#Aprons on Parade: From the Rabbit Hole to the Kitchen - The New York Times

Ever since Alice fell down the rabbit hole in her white pinafore, aprons have been something of a fashion statement.

That bib was her most identifiable accessory, a signpost of the seductive tension between traditional girlhood and rebellion, as embodied by the character herself.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the Lewis Carroll classic “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” And as “The Alice Look,” a new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood in London, illustrates, the fashion world has been obsessed by her style ever since the book was published.

Alice showed that an apron, like a handbag or a pair of shoes, is a highly efficient conduit of individual identity. It can transform a look and change an expectation.

And not only on the catwalk, but also in the kitchen. No wonder we have appropriated the once-utilitarian chef’s apron as our own. It doesn’t just protect from sauce splatter, grease stains and beet juice; it also projects personality and aesthetic choice, no matter the skill level or the ambition.

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From Fendi's 2015 fall ready-to-wear collection, left, and the San Marzano color-block apron from Hedley Bennett.

This perhaps explains why, just as there are aprons in fashion (see the tough smithlike leather aprons and apron dresses in last February’s Fendi show and the cartoonish 1950s pinafore styles at Miu Miu), there are fashions in aprons.

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The diner-stripe apron from Kate Spade, left, and a leather lap apron from Stanley Sons.

There are workmen’s aprons, which are the culinary equivalent of streetwear: hardy leather and denim or selvage numbers with grommets and pockets that telegraph a tough-chef look, the better to carve up a goat and roast its carcass. The model might be the Stanley & Sons leather lap apron ($143), or the Search & Rescue split-leg apron (about $195). It’s expensive to look so hard-core.

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There are decorative sunny aprons, like the black-and-white check from MacKenzie-Childs ($78) or the diner-stripe from Kate Spade ($30), the signifiers of the playful nature of the kitchen. These are good aprons for the sweet set, and for those who are fond of giving tradition a tweak.

(Note: There is a difference between the “fun” apron and the “funny” apron — you know, the ones with naked bodies superimposed on the wearer’s body, or other sort of faux trompe l’oeil prints. The latter is a joke item, like the novelty tie, and is best avoided lest the joke be on you.)

And there are tailored, minimal versions that are the culinary equivalent of, say, a Céline bag, so understated that they demand a level of connoisseurship to be understood. Think of aprons like Hedley & Bennett’s color-blocked waist-tied styles (from $40, on sale) or the Marcy Butler Italian linen V-neck Carol ($118) as a piece of tied-on sartorial semiology that reflects a fondness for both Scandinavia and the chemistry lab.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” as Alice might say? Not at all. You’d feel like a pretender in a chef’s toque or checkered pants, but in an apron of your own choice, you can feel like yourself. It’s simply a matter of taste. In more than one sense of the word.

A version of this article appears in print on June 24, 2015, on page D7 of the New York edition with the headline: Up From the Rabbit Hole, Apron in Tow. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe