Brussels Airlines partners with Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp to design new uniform

1st June 2022

As part of its new brand identity, Brussels Airlines is creating a new uniform for its cabin crew, pilots and airport staff. The Belgian airline is partnering with the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, where second year student Gabrielle Szwarcenberg emerged as the winner among five students who each drew three signature items in a competition to become the designer of the complete Brussels Airlines uniform. With this collaboration, Brussels Airlines wants to show even more of its Belgian DNA and promote the Belgian fashion scene worldwide.

Belgian cooperation

As of summer 2023, Brussels Airlines’ cabin crew, pilots and airport staff will wear a new uniform. To design the uniform, the airline partnered with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. After surveying the staff about their needs and preferences, five promising students from the academy were selected and briefed to convey the new brand identity in the design of a new uniform.

“The Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp is internationally renowned in the fashion world. The academy exudes quality and Belgitude, making it the ideal match for Brussels Airlines. With this collaboration, we want to support emerging talent and offer the Belgian fashion scene a worldwide stage”
​Michel Moriaux, Head of Marketing at Brussels Airlines

“Although the Antwerp fashion department is primarily focused on artistic and experimental subjects and we are overloaded with requests for collaborations year after year, we were instantly inclined to say yes to the partnership with Brussels Airlines because it is a Belgian icon. It gave the students the opportunity to discover another side of the fashion spectrum and to translate this into a concrete project. We are very proud of our promising student Gabrielle Szwarcenberg.”
​Katarina Van Den Bossche, Fashion Design teacher 2nd year & coordinator of the Antwerp Fashion Department SHOW

Comfortable, modern and classy

With its new branding, launched in November last year, Brussels Airlines got a fresher look and logo, highlighting the diversity and Belgian character of the airline. Now the staff of Brussels Airlines will get to wear a uniform that emphasizes the same values.

“We listened carefully to our uniform-wearing colleagues about what they want and expect from their uniform. Their comfort is very high on the list of priorities in this process, but sustainability and inclusiveness also play an important role. We want everyone to feel good in their uniform and to be able to be themselves. We are impressed with what we have seen from Gabrielle Szwarcenberg and look forward to develop the uniform with her.”
​Barbara Fleury, Uniform Coordinator at Brussels Airlines

“The fact that I was selected out of the insanely talented creatives in the Antwerp Fashion Department is already an honour, but to have been chosen the winner is mind-blowing to me. I am so thrilled to get the opportunity to completely redesign the airline aesthetic with a fresh new design perspective; and especially for such an iconic Belgian company as Brussels Airlines.”
​Gabrielle Szwarcenberg, second year student at the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp

In the coming months, Brussels Airlines and Gabrielle Szwarcenberg will design all the pieces of the uniform and choose a supplier to produce them. The new uniform will be presented in spring 2023.