How the Humble Cooking Apron Came of Age

Back in the 1960s, no self-respecting parent would dream of trying to do anything in the kitchen without first putting on a cooking apron. Clothes were too expensive to buy - and keep clean - to risk staining them with the residue of culinary exploits. But by the end of that decade things had changed. The cooking apron had begun to symbolise the downtrodden housewife. And then, being tied to your apron strings became something to escape.

Now we're in a new century. Everyone is watching cooking shows on TV before heading into their refitted kitchens to try out their new-found cooking skills. And TV chefs wear cooking aprons. So, now the humble cooking apron, denizon of the liberated woman, is back in style - big time. If we want to feel like a "master chef", all we have to do is put an apron on. What we cook when we wear our cooking aprons is another matter entirely, of course (it all looks so much easier on TV, doesn't it).

Today's cooking aprons are now available in a masive variety of colours and styles. And the most popular seem to bear some kind of joke printed on the front (just think which area of the body they cover). Novelty cooking aprons are all the rage. You can even give wings to your creativity and have a humorous quip of your own invention printed on the front of your cooking apron.

But the biggest difference between cooking aprons in the 1960s and now is the way we buy them. Online. It's never been easier to browse for, find or buy a kitchen apron. Everything can be done without moving away from the counter in our kitchen. In fact, it can be so easy, so comfortable and so cheap that we buy more than one. At the end of the day, it's always good to be ready if guests arrive unannounced. They must also agree to wear your newest cooking apron in the kitche, and get their hands, if not their clothes, dirty.