Given that almost anything would be an improvement on the sewage-coloured slacks and sack ensemble of yore, Bruce Oldfield's designs are an almost heroic demonstration of how to go beyond the call of a brief.

Dedicated followers of fashion (especially those who came of age during the Hardy Amies era) will appreciate the slick juxtaposition of black against white, the semi-fitted shirt and the fluted skirt. Sir Hardy, a dab hand at uniforms (he designed for British Airways), would have had the shirt tucking into the skirt, but he didn’t have to allow for the effects of a McDonald’s diet on a waistline.

Speaking of airlines, there is something strangely familiar about this get-up. Perhaps it’s the nattily tied scarf with its semi-discreet, M monogram or the heraldic-esque pattern on the blouse.

What this combination seems to be aiming at is something between the old Air France uniforms and the kind of outfits that Princess Grace favoured in the Seventies. This is quite sweet, really. Back in the mists of time, apart from being Grace Kelly, working as a flight attendant was about as glamorous as careers got — which is why, with no irony whatsoever, PanAm could run an ad campaign with the tagline “I’m Mandy, Fly Me”.

Quite how all this Seventies retro fits in with the Fifties retro of the Arne Jacobsen-type egg chairs that adorn newer branches of McDonald’s is a mystery. And Lord knows what will become of the scarf after it’s dangled in the chip fat a few times. But let’s not quibble. This new uniform, designed by the man who used to kit out Diana, Princess of Wales, for some of her dressiest dates, is essentially all about aspiration and self respect. It is about making us feel that, rather than grabbing a Filet-O-Fish in a guilty moment, we are making a culinary date with destiny.

It is also — and here perhaps we should applaud McDonald’s — about making staff see their jobs as valid. What next? A new tagline? “I’m Mandy, Fry Me” might fit.

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