The bold colour serves more than just a fashion statement.

16:10, Wed, May 28, 2025 | UPDATED: 16:11, Wed, May 28, 2025

Head and Shoulders Portrait

Red lipstick also serves a vital safety function (Image: Getty)

In her recent memoir ‘Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 feet’, former flight attendant Heather Poole revealed the true purpose behind the signature red lipstick of many airline staff. As well as also being grooming standard on her particular airline, Heather also explained how the bold stylistic feature has a vital safety role.

She said that red is used to allow passengers to be able to read the flight attendant’s lips in times of crisis. Poole went on to explain that it greatly aids in situations that are loud and chaotic, and where reading lips may be the only viable way of extracting important information.

Flight attendant on duty

During a crisis red lipstick allows passengers to read lips (Image: Getty)

It allows attention to be drawn to the lips, and in term assists non-verbal communication so panicked passengers can understand things such as where to find life-saving equipment.

However, other former flight attendants argued against this theory, saying that they had never heard of red lipstick being used for that purpose before.

Sydney Anistine, a veteran within the industry, told Reader’s Digest that she’s ‘never heard’ of lipstick being used for safety purposes, adding: ‘These days, if you see someone wearing a bright lip, it’s just a style choice.’

Another longtime cabin crew member and travel writer Kristine Eksteine-Nizka was also hesitant to accept this theory, stating that instead the red lipstick was more about branding than safety.

‘Emirates has a specific makeup look that the flight attendants need to adhere to - they even have makeup training for their girls.’

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Flight Attendant Serving Food

Red lipstick is also deep rooted in aviation culture also from a stylistic perspective (Image: Getty)

In her book, Poole also explained the deep historical roots of lipstick with flight attendants, exploring its appearances in the golden age of aviation during the 1950s and 1960s.

Stewardess for former airline Sheila Riley recalled how makeup choices were strictly enforced.

‘If you were caught wearing, say, blue eye-shadow or scarlet lipstick you were told to wipe it off because they wanted us to look natural and wholesome’.