Initially TEAL employed male stewards due to the requirements of the job that included the handling of heavy cargo and sometimes passengers to and from the flying boats. However in 1946, the first six stewardesses were chosen from 3,000 applicants. In these early days they had to be unmarried. A reflection of the time meant stewardesses left the role when they became married. Passengers' safety was always a large part of their duties and the uniform represented authority. Influenced by the still-recent world war they were made in military style with single breasted jackets with adorned with gold buttons. There was also a square-shouldered double breasted overcoat with gold buttons. The stewardesses wore a half wing metal badge with a TA (Tasman Airways) emblem. Epaulets appeared on the single breasted jacket – the one bar referring to junior rank. They wore a man-styled white shirt with black tie and Glengarry hat with two buttons on the centre front. Black leather gloves, a black leather handbag and black laced-and-heeled court shoes were also part of the full uniform worn when on the ground.