I think that aprons were mainly fashionable in the 40's, 50's and 60's, but started to waver in the 70's on up. You don't see a lot of people wearing aprons anymore. At least, not in my world of people.
I am in my late 60's and when I started sewing in my early teens it was by making aprons. I loved making aprons and I just took a look at my relative's aprons and made mine just by looking at theirs. It didn't take much doing as they were all very simple. My clothing making abilities weren't so good, but I was really good at sewing anything flat like tablecloths, napkins, aprons, and tea towels, so it is no wonder that I like to quilt. It is all flat sewing.
In the 70's I sewed this beautiful pinned-tuck apron in white and white lace with a yellow ribbon that was woven into the lace. It was really, really pretty and more laborious than I would usually put into an apron. I only wore it for special occasions and since I am more of a denim-type person, I didn't wear it very often. I guess you would call it a "hostess apron", since cooking in white isn't really much of an option and since I am not much of a hostess and I don't like to entertain very much, it got packed up into a box and put onto the top of a garage shelf and forgotten about. I live in an old walnut tree grove and I recently discovered the box and I was so disappointed to see that the tree rats had gotten into the box and made it its nesting ground. The rats were all gone, but they had destroyed the apron. I hate rats, they don't come around anymore once you get a cat in the house.
I'm glad to see that aprons are coming back to being popular again. I sew some men's aprons using men's dress shirts for our senior center and they sell like hotcakes.