Prostitutes & aprons?

[mousetrap]

I seem to remember reading (about 30 years ago!) that East End prostitutes often wore aprons (like the woman standing in the famous Dorset Street photo or the women sitting on the curb in the Flower & Dean photo). Is this correct? If not, does anyone else remembering reading this in books about the case?

[Robert]

Hi Mousetrap

I think it wasn't just prostitutes, but women in general (if they were poor women). Quite why the aprons had to be white, I've no idea.

[mousetrap]

Hi Mousetrap

I think it wasn't just prostitutes, but women in general (if they were poor women). Quite why the aprons had to be white, I've no idea.

Well, maybe when women in that area carried most of their personal possessions on them, an apron at least helped to keep their hands clean.

[Hunter]

Working class women wore aprons because they were easier to wash- once soiled- than their clothes were. Being white meant that there was no worry about dyes fading as a result.

[greeneyes]

White cloth was also cheaper than dyed cloth so made sense to make basic functional garments out of it.

[bolo]

Hi all,

white linen aprons can be washed and bleached at high temperatures without risking damage of the fabric and give the wearer a clean and tidy look while protecting more valuable garments from getting ruined. Guess that is why they were popular before, during and quite some time after the LVP.

Regards,

Boris

[Wickerman]

We must also remember Victorians were a very 'class-centered' society. The common woman's lot in life was to be 'cook/cleaner' from dawn 'til dusk. The working-class woman wore an apron as their 'uniform' because whatever their task in the day they would risk getting their clothes soiled otherwise.

Regards, Jon S.

[Errata]

And if nothing else, any woman who ever worked in any service position would have had to have an apron. And even if she no longer held that position, you just don't waste that much cloth.

[curious4]

Hello,

A clean white apron was also thought to be a badge of respectability. Dickens refers to this at least a couple of times. Mary Jane Kelly was said "to be seen....wearing a clean white apron and no hat". I suppose she did have a friend who was a washerwoman which would have made it easier always to have a clean one handy.

Best wishes
C4

[Robert]

You see, my first thought was that once a dress had given up the ghost, a piece could be torn off and used as an apron. If it was a coloured dress it wouldn't show the dirt much, so less need for washing. Having to have the apron white seems absurd. You have an apron to protect your dress. But the apron has to be white so the next thing is to have an apron to protect the apron? I feel dizzy.

[Wickerman]

Having to have the apron white seems absurd. You have an apron to protect your dress. But the apron has to be white so the next thing is to have an apron to protect the apron? I feel dizzy.

Not really Robert, its just the irony of social expectations.
When our aprons got messy in the day-to-day tasks in butchering the boss would tell us to get a clean one, look respectable.
Some lads changed their apron every day.
We use to have a clean one on the side ready to throw on top of our bloody one any time we had to step into the shop to help out. Its no different than a man wearing $hitty, oily, overalls. Its always preferable to look presentable no matter your status in life.

Regards, Jon S.

[Robert]

Yes Jon, a great burden on the poor. Some families pawned and unpawned their Sunday best oodles of times.

[curious4]

Yes Jon, a great burden on the poor. Some families pawned and unpawned their Sunday best oodles of times.

Yes, like the shirt Catherine Eddowes was given the ticket for.

C4

[Errata]

Yes Jon, a great burden on the poor. Some families pawned and unpawned their Sunday best oodles of times.

I think that you will find that many aspects of Victorian fashion aren't rooted in the practical. Wasp waist corsets for example.

But to be fair, the aprons were not terrible hard to keep clean. Laundry soap (which a good majority of women also had to use to clean themselves) of the day has an intense amount of lye in it. Not to mention that aprons were often made of thickly woven fabrics, almost rivaling canvas. And poor women just didn't have access to most of the things that accidentally stain. They didn't drink wine, eat a lot of mustard, there wasn't a lot of grass hanging around. Unless they bled on their apron, they didn't really have to worry about bleaching the apron out. And I think that these aprons weren't "white" by modern day reckoning. Certainly parlor maids and the like had white aprons. But I think most women had white ish aprons, because the fibers were natural. Unbleached cotton is still white, and even natural linen can be a light gray color. Unprocessed fabrics would be cheaper.

I wore the same apron as a Renaissance festival costume for four years. Three faires, four months out of the year on weekends. Obviously not with the frequency of a Victorian woman, but I was also doing things in it that Victorian women would never do. Like swordfight, eat ketchup, roll around on the ground, push cars out of the mud, go to Waffle House in it. I still have it, and it is nigh pristine. And I only washed it after each faire closed. Cotton twill is is the Clint Eastwood of fabrics. I guess that's why they make jeans out of it.

[Robert]

OK Errata, well I'm glad to hear that it wasn't quite as bad for them as I'd thought.