Half aprons

Historically aprons were associated with cooking, cleaning and serving and in wealthy households, the domain of the servant.

After the First World War when the use of servants declined, every housewife without help donned an apron of some description. Many were full aprons or even overalls. Cotton replaced linen, and eager not to be wearing plain white servants' aprons, patterns appeared.

But by the 1950s and early 60s many aprons had become more decorative than functional, with the rise of the cocktail apron readily used to serve drinks rather than cooking or scrubbing.

Until the 1960s, colours and patterns were muted. But even if 1960s aprons weren't psychedelic, they were certainly bright. By the 1970s, butchers' apron became more popular and inevitably unisex.