Képes Újság (Newspaper with Visuals) reported in 1974: "Soon, the stewardesses of Malév will be wearing Kalocsa aprons. The Kalocsa Folk Art and Home Industry Cooperative have already created the first piece. Its base material is white, and its edge is lined with a 30-centimetre embroidery. The lace-like apron decoration will be a worthy representation of Hungarian folk art.”
In addition to the exciting dresses, Malév (Hungarian Aviation Company) also promoted Hungarian folk art on tablecloths, pin-cushions and ceramics. Some of these were made by the Decs Home Industry Cooperative.
Uniforms were an essential element of the airline's image, which ceased to exist in 2012. One of them, the uniform of flight attendants for the 1970s is absolutely unique. The ultra-elegant cherry red, short-sleeved uniform had buttons in gold with Malév's logo on them, and on the left breast pocket, there was another logo, while the back of the dress had loose pleads. On the ribbon attached to the inner side of the dress, we can see the name of its owner: Marianne Gergely, for whom the dress was tailor-made. The jacket was red, with long sleeves, collar and double-breasted. Its buttons were gold, with a Malév-logo on them. The jacket had pockets on both sides, and its lining was red. The beret hat was decorated with a Malév logo sewn on it in red and gold.
The cherry red dress was followed by a grey-blue-brown collection consisting of a costume with a vest and a blouse decorated with tiny aeroplanes. Between 1984 and 1991, the flight attendants would be wearing pieces from the Cardin collection, designed by Judit Tankó but approved by Pierre Cardin himself: it consisted of a blue or red jacket, a skirt, a blue and white striped shawl, a sack dress white plaid and striped pattern on a blue background. The last uniforms were linked to Zita Borsek and Judit Tankó. Their basic colours were dark blue and grassy green, which were supplemented with white and bright red.
The airline launched a tender in 2009 for one of its Bombardier Q400 aircraft. The applicants were asked to design a paint pattern emphasising a national character. The tender attracted a lot of interest, and just a month after the announcement, more than 150 applications were received by the Malév headquarters. According to the jury's decision, the winner was Attila Ferencz, who designed the popular Kalocsa pattern on the turboprop aircraft.
Malév handed the prize to the winner, but his name and work, to the legitimate bewilderment of many, were not published then. The airline's management, as it turned out later, decided to retro-paint the aircraft in accordance with the growing international trends. It was finally presented at a ceremony on February 4, 2011, at Ferihegy Airport.
However, the Kalocsa painting pattern, designed by Attila Ferencz, was painted on an exclusive 1:100 scale model. It is a curiosity that the hand-made unique model of the aircraft was made by Tamás Mike, who had also participated in the competition, winning second place.
