Back before WWII, most professions had their uniform. You could look around and spot a delivery man (and often knew what he was delivering) by what he wore. Most stores even had uniforms for their employees to wear, some of them signalling their departments. A waitress in one diner wore more or less what the waitress in every other diner wore. Some offices had dress codes and you could usually spot who did what by what they wore.
That slowly fell away after WWII, changing much more quickly in the 60s and 70s, and now it's relativity rare to see a uniform linked to a profession. And the "they stopped wearing gowns" dates in this thread more or less conform to when uniforms stopped being used. It seems to have been a bit later, but academics are generally slow to change.
Goodgulf | 
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