"Who doesn't need an apron?" asks Ellen Bennett. "A potter, a painter, a cook, you name it." After a stint in Mexico City where Bennett attended culinary school, she worked as a cook at Providence, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Hollywood. This is where it all began: the idea of creating an attractive, handmade, hardworking apron. Five aprons a week for fellow kitchen workers soon led to a team of seamstresses and Hedley and Bennett was born.
Now, a year later, Bennett makes customized aprons for celebrity chefs, restaurant clients, barbers, and artists, and sells her readymade aprons to stores in LA and via her own online shop. Her designs hover around the $100 mark, and Bennett goes to great lengths to make them worth it, using comfortable, durable materials and winning details like reinforced lined pockets, brass hardware, and adjustable neck straps, so that they work equally well for men and women, the tall and small.
Above: Ellen Bennett in her LA Fashion District office. Photo via Los Angeles Times. She makes her aprons from a range of fabrics, including Japanese denim (known to be among the best in the world) and American canvas.
Above: The Squid Ink apron is made from raw black denim; $65 from Hedley and Bennett.
Above: The blue Japanese denim Dakota has three pockets and an extra long waist strap; $90.
Above: The Sunday Limited Edition apron has two lap pockets, one chest pocket, and brass hardware. It's made of gray Italian candiani denim; $89.
Above: The Nonna apron is reversible: blue twill on one side, blue on the other; $126
Above: Made from Japanese selvage magenta denim, the Lennon apron has a double pen chest pocket and antique brass hardware; $98.
Above: The Chestnut is Japanese brown denim with gold straps, a triple chest pocket, and antique brass hardware; $98.
If you like to live in aprons as much as we do, also check out our post 10 Easy Pieces: Utility Aprons, and An Apron For All Hours, Indigo Edition.