When she wasn't on duty as a WestJet flight attendant, Michelle "Red Lips" Malone would match her bright personality with vibrant red lipstick and crimson nail polish.

Through 26 radiation treatments and six rounds of chemo, the 38-year-old wore a scarlet smile, right up until she passed away in August.

Now, in her memory, her former employer says it is revisiting its dress-code policy, and planning to loosen the rules so that other flight attendants can express themselves the way Malone once did.

The airline has traditionally limited what colours of makeup staff can wear, saying that some passengers find bright colours too harsh. But, with Malone in mind, the company says it's time for a change.

According to a WestJet spokesperson, the airline has hired fashion and makeup consultants to help revise its policy and allow staff more room for self-expression and style.

"We thought that it was a fitting tribute to Michelle, who was known for her bright red lipstick and her bright red nail polish in her off-duty life," WestJet Public Manager Officer Robert Palmer said. "It certainly was the right time to do this."

Malone's husband, Jamie Miller, says a revised policy would be an appropriate way to remember his wife's legacy and her time flying with the airline.

"I would say she was born to be a flight attendant," he told CTV Calgary. "Just the way she interacts with everybody, the way she could put a smile on everybody's face."

For his wife, Miller said, her bold makeup was both a fashion statement and a way of holding onto her optimism, even while facing cancer.

"It was kind of what got her up in the morning, getting done up and presenting herself that way and always looking 100 per cent when she went out," he said.

Until the end of her life, Miller said his wife would start each day painting on her bright-red smile.

"The last thing to go on (when we would) drive over to the hospital and stuff was her red lipstick," he said. "It just made her feel so good."

Now, WestJet and Miller hope that an updated dress code will honour Malone's memory. And that it will help her former colleagues feel some of the same colourful optimism she showed every day.

With files from CTV Calgary's Chris Epp