A History of 1950's Aprons

If you cook than you probably have an apron, but this piece of cloth has a surprising history. Many people would be hard press to believe that aprons are considered to be a symbol of popular culture? If not, read for yourself. Here is a brief history of aprons in America.

Throughout the centuries aprons have been worn for work and for decorative reasons. Take for example, Native American women and men who used aprons for practical and ceremonial practices.

In the 1940's and 1950's, housewives and women's aprons in the United States became forever linked. Thinking of 1950's television shows and commercials, what comes to mind? Oftentimes the image of a woman in high-heel shoes, pearls, who is nicely dressed and with an apron wrapped around her hips. Essentially, the apron became a part of the 1950's professional housewife's uniform.

What did 1950's aprons look like?

Although aprons could be bought in stories, unlike today, 1950's aprons were usually homemade. With the introdution of the sewing machine and the fact that cloth becoming more readily available, is what made homemade 1950's aprons so popular. As a result, homemade aprons , handsewn and decorated by the woman of the house, had themes that dealt with housework, sewing, cleaning, and cooking.

If readers have not figured it out by now, housewives took their aprons seriously back in the 1950's. The typical housewife had at least one seasonal party apron, and several aprons color coordinated to match her outfits. Besides that, post War World II saw that the archetypal housewife, when it came their aprons, were practical as well as creative. Homemade aprons were made out of extra kitchen curtains, dish towels, handkerchiefs, and even flour sacks.

Because holiday homemade aprons were big in the 1950's, they were often elaborately decorated. Holiday aprons were often made with netting and festooned (a decorative chain or strip hanging between two points) with ribbons, sequins, and felt( a cloth made of wool and fur often mixed with natural or synthetic fibers).