The apron was traditionally viewed as an essential garment for anyone doing housework. Cheaper clothes and washing machines made aprons less common beginning in the mid 1960s in some countries such as the United States. However, the practice of wearing aprons remains strong in many places.
Today, the apron has enjoyed a minor renaissance in terms of both women and men now wearing them when performing household chores. For instance, an article in the Wall Street Journal claimed in 2005 that the apron is "enjoying a renaissance as a retro-chic fashion accessory" in the United States[1]. However, it still is not as prevalent as it was prior to the 1960s.
Aprons are nowadays considered equally appropriate for both women and men by most people. However, prevailing social norms ensure that women frequently wear more delicate clothing, and may therefore be more likely to want the protection an apron offers.
When domestic workers are supplied a uniform by their employers, an apron is often included. The aprons are worn for hygienic as well as for identification purposes.
Other meanings
The term "apron" also refers to an item of clerical clothing, now largely obsolete, worn by Anglican bishops and archdeacons. The clerical apron resembles a short cassock reaching just above the knee, and is coloured black for archdeacons and purple for bishops. The apron is worn with black gaiters, reaching to just below the knee, and black trousers tucked in the gaiters. The history behind the vesture is that it symbolically represents the mobility of bishops and archdeacons, who at one time would ride horses to visit various parts of a diocese or archdeaconry. In this sense, the apparel was much more practical than a clerical cassock would be. In latter years, this vesture was more symbolic than practical, and since the mid-twentieth century it has fallen out of favour.
The term is further used more generally to refer to an expanse surrounding some object; for example, an airport can have a concrete "apron" around it, where planes and other vehicles can move about. The flexible lower container of the air cushion of a hovercraft is also called an apron or skirt.
An apron is another term for linkspan, and is used as a ramp to connect shoreside facilities with a barge or ferry at a ferry slip.
An apron stage is any part of a stage that extends past the proscenium arch and into the audience or seating area.
An apron of a racetrack is the part going around the track below the yellow line.
