Irving Archives & Museum

A new exhibit in Irving explores the changing roles of women and attitudes about domestic work through a long-neglected piece of clothing — the apron.

Called Apron Strings: Ties to the Past, the exhibit at the Irving Archives and Museum features aprons from the early 1900s to modern days, tracing the evolution of women and housework and reviewing the apron’s role as an emotionally charged vehicle for expression.

“The exhibit uses aprons as a springboard to look at how women’s roles have changed in the past century,” Museum Director Jennifer Landry said. “For many women, aprons were part of their identity.”

Aprons on display highlight the changing designs and times, including the elaborate embroidery and delicate cotton popular in the 1920s to the sturdy bib aprons worn during the Depression and war years of the 1930s and 1940s. The post-war 1950s are considered the heyday of the apron, when commercial and intricately hand-decorated aprons flourished as symbols of family and motherhood, according to a description of the exhibit.

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