires for dishes to be “switched to ‘airplane mode,’ which includes changes to cooking methods and temperatures to adhere to health and safety requirements,” explains corporate chef Servair François Adamski.
Holding “rigor and regularity” as the keys to “keeping passengers as satisfied as possible,” he tells WWD what ingredients are off the table and why sauces are the secret to a great meal on board.
WWD: What is Air France’s ideal of gastronomy on the move?
François Adamski: Overall, our philosophy is to make a passenger’s journey as pleasant as possible. Regarding food, making French gastronomy radiate around the world, be it in first, business or other cabins, is what we aim for.
And there’s always Champagne, across all classes.
WWD: Do passengers expect more of an Air France inflight meal due to the country’s gastronomic reputation?
F.A.: Of course. Passengers choose Air France for its service but also because they know they will eat well. Since we promote France and its gastronomy, they have expectations and these are even higher when the experience is signed [by a renowned chef].
Nowadays, the culinary aspect has to be of a high level but it now also must meet other requirements, particularly in terms of social and corporate responsibility. For flights departing from Paris, meat, poultry and dairy products must come from France and be as local as possible. Fish must come from sustainable fisheries. And in general, we strive to have fresh, seasonal and local products where possible.
WWD: What evolutions in passenger tastes have you noticed?
F.A.: There has been an increased demand for vegetarian dishes, so now when we sign with chefs, they imagine poultry, meat, fish and vegetarian dishes, for business as well as first class. And one chef is considering working without butter and cream. Although it isn’t necessarily a direction we want to specialize in, it could be interesting.
What we have put in place in the Air France lounge in the 2F terminal of Paris Charles-de-Gaulle is “Racines Profondes et Jeunes Pousses,” (or deep roots and early sprouts, in English). A Michelin-starred or MOF chef — who are more rooted in tradition and a bit more on the classical side like myself — will sign fish- and meat-based dishes, while a new generation chef that we want to highlight signs a vegetarian dish.
WWD: What is the secret to translating that Michelin-starred experience onboard?
F.A.: It’s about great sauces, which really round out any dish — and those translate best as they are less subject to overcooking [during reheating on board].
Cabin crew serving sauces requires additional skills and was an upgrade desired by Air France to get that bit closer to gastronomic restaurants. And a gravy boat served next to the main dish is a recent addition to business-class meals.
WWD: Are there ingredients that are never used?
F.A.: Offal is not something we work with, as they would not appeal to most. Oysters and certain shellfish are also not on the menu, as well as saltwort, as it can contain algae.
Beyond that, nothing is off the table. Few ingredients are proscribed, even almonds or nuts. What is essential is communicating about potential allergen presence in dishes.
Thanks to the work of the Servair Culinary Studio — composed of Régis Marcon, Guy Martin, Michel Roth, Anne-Sophie Pic and I — we have developed a few innovations that allowed us to bring on board ingredients that were complicated, like cauliflower and cabbages, once left behind due to their smell.
WWD: How does altitude affect taste?
F.A.: There isn’t an incredible difference. But pressure and stress can cause flavors to be perceived differently and feel less vivid, so we boost [flavors] with a touch more spices, concentrating sauce a bit more and making reductions a tad more potent.
WWD: What impression do you want passengers to take away?
F.A.: In first class, that they experience a different emotion every time they fly. There is no better feeling than having a passenger tell you that they have eaten in every three-star Michelin restaurant and are delighted [by the onboard meal].
In business, it’s about eating well and being able to rest, with comforting food and [a feeling of] satisfaction.
For premium economy — where a signature chef will soon sign menus — and economy, it’s about great flavors.
24H Air France
Photographer Karl Hab may be best known for his 24-hour perambulations through destinations like Paris, Hong Kong or Los Angeles, but the Frenchman is also a certified aeronautical engineer.
Describing Air France as “a unique symbol of French style and hospitality in the skies,” he captured a voyage through the nine decades of style in a volume published in December.
“I wanted to highlight the interesting contrast between today’s modernity, with the new planes and the technology, combined with the richness of the uniforms from the past and today,” Hab tells WWD. “The myth has the power to captivate the imagination for years on end.”
176 pages, 50 euros
Available exclusively through Air France Shopping and Karl Hab’s website.