Eurostar passengers heading for the Continent were left rubbing their eyes at the first sight of Eurostar’s brand new staff uniforms adorning the nine meter tall ‘kissing couple’ statue in St Pancras International station.

The super-sized outfits clothing the world famous statue (officially know as ‘The Meeting Place’ by Paul Day) were conceived and created by Sharon Osborne’s stylist, Maggie Cooke, to celebrate the introduction today of the new Eurostar uniforms, the first new design in nearly a decade. 

On a more human scale, travellers were also welcomed today by Eurostar staff in all of its stations and on-board its trains, proudly wearing for the first time the stylish new uniforms.

And demonstrating the statue’s power to cast its spell over visitors to the station, Eurostar’s very own ‘kissing couple’, train manager Adele Gent and station shift Leader Simon Gent, recreated the famously amorous embrace at the statue’s feet. 

The couple, who have recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary, met and fell in love over ten years ago working together on the international high-speed train service. 

Adele and Simon were among the first Eurostar staff to be presented with their new uniforms and have worn all three versions since joining the company.

Marc Noaro, service and people director, Eurostar, said: “Our new uniforms signal the next chapter in Eurostar’s story and perfectly capture the glamour and romance of international high-speed rail travel. 

“Our first new design in a decade has been meticulously researched and the attention to detail in every uniform is second to none. 

“As Eurostar enters its twentieth year, this is a proud day for all of our teams and we are looking forward to our customer’s reactions and comments today as they catch their first glimpses.”

The statue project, a closely guarded secret for several months, was executed over five nights under the cover of darkness by costumier, Maggie Cooke. 

With many years of styling experience, Maggie is more used to dressing celebrities rather than nine metre high bronze statues - her latest job was styling Sharon Osborne on X Factor. 

Using more than 95 metres of fabric, the nine metre tall replica uniform is accurate down to the striking yellow piping on the jacket collars and the eye catching patterned neck scarf.  The statue has been under wraps since Thursday last week while the fitting took place and was unveiled at 05:00 this morning.

The new uniform design unveiled today is only the third in Eurostar’s history and is the result of an extensive programme of consultations with staff and customers. 

While meeting the needs of a wide range of busy and demanding customer service roles, the new uniforms are also the most elegant and professional to date.

Their introduction heralds the much anticipated arrival of Eurostar’s new state-of-the-art fleet of trains from 2014 onwards and is the latest example of Eurostar’s ongoing commitment to offer its customers the very best travel experience. 

The uniform design has itself been inspired by Eurostar’s new train livery which will be unveiled officially this year when the first of its new trains enters commercial service.