Be a hip hostess with sexy apron

By Valli Herman-Cohen
Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

They had style then.

But then it was the '60s, and as fast as you could say "Lucille Ball," aprons plummeted out of fashion — housewifely accouterments that came to symbolize a woman's secondary role. These frilly, backless wraps and flirty, skirtlike cocktail numbers were blazingly incorrect.

Now, they're coming back through a mist of nostalgia as collector's items, a small part of the growing affection for vintage clothing. Hip boutiques are selling snappy little reproductions, decorated with piping, ruffles and appliqued cherries. There's even an apron museum exhibit making the rounds.

Women who don an old-fashioned apron today consider it an ironic homage, a little wink at the idea of homemaking as entertainment, not duty.

Elizabeth Mason, owner of the West Hollywood vintage boutique the Paper Bag Princess, collects vintage cocktail aprons and always wears one when she entertains.

"It identifies you as the sexy hostess," she said. "I have one in satin that is very small. It looks as if you have a merry widow on. Imagine having that on as you greet your guests."

It sure beats the usual utilitarian, knee-length bib that makes a party hostess look more like a waiter than a discriminating woman of style.

Mason's boutique, where stars and costume designers shop for designer evening gowns and the like, quickly sells out of the little aprons as soon as she gets her hands on them. For those who entertain at home, they have become a must-have accessory for the vintage dress.

As Mason said: "What else are you going to do? Wear a denim shirt like Martha Stewart?"

On eBay, the Internet auction Web site, most vintage aprons can be had for less than $20. Some of Mason's most exceptional examples command prices of $125, even up to $200, and are sold before they hit the showroom floor.

In the world of collectibles, aprons remain a relative bargain. Last week on eBay, a set of 16 vintage aprons was selling for $33 after 15 bids. "They're highly collectible," said eBay spokesman Jim Griffith, "but they are one of these areas of collecting that's still affordable. If you're into collecting and looking for a field, it's probably a good time to be into it."

The vintage-look apron is now beginning to resurface. Anthropologie, a retailer of retro clothing and housewares, recently introduced reproductions of full- and half-length vintage aprons. With themes ranging from the barnyard to the hacienda, the $28 to $38 Anthropologie aprons were conceived as part of the trend for entertaining at home, said Polly Dickens, the chain's home furnishings design director.

For some fans, however, aprons are a telling part of women's history. Author and collector Joyce Cheney has lent some of her 300-plus apron collection to a traveling museum show called "Apron Strings: Ties to the Past."

As it toured the South and East, the exhibit of vintage and contemporary aprons helped stimulate new interest in aprons, their artwork and their meanings. A Lansing, Mich., museum encouraged members of the public to display aprons and the stories they recalled. Cheney's 2000 book, "Aprons: Icons of the American Home," helped document the influence of a once-common, now rarer, element of popular culture.

"Many people under 40 probably don't have any relatives who wore aprons," Cheney said. "To them, they've just become historical artifacts." Although many historians point to the women's movement of the 1970s as the end of the apron and its link to oppression, Cheney found other culprits.

"After the '50s, people started to get washers and dryers," she said. "So the practical reason to protect clothes vanished some." Cloth and ready-made clothing prices became cheaper, which reduced the need to cover precious clothing.