Nursing is a profession that has existed for hundreds of years, where millions of nurses have managed to help the injured fully recover.
Nursing is seen by many as a form of art, requiring a very specific type of person.
Florence Nightingale put it best when she said, “Nursing is an art; and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work; for what is having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God’s spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts; I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.”
In fact, nursing was of the very few fields that women were allowed to pursue back before women’s rights were fully realized.point 110 | If they weren’t a housewife, then they were likely a nurse, painstakingly working to keep the gravely injured alive and well.point 263 |
Nurse’s outfits, along with the profession have evolved over the years, continually improving.point 88 | Still, a nurse’s outfit still remains very iconic, always distinguishable from any clothing from that period.point 188 | 1
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Scroll down below to see the evolution of an outfit that has helped save countless lives.
1800s
During the 19th century, nursing was still fighting to be truly accepted as a legitimate profession.point 272 |
Instead many treated it as a “street profession” and nurses were relegated to mere servant uniforms.point 97 | The uniforms featured a full black gown, or a printed gown along with a cap and an apron.point 169 | This uniform would stick until the 1900s came closer and closer.point 223 | 1
Thanks to the work of the incredible Florence Nightingale the world was quickly being convinced that nurses, especially well educated and trained ones, were vital to keeping people, and especially soldiers during war, alive and well.
As Nightingale’s work began to produce results, trained nurses began updating the uniform. The gowns were now lighter-colored, featuring white aprons and caps to indicate to everyone around them that they were nurses.
1900s
As nursing was becoming more and more respectable thanks to Nightingale’s efforts, schools began to teach nursing and uniforms continued to evolve and become more standardized.
During the first decade of the 20th century, nurses began to wear hats with colored bands, along with capes that would help distinguish themselves and display their nursing rank. The dresses remained long and tight around the waists.
1910s
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Then in the early 1900s, there were even more changes to the nurse outfit.point 231 |
The outfit was now seeing changes every decade as opposed to the much longer period before.point 76 | Here the styles featured a button-down top with pointy collars.point 130 | A bib covered the torso of the nurse all the way down to the waist where the bib’s folds were gathered and let down as a giant, floor-length apron.point 255 | 1
However more changes were on the way as World War I crept closer, which would bring massive changes to the uniform, allowing nurses to be fast and able to provide quick care with minimal stops. Pockets were added and sleeves were able to be rolled up, allowing for easier movement when needed.
1920s
As World War I had finally ended, the nurse outfit was brought back to the bulky dresses instead of the tight fitting clothing that allowed them to be quick on their feet. Head coverings and full aprons also made their return to the uniform.
One simple white frock that fell only to the ankles would replace the old, heavy uniform of the past. You may recognize this as what you would expect when you imagine a classic nurse’s outfit.
1930s
During the 30s and 40s the uniform got a few minor updates, now featuring a white collared dress and cap, which remained the standard for the next two decades.
1940s
Towards the mid-1940s some changes would finally update the uniform once more. The aprons became much simpler and less elaborate. Many could be boiled down to just a pinned bib with a long portion to protect the front of the dress.
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These were changes were done because cleaning an apron that was contaminated was much easier than having to replace the entire uniform. Contaminated uniforms could spread disease and illness among patients which was dangerous.
1950s
By the start of the 1950s, it would be the hats of the uniform that would be changed. Instead of the large and elaborate hats, they would instead be replaced with simple folded hats, that were sometimes made out of simple paper.
The dress would also receive some much needed upgrades. No longer would long dresses and long sleeves be the standard. Keeping up with the times, the dresses became around knee height and the sleeves were much shorter.
1960s
During the 1960s, society as a whole began to upgrade to automated washing machines and dryers, meaning that clothing was no longer washed by hand. The outfits had to be updated once more to allow them to be easily cleaned by these machines.
The dresses were much looser, allowing them to be washed, ironed and worn much easier. No longer did nurses have to deal with unnecessarily tight fitting clothing during their long workdays.
1970s
After the cap was turned into a simple folded piece of paper, it was inevitable that it would soon be removed and in the 1970s the iconic nursing cap had finally been dropped by most nurses.
The uniforms continued to evolve ever so slightly, becoming closer and closer to regular clothing that focused on comfort. Some nurses would even forgo the dress complete instead wearing a white pant suit instead!
1980s
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It was only in the 1980s, over 100 years since the nursing profession began to be recognized as a serious profession that a significant amount of men would enter it.point 186 | Thankfully this influx of men meant that the nursing uniform would become much more comfortable.point 268 |
No longer were nurses forced to wear dresses and could instead choose to wear pants and a comfortable pair of shoes.point 96 | The shirts could also now be open-neck for those exceptionally warm days.point 158 | 1
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1990s
During the 1990s, it became more apparent to the nurses in the operating room that the outfit needed a much larger change. Their uniforms were hard to clean and sterilize so they decided to upgrade their dresses and pants to scrubs, which made their lives a lot easier.
Scrubs were a great upgrade as they were much cheaper, more practical and more comfortable than any outfit before them. Soon other nurses were following the lead of operating room nurses!
Today
The traditional outfit has been completely dropped with nurses across the country in most hospitals and other medical related facilities choosing to wear scrubs.
Scrubs are incredibly versatile and can even come in different colors, shapes, fabrics and even prints allowing nurses to choose whichever they want on a given day.
To most of us, there’s absolutely no way for us to tell the difference between a doctor, nurse or surgeon without straight up asking them.
What did you think of the history of nurse uniforms? Could you imagine yourself ever wearing any of those earlier ones? Why not tell us down below!