By Lois Walker Valeo, Board Member, Museum of Old Newbury
All the women in my 1950s Pittsburgh life had a collection of colorful homemade aprons. Decorated with whimsical kitchen motifs of pots or toasters or spatulas, they usually had a rickrack trimmed pocket. This seemingly essential accessory symbolized motherhood and warm apple pie.
Fancy or plain, the apron was the uniform for the American housewife. A sure sign that dinner was on the way was when my mother tied on her apron. This had to be the Golden Age of aprons!
Aprons have been worn for both practical and decorative purposes since ancient times. Not only did they protect clothing, they also might indicate the status of the wearer. Egyptian pharaohs wore jewel-encrusted aprons. Artisans, workmen and homemakers all wore aprons in the Middle Ages.
Style and status were expressed by 16th century apron wearers. Made of embroidered silk, these aprons had evolved to be much more than just practical protection. Sometimes, they were even used to disguise pregnancy.
Late 19th century women wore aprons over their long skirts on the tennis court. Oversized pockets stored their balls for easy access.
By 1970, aprons were banished to grandmothers. Today they just might be making a comeback because of renewed interest in cooking and lavish kitchen design.
The Museum of Old Newbury has a lovely collection of many 18th and 19th century American aprons.
Sorting through drawers of delicate aprons, their beauty at times is astonishing…each one prettier than the next.
These couldn’t be the aprons of women baking bread, tilling soil and milking cows.
These didn’t belong to women who used their sturdy aprons for a potholder, towel or to wipe a crying child’s tears.
Nay, these long, natural linen aprons with intricate embroidery and trims had become a canvas for privileged women to display their needle skills. They had turned the apron into art. Their designs were dictated by fashion rather than practicality, and for well-to-do women they had become an attractive and stylish accessory.
Perhaps aprons remind you of your mother or your first home-economics sewing project. Today you won’t find one in every kitchen, but this symbol of home and family endures as a lasting tribute to women and their lives.
Aprons have been around for ages and will probably remain functional and sentimental favorites for a long time to come.
Images by Lois Walker Valeo. Tan natural linen short apron with turquoise rick rack trim (circa 1920) and long white linen apron with lace at hem (circa 1900), both from the collections at the Museum of Old Newbury.
(Watch for a 2021 Girls’ Night Out Lecture on The Romance of Fine Linen. Pieces from the museum's extensive collection will be featured…including aprons!)
