I’m dating myself here: in the mid century young women or girls waitressed at wedding receptions and the bride would gift them with a frilly apron. Not good for every day use, but nonetheless they got an apron.
Churches often owned aprons which people used when they helped in the kitchen, I have pictures of a group (Mom included) working in a kitchen at an event and they’re all wearing aprons. I unearthed a box of aprons in our church so we fluffed them up in the dryer and eventually had a style show at the local Nursing Home. We strung up a clothesline and hung the extras up to be seen. We read a sweet poem about aprons.