Editing Apron (section)

==In the United States==
Aprons have been used in North America throughout its recorded history by both the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] and later peoples. The kitchen apron fell somewhat out of favor in the 1960s after its rise to celebrity in the 1950s when it became the post-war symbol for family and domesticity. People started doing their work without an apron entirely or they choose to wear a bib apron (its [[unisex]], simple, boxy design represented the opposite of the 1950s housewife). The bib apron, also known as the "French chef's apron" or "barbecue apron", remains the dominant apron on the American market and is offered in a multitude of variations in colors, detailing and [[fabrics]].

===Early American aprons===
Native American wore aprons for both practical and ceremonial purposes.<ref name="Food 52">{{cite web|url=https://food52.com/blog/12554-modern-apron-design-a-visual-history|title=The History of Making a Mess and Staying Clean|date=26 March 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221000733/https://food52.com/blog/12554-modern-apron-design-a-visual-history|archive-date=21 December 2016}}</ref> Early female settlers wore plain, long white aprons. Later, [[Quaker]] women wore long and colorful silk aprons.<ref name="The Aprons.com">{{cite web|url=http://blog.aprons.com/apron/long-illustrious-history-apron/|title=The Long and Illustrious History of the Apron – The Aprons.com Blog|website=blog.aprons.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220172431/http://blog.aprons.com/apron/long-illustrious-history-apron/|archive-date=20 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="miller">{{Cite web|last=Miller|first=Marla|date=January 2006|title=Part I: Chapter 1, Clothing and Consumers in Rural New England, 1760–1810|url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=umpress_tne}}</ref>

As cities in [[New England]] grew, more elaborate options began to appear. Upscale American women in the 18th century wore embroidered aprons that sometimes dipped at the front of the waist (so as to not obscure the bodice of a gown).<ref name="Food 52" /> 
[[File:CottonApron.jpg|thumb|White Cotton Apron with Lace 1890–1915, Historic Clothing Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA. 2011.8.125.]]
[[File:Plaid Silk Apron 1840.jpg|thumb|Plaid Silk Apron 1840, Historic Clothing Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA. 1979.7.45.]]

=== 1800s ===
In England and the United States in the 1800s, both [[maid]]s and wealthy women wore aprons. Servant aprons were traditionally white and were supposed to be "clean, neat and appropriate."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Victorians Unbuttoned: Registered Designs for Clothing, their Makers and Wearers, 1839–1900|last=Levitt|first=Sarah|publisher=George Allen & Unwin|year=1986|location=London|pages=178}}</ref> The maid's clothing was meant to follow the fashion trends of the time while also representing her employer's class status and wealth.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Occupational Costume in England: From the Eleventh Century to 1914|last1=Cunnington|first1=Phillis|author-link=Phillis Emily Cunnington|last2=Lucas|first2=Catherine|publisher=Barnes and Noble Inc.|year=1967|location=New York|pages=205}}</ref> Some aprons had lace, embroidery or pleating work on them to add a bit of sophistication if they were servants who regularly appeared in front of house guests.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Victorians Unbuttoned: Registered Designs for Clothing, their Makers and Wearers, 1839–1900|last=Levitt|first=Sarah|publisher=George Allen & Unwin|year=1986|location=London|pages=177}}</ref>

Wealthy [[Housewife|housewives]] of the time were also expected to show off their family's status in society and their commitment to the domestic life. They did this by also wearing aprons, though the aprons were far more elegant and expensive than the maid's white cotton apron. Popular [[History of clothing and textiles|materials]] included black lace, satin with chenille borders, shot silk, and satin.<ref>{{Cite book|title=English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century|last=Cunnington|first=C. Willett|author-link=Cecil Willett Cunnington|publisher=Faber and Faber Ltd.|date=n.d.|location=London|pages=113, 115, 142, 148}}</ref> An apron of this caliber was necessary with a morning dress during the early nineteenth century for a woman of status.<ref>{{Cite book|title=English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century|last=Cunnington|first=C. Willett|publisher=Faber and Faber Ltd.|date=n.d.|location=London|pages=116}}</ref> During this time, "never was there a greater rage than for aprons (of satin and shot silk) for morning or afternoon."<ref>{{Cite book|title=English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century|last=Cunnington|first=C. Willett|publisher=Faber and Faber Ltd.|date=n.d.|location=London|pages=148}}</ref> The elegant and colorful apron was also a symbol that a woman had the funds to be swindled by travelling merchants into purchasing "a gaudy ribbon or shining pair scissors."<ref>{{Cite book|title=A New Nation of Goods: The Material Culture of Early America|last=Jaffee|first=David|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2010|location=Philadelphia|pages=164}}</ref>

Another symbol which the extravagant apron represented was of the "fig leaf," as worn by Eve in the [[Garden of Eden]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century|last=Cunnington|first=C. Willett|publisher=Faber and Faber Ltd.|date=n.d.|location=London|pages=256}}</ref> Women termed their ornamental aprons "fig leaves," thus drawing attention to their "sexual region."<ref name=":0" /> Small decorated aprons were one example of "suggestive [[History of fashion design|fashion]]." According to at least one private journal entry, men of the time were reputed to loudly exclaim, "Oh my!" upon spotting a woman in a "fig leaf" apron, sometimes blushing profusely and fainting on the spot.<ref name=":0" />

Aprons for both maids and housewives were not just worn in the home, but out on the town as well. The painting "Scene in Frankfurt Fair, April 1835. Part of the Line of Stalls Extending Along the River Mayn" by [[Mary Ellen Best]] shows a mother in a highly decorated and colorful apron and her daughter in a green [[pinafore]] apron.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women's Worlds: The Art and Life of Mary Ellen Best 1809–1891|last=Davidson|first=Caroline|publisher=Crown Publishers|year=1985|location=New York|pages=40}}</ref> They are out shopping in a market and through the appearance of their stylish aprons, they are exhibiting their [[Upper middle class|upper-middle class]] status as well as their ties to female domesticity.

===1920s===
From 1900 through the 1920s, well-heeled women wore ornate, heavily embroidered aprons.<ref name="Love to know" /> Aprons of the 1920s mirror the style of the times: loose and long. Often closed with a button and adorned with needlework, many aprons styles emerged during this era and stores began selling patterns and kits to make and adorn aprons at home.<ref name="The Aprons.com" />
Aprons of this period followed the silhouette of dapper fashions—long, with no waist line.

===1930s – 1940s===
<!-- Image removed because it was of a British Duke. New image needed. -->
The “Hooverette” or “Hoover apron” was named after the man in charge of the U.S. Food Administration at the time, [[Herbert Hoover]]. Women working outside the home wore whatever protective garments their jobs required, including coveralls, smocks, or aprons. At home, they worked in full-length aprons with hefty pockets and a cinched waistline that were often decorated with buttons, pockets and contrasting colors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-types-styles/aprons |title=Aprons |access-date=17 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911122104/http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-types-styles/aprons |archive-date=11 September 2016 }}</ref>

Aprons became plain during the [[Great Depression]]. Since fabric was scarce, women would make aprons out of [[flour sack|flour]] and animal-feed sacks to protect their clothing. Pinafore aprons, or "pinnies" as they were affectionately called, began to gain popularity. Dorothy famously wore a blue and white gingham pinafore in ''The Wizard of Oz''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.aprons.com/apron/long-illustrious-history-apron/ |title=The Long and Illustrious History of the Apron &#124; the Aprons.com Blog |access-date=17 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220172431/http://blog.aprons.com/apron/long-illustrious-history-apron/ |archive-date=20 December 2016 }} {{cite web |url=https://food52.com/blog/12554-modern-apron-design-a-visual-history |title=The History of Making a Mess and Staying Clean |date=26 March 2015 |access-date=17 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221000733/https://food52.com/blog/12554-modern-apron-design-a-visual-history |archive-date=21 December 2016 }}</ref>

===1950s===
[[File:Apron advertisement 1950s 4387534337 590132a9e7 o.jpg|thumb|1950s apron advertisement]]
Post-war family values made the apron the symbol of home, family, mother and wife. As sewing machines and cloth became available, aprons—both commercial and homemade—became the uniform of the professional [[housewife]].<ref name="Love to know" /> Magazines from the 1940s and 50s feature apron-adorned women in nearly every advertisement that is related to housework or cooking, including those for irons, kitchen appliances, and food products. The 1950s brought out the half-aprons of highly starched cotton, feedsack,{{dubious|date=January 2019}} and for special occasions sheer fabric trimmed with lace. Two-piece aprons and short smocks of bright cotton prints for everyday use were also popular.

The postwar archetypal housewife was practical and creative. She made aprons out of remnants, extra kitchen curtains, dish towels, handkerchiefs, and flour sacks. When she made her aprons, she considered design as well as function.<ref name="Love to know" /> Many 1950s aprons were decorated with sewing, cleaning, cooking, and "mom" themes.

Husbands in the 1950s often sported bib aprons for barbecues on the weekends,<ref name="Food 52" /> often with written statements about Dad's grilling talents.

===1960s – 1970s===
Aprons fell out of favor as women began looking again beyond the home and family for fulfillment as the [[Feminist Movement in the United States (1963-1982)|feminist movement of the latter half of the 20th century]] began. In response, people chose to wear no apron when they did their work, or they wore bib aprons that were less stereotypically feminine, sometimes with ironic or sarcastic statements written on them.

Aprons remained a staple of the workplace as a means of protecting garments. Aprons were also worn as a work uniform and by people who worked in the food trades—butchers, waitresses and chefs as well as hairdressers and barbers.

===1980s – today===
Many home cooks chose not to wear an apron in the 1980s. Those that did often wore bib aprons or vintage/retro DIY aprons. However, more recently the apron has again enjoyed increasing popularity. Employees in the service industry continue to wear aprons for work, often a bib apron with company logos.<ref name="The Aprons.com" /> Today there is no negative social stigma associated with doing one's own chores (e.g. cooking, cleaning) or pursuing messy hobbies or careers (e.g. styling, gardening, painting) {{OR|date=August 2022}}.