Fig. 1. Ottoman Turkish apron, late nineteenth century (TRC 2003.0199).My blog of 9 August about an Ottoman-period apron now in the TRC Collection (Fig. 1; TRC 2003.0199), certainly ‘opened up a can of worms’, as the saying goes.

We received loads of questions: How was the bib held in place? The ties are too short! Strange shape! It is too flimsy to be useful! Even, what is an apron?

Let’s take the last question first. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary an apron is: ….. (1) An article of dress, orig. of linen, worn in front of the body, to protect the clothes from dirt or injury, or simply as a covering; (2) A similar garment worn officially by bishops, deans, Freemasons, etc., 1704; (3) Anything like an apron in shape or function esp. the leather coverings for the legs in a gig etc., 1875.

Fig. 2. A triangularly shaped apron made from glass beads in various colours, which are used to create simple, geometric patterns. New Guinea, Indonesia, 1930s (TRC 2016.0998).The modern English word apron derives from the medieval English napron, which comes from the old French word naperon, and eventually from the Latin nappa, meaning a napkin.

Aprons can be made out of any material, from thick leather (such as those worn by blacksmiths) and beading (Fig. 2; TRC 2016.0998), to fine and semi-transparent cloth, in fact they can be made of anything. They can also be decorated with embroidery or printing, or be ornamentally woven.

The choice of the ground material (thick, medium, strong wearing, fine, etc.) and decoration (if any) is often based on whether the desired form is a practical, decorative, regional or symbolic apron. And yes, although aprons are associated with girls and women, it should not be presumed that boys and men do not wear them either; the TRC has an intriguing apron for a boy from the Dutch island of Marken (Fig. 3;TRC 2009.0048).

Fig. 3. Blue/white apron from the island of Marken, the Netherlands, with an Arabic script-like design, an embroidered monogram DK in yellow, and with a white band that is embroidered in pink (TRC 2009.0048).

Fig. 4. White apron decorated with small white dots and bands of machine embroidered flower heads and zig-zags. Germany, 20th century (TRC 2016.0874).Practical aprons

Basically a practical apron is fastened in some manner around the waist and the neck (or shoulders) and is used to protect a person’s clothing and body from dirt, stains and damage. They can come in a wide variety of styles that are normally easily to put on and fastened in place using ties, buttons, hooks and eyes, velcro, etc.

Some aprons are nothing more than a skirt (Fig. 4; TRC 2016.0874, or TRC 2021.0408e) or a split skirt. They may also take the form of a bib (TRC 2009.0040) or pinafore (TRC 2018.2254). Other aprons have the shape of a tabard (TRC 2024.0948) or a complete front body cover (Fig. 5; TRC 2023.0388). Function plays an important role. An apron for a butcher, for example, is different from that for a grocer (TRC 2019.2892), or someone working with oil or chemicals.

FIg. 5. Eighteenth century French print of a woman wearing a long, body covering apron (TRC 2023.0388).

Practical aprons can also be decorative, if a printed material (TRC 2017.3273) is used, or, for example, when there are large frills on the shoulders (TRC 2017.3351), or perhaps when the apron is ornamented with embroidery on a thick cotton ground (TRC 2018.0320).

Decorative aprons

Purely decorative aprons are a very different matter and again they come in a variety of forms, such as those worn with regional dress (compare daily and Sunday versions here in the West), wedding aprons, and so forth. They are meant to be attractive rather than functional, as well as showing the wearer’s social position. In that sens they tend to be symbolic.

The Ottoman apron that started this blog comes under this category. Its bib section would have been fastened with small pins, while the ties went around the waist. It is a typical ladies' apron and is made of thin muslin or silk that was worn as a symbolic image of femininity. Another nice example is a decorative waitress's apron from Switzerland (Fig. 6; TRC 2020.4899), which again is symbolic for the function of the wearer.

Fig. 6. A decorative, and symbolic waitress's apron from Switzerland, with a line of small stylised flowers above a row of large flowers (TRC 2020.4899).Regional dress aprons

In European regional dress there are various forms of aprons. Some are rectangular and worn in the front and back of the wearer, others are skirt forms that are pleated at the waistband (such as the long, gathered versions from Volendam with the smocking at the top). Some of these aprons are practical, others more decorative and some are a mixture of the two. Examples from the TRC collection, and some illustrations showing forms of aprons, are an Hungarian embroidered apron (Fig. 7; TRC 2022.0451); a Sunday apron from Germany (Fig. 8; TRC 2016.0919); a Romanian apron (Fig. 9; TRC 2022.0485); a postcard from Hungary (Fig. 10; TRC 2017.2288); a photograph from Serbia (Fig. 11; TRC 2017.2269). 

Fig. 7 twentieth-century, Hungarian apron embroidered with floral motifs in drawn thread work. (TRC 2022.0451).

Fig. 8. A twentieth-century, long, black satin Sunday apron from Germany (TRC 2016.0919). 

Fig. 9. A woman's apron from Romania, from hand spun and woven cloth, and hand embroidered (cross stitch), and macrame, 20th century (TRC 2022.0485).

Fig. 10. A coloured postcard from Hungary, with two women wearing regional dress, including embroidered shawls and aprons (TRC 2017.2288).

Fig. 11. A mid-twentieth century postcard from southern Serbia , with a group of six women wearing regional dress including woven aprons (TRC 2017.2269).

Symbolic aprons

We already mentioned the symbolic character of the Ottoman apron (TRC 2003.0199), and of the short apron of the Swiss waitress (TRC 2020.4899). Very symbolic are the carpenters' aprons worn by members of the Masonic community. The TRC houses an interesting, nineteenth-century example from Europe (Fig. 12; TRC 2024.2250b), which is hand embroidered and further decorated with applied spangles and metal thread.

Fig. 12. Nineteenth-century embroidered apron for a member of a masonic lodge (with unlikely, uneven number of pillars). Europe, 19th century (TRC 2024.2250b).

Years ago I started work on an exhibition about aprons, a useful but underestimated garment that has been used for hundreds of years, but got sidetracked, perhaps it is time to start thinking about this subject again!

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 6 September 2024.