Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A pinafore apron, or simply pinafore, is a type of apron. Its name originates from pin afore, reflecting that the bib part of an apron was earlier often secured to the chest using pins. In a narrow sense, a pinafore is a full apron with two holes for the arms, tied or buttoned in the back, usually below the neck. The term is also often applied to a frilly bib apron with shoulder straps that criss-cross in the back and tie in a ribbon, while in British English pinafore dress corresponds to the American English term jumper dress.
Today several types of apron designs are popularly referred to as pinafore aprons.
In a narrow sense it is a full apron with two holes for the arms that is tied or buttoned in the back, usually below the neck. While this is a garment for women of all ages, it was commonly worn by girls in America and Western Europe during the late 19th and early 20th.
The term pinafore apron is also often applied to a frilly bib apron with shoulder straps that criss cross in the back and tie in a ribbon. Occasionally standard bib aprons are referred to as pinafore aprons, but this usage is confusing and should be avoided.
See also
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pinafore). 11/13/04 |
The pinafore began as protection. A dress was expensive, washing was labour, and a washable apron covering the front of the body took the splashes of cooking, cleaning and work instead. The full pinafore, with armholes and a back fastening, covered more than a waist apron: front, sides and shoulders stayed clean, and the garment could be changed in a moment between tasks. Cotton was the standard cloth, plain for work and checked in gingham for everyday wear, because it boiled clean and wore hard. The frillier bib version, with shoulder straps crossing at the back and tying in a bow, traded some coverage for a neater look and became the recognised uniform of domestic service and of girls at home and school.
It was as children's wear that the pinafore had its longest life. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in America and Western Europe, a girl's dress was routinely covered by a pinafore, white or light-coloured, changed daily or as it soiled, so the dress beneath was worn longer between washings. School and Sunday versions took embroidery, lace and fine tucks, making the protective layer decorative in its own right. As dresses became cheaper and washing easier, the pinafore's protective duty faded, and its shape passed into the dress itself: the sleeveless pinafore dress worn over a blouse keeps the bib front and open sides of the apron as a style rather than a shield.
The apron itself never disappeared. Cooks, cleaners, carers and craftworkers still wear bib and full aprons on the pinafore pattern, in cotton, linen and modern wipe-clean fabrics, sized by length and coverage rather than by dress size. A household pinafore is washed with the household cottons, checked at the ties and armholes where the stitching takes the strain, and chosen full-length for wet work and shorter for the table and kitchen. Judged as a design, the pinafore is one of the most durable ideas in clothing, a sacrificial outer layer, pinned on in its first form, that kept the real garment clean, and its name preserves the pins it no longer needs.
The name comes from pin afore. The bib part of the apron was earlier often secured to the chest using pins, pinned before, or afore, the dress, and the pinned-on bib gave the whole apron its name.
In the narrow sense it is a full apron with two holes for the arms, tied or buttoned in the back, usually below the neck, covering the front and sides of the dress beneath. Standard bib aprons are sometimes called pinafore aprons, but that usage is confusing and best avoided.
In British English, a pinafore dress is a sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or top, corresponding to the American English term jumper dress. It is a dress, not an apron, though it takes its name and its bib-front shape from the pinafore apron.