The address for his website — uniformfreak.com — says it all.
Cliff Muskiet, an aviation-crazed kid who grew up to be a flight attendant for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, has a collection of more than 1,000 flight attendant uniforms.
“Only stewardess uniforms,” Muskiet told msnbc.com in an interview between flights. “The female uniforms come in various colors, materials and with different accessories like hats, scarves and gloves. Male uniforms all look the same: jacket, pants, plain shirt and a tie, most men’s uniforms are dark blue and quite boring.”
Muskiet got his first few uniforms in the 1970s and 80s. After a 1993 stop in Ghana, where he picked up some old Ghana Airways uniforms, he began collecting in earnest.
“I love the 1970s psychedelic patterns and color combinations: yellow, red, orange, purple, green, white and blue; every color was used and everything was possible,” Muskiet said. “Also flower prints, dots or checked fabrics were used a lot. I love the big pointy collars from the 70s and synthetic fabrics.”
Muskiet keeps his collection of uniforms and accessories in closets, containers, garment bags and suitcases in two rooms of his home in Amsterdam. For display in his online museum, he photographs each uniform on his one mannequin, which is a size 2.
