Why aprons?
Aprons represent something absent in today's culture – recondition that femininity is sacred, mystical, honourable and worthy of protection. My aprons are a badge of honour for the homemaker, caretaker and mother.
Usually, we understand aprons as something made to protect finer clothes underneath. But that’s not the original purpose of this garment. You see it in European cultural heritage, in pre-industrialized attire. Here the apron was the most embroidered, the most intricate piece of a married woman’s costume, often adorned heaviest around the womb.
The purpose of embroidery or other decoration in folk culture was spiritual protection. That’s why it would normally find place on the borders of garments – on the edges of the sleeves, the neck, the hem. The notion of decorative border as protection is still very much present in our culture – most of the plates we eat off have a decorative border, the original purpose of which was to protect us from any evil entering our bodies with food.
The purpose of the traditional apron, adored with mindful decoration, was recondition of just how sacred what’s underneath is – a body, programmed (of though not always able or willing) to reproduce life. A body, that historically will often not survive it.
Sewing my aprons, I have the same concept in mind – first and foremost my aprons are a badge of honour, and only secondly something to dry your hands off.
Usually, we understand aprons as something made to protect finer clothes underneath. But that’s not the original purpose of this garment. You see it in European cultural heritage, in pre-industrialized attire. Here the apron was the most embroidered, the most intricate piece of a married woman’s costume, often adorned heaviest around the womb.
The purpose of embroidery or other decoration in folk culture was spiritual protection. That’s why it would normally find place on the borders of garments – on the edges of the sleeves, the neck, the hem. The notion of decorative border as protection is still very much present in our culture – most of the plates we eat off have a decorative border, the original purpose of which was to protect us from any evil entering our bodies with food.
The purpose of the traditional apron, adored with mindful decoration, was recondition of just how sacred what’s underneath is – a body, programmed (of though not always able or willing) to reproduce life. A body, that historically will often not survive it.
Sewing my aprons, I have the same concept in mind – first and foremost my aprons are a badge of honour, and only secondly something to dry your hands off.
I use decorative borders and embroideries as a reminder of our great grandmothers forgotten language of embroidery. It told the story of the severity and (luckily former) deadliness of the female life. And of course, the placement of the pocket on many of the models is not random. It is protecting the womb both subconsciously and mechanically.