Cooking aprons have been around for years and have always been used in protecting ones' clothes from dirt, spots and the smell of dishes while preparing meal in the kitchen. For many years, the apron remained a purely functional piece of equipment a chef would use whilst preparing a meal with few changes being made to it's look and feel. However, over the past few years this has started to change.
As is common in the fashion industry, styles, colours and fabrics do change and what is hot today becomes the old fashioned choice tomorrow. This is becoming increasingly so with the design and pattern of cooking aprons as they come to adapt to the needs of the more modern household and as such, the type of apron someone wears indicates what type of person they are as they move away from the purely functional.
Old fashioned aprons were usually long and cover the whole body, from top to toe, and were designed to protect all parts of the clothes as the preparation of food was a far more messy process, especially when plucking, de-boning and baking. In many respects looked more like a garment and not just a piece of cloth used to protect the dress from dirt. Where they were made to look more feminine, they made use of fancy bows and ruffles creating a very flamboyant design for the cooking apron.
The latest cooking aprons give more importance to the needs and purpose of wearing the garment for today's chef. There are three key areas where the apron has changed. The style and length of the apron, the designs available and the material of the apron.
For general household use, the length of aprons has been reduced as the preparation of meals is no longer such an intense and messy process so the need to protect the whole of your clothing has been reduced. It also enables the wearer to move around the different areas of the kitchen more easily. The result is that the apron can now have a more fitted look.
Whilst heavy drill cotton is very much in evidence as it protect the clothes from both smells and dirt, increasingly the material of an apron is a polyester/cotton mix as they are both lighter and easier to wash and dry. Furthermore, we are seeing the advent of PVC aprons as, not only perform the same function of heavy drill cotton and cotton aprons they can easily be wiped clean after use.
With the increased emphasis on design over the past years, there are now multitude of different patterns available for the wearer. Aprons have not only been designed specifically with females and males in mind, but also to suit both as more and more men enjoy cooking. If we are to make generalizations, the males tend to go for the more traditional ranges, such as the butchers stripe or traditional plains whereas those designed with the female in mind are much brighter and have great selection of patterns. Added to this, you now have specialist aprons for barbeques and some fun and funky aprons for those light hearted moments. Most certainly the design has moved away from the frills, ruffles, bows and any kind of flowery patterns of yesteryear, which most probably means they will be returning soon.
What can be said with certainty, when an apron is purchased, the buyer will be much more likely to looking from a design angle rather than a functional one. Put simply, what type of apron a person is wearing indicates how they would like to be viewed by the world - they have become a fashion statement as well as a functional item.
Cooking aprons will always remain in demand and they will be bought because of their function. However, the choice of apron will increasingly be decided upon the style and pattern.