History of the Apron
by Trisha Hunter
I
n the past, aprons were not meant to be flashy, cute, sexy or
stylish. They were functional, related pieces of fabric and most
generally, a square piece of old cloth with a string wrapping around
it to hold it on the body. At some point the string became a tie and
the tie became a bit wider.
When Europeans began immigrating to the new world, aprons
were simple and functional as a reaction to the excesses of fashion.
The Pilgrim women wore plain, long white aprons. Later, the
Quaker women wore long aprons made of colored silk.
Back in England, politics dictated fashion during the reign of
Oliver Cromwell. Simple aprons were the rule until Charles II
reclaimed his throne.
At that time, the fashion pendulum moved again to the other
extreme and embroidery and lace again decorated aprons. The
Duchess of Queensbury once wore an apron that was rumored to
have cost 200 guineas. At today’s exchange rate of 0.643030 pounds
to the dollar, this would convert to $163.290.
Up until the American Colonial era, aprons were mostly waist or
half aprons. Then, full aprons began to find favor and pinafores or
“pinnies” began to be worn. I actually had to look up pinnies a few
months ago because one of my British pin-up model pals wanted an
apron. She kept calling it a pinny and I had no clue what she was
talking about or why she was calling it that. Here is what I found:
A pinafore (colloquially a pinny in British English) is a sleeveless
garment worn as an apron.
“Up until the American Colonial era,
aprons were mostly waist
or half aprons.”
Pinafores may be worn by girls as a decorative garment and
by both girls and women as a protective apron. A related term is
pinafore dress, which is British English for what in American English
is known as a jumper dress, i.e. a sleeveless dress intended to be
worn over a top or blouse. A key difference between a pinafore and
a jumper dress is that the pinafore is open in the back. In informal
British usage however, a pinafore dress is sometimes referred to as
simply a pinafore, which can lead to confusion.
The name reflects that the pinafore was formerly pinned (pin) to
the front (afore) of a dress. The pinafore had no buttons, was simply
“pinned on the front” which led to the term “pinafore.”
The pinafore was a type of apron that was pinned over the dress
and easily removed for washing. Buttons were frequently damaged
with lye cleaning products, which was one reason why dresses were
not laundered very often. As fabric became more available, more
cutting and fitting of the garment was done. Aprons began to mimic
dress styles.
For me, an apron designer, when someone says to me “Wow, I
couldn’t even tell that that’s an apron, it looks like a dress,” I find it
to be the highest of compliments. I think aprons have a bad rap. I
constantly hear “I don’t bake, so why would I wear an apron?”
There are a wide variety of aprons for a variety of people and
aprons can be customized to fit your style. There are styles ranging
from a baking apron to a tradeshow apron to a sexy style for boys to
buy their ladies and many more.
An Apron is now more of a decorative garment. Though there
are still many businesses of all types who utilize aprons in their
business, simply put, an apron can now be more of a decorative
garment and not just for baking anymore.
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