Fashion News

Event celebrating Dallas' Braniff Airways a must for fashion & flying buffs

Braniff was always a stylish airline.

Courtesy photo

Dallas' original hometown airline is having a moment: Braniff International will celebrate its 95th anniversary with an event that promises to be a must for fashion and airline buffs alike.

Called The Braniff Style Tour & Fashion Show, it'll take place on March 11 at the Alexander Mansion, with David Preziosi, Braniff Airways Foundation Board Member and Executive Director of Texas Historical Foundation, presenting a program on what a release calls one of the most revolutionary airlines in history.

The event will include lunch and a mini fashion show featuring Braniff’s epochal flight attendant uniforms created by haute couture fashion designers Emilio Pucci and Halston.

Braniff International began in June 1928 with a small Stinson Detroiter single-engine six-passenger airplane that flew its first flight from Oklahoma City to Tulsa. It operated as an airline until 1982.

braniff airlines stewardess Braniff Airlines flight attendants decked out in stylish uniforms.Courtesy photo

Braniff Airways is now a branding/marketing, online retail and historic airliner tour firm with a portfolio of licensing agreements worldwide. Its history has been preserved by Braniff Airways Foundation, an organization created by Richard Ben Cass, a former pilot and Braniff collector and expert whose book Braniff Airways: Flying Colors was published in 2015.

The Foundation curates the Braniff International Heritage Archives, formerly Braniff Flying Colors Collection, which contains Cass' lifetime collection, and includes original Braniff Airways Advertising Department records and archives.

The collection was founded in 1972, and has become the largest and most comprehensive collection of Braniff memorabilia that includes more than 1000 crew uniforms.

The Foundation also acts as an advocacy group for Braniff buildings in danger of demolition, including the mid-century themed Braniff Operations and Maintenance Base in conjunction with lead Flying Crown Land Group.

In 2014, they authored a nomination for the Braniff Hostess College to determine its eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The Hostess College is undergoing a complete restoration and will become a public use facility in the future.

The fashion show promises lots of stretchy fabrics and zowie colors, while the lunch menu is a fun throwback, inspired by vintage Braniff flight menu, with chicken Romanoff, a garden vegetable medley, and strawberry cheesecake.

The Braniff Style Tour & Fashion Show is March 11. Doors open at 10:30 am, with the style show beginning promptly at 11 am, and lunch at 12 pm. Tickets are $60 for "First Class" (includes lunch) and $20 for "Coach" (style show only). Tickets are available online. Proceeds benefit the restoration of the Alexander Mansion.

transportation fashion-beauty

Fashion on display

Rare Halston fashion exhibition now on display in unlikely Texas city

Halston: Inventing American Fashion exhibit Ellen Noël Art Museum

Photo courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

An colorful eveningwear grouping takes advantage of Ellen Noël Art Museum's curved walls.

A rare exhibition honoring fashion pioneer Halston has popped up in an unexpected place: West Texas. Dallas fashionistas who are fans of the designer can make a five-hour pilgrimage to Odessa’s newly revamped Ellen Noël Art Museum to view "Halston: Inventing American Fashion."

Halston’s minimalistic fashions are rarely the subjects of retrospectives, although the designer’s dramatic life story recently had a pop-cultural resurgence through a 2021 Ryan Murphy miniseries. "Halston: Inventing American Fashion" assesses the talent that made him a household name.

Known now for outfitting 1970s icons like Liza Minelli and Bianca Jagger, Halston changed the international reputation of American sportswear as part of the famous 1973 “Battle of Versailles” fashion show, holding his own against Paris’ most lauded couturiers. His uniquely louche style still influences contemporary brands like Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, and Tom Ford, who was briefly the creative director for a revised Halston label.

The mannequins in the Odessa display are outfitted with 75 ensembles from flowing Ultrasuede daywear to more dramatic draped gowns. The pieces “illustrate how Halston revolutionized fashion by prioritizing comfort, confidence, and modern femininity,” according to a release.

Although Odessa may seem an odd choice for the show, Halston had deep Texas connections. After he moved on from hat making, Amarillo millionaire Estelle Marsh was his sole backer willing to fund his first Madison Avenue boutique.

$Ellen No\u00ebl Art Museum, Odessa, new facade.$ The new facade at Ellen Noël Art MuseumPhoto courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

$Halston: Inventing American Fashion exhibit Ellen No\u00ebl Art Museum$

Photo courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

An colorful eveningwear grouping takes advantage of Ellen Noël Art Museum's curved walls.

And the recently completed renovation of Odessa's Ellen Noël Art Museum has some of the designer’s signature sleek. Designed by architect R.J. Lopez, the renovation includes new galleries and improved circulation, but the centerpiece is a striking transparent façade, replacing the original brick of the 1985 building.

“The renovation project has been over 10 years in the making and in the construction phase for the past two years,” says the museum’s buildings manager, Steve Patton, via a release. “The completion of the project has resulted in an incredible facility that is a shining star in West Texas, offering programs and exhibits that will be a destination point for people all over the world!”

"Halston: Inventing American Fashion" will run through March 22. Admission to the Ellen Noël Art Museum is free.

exhibits odessa fashion west texas museums designer texas