Tuesday 28 June 2011

Traditional German Clothing

Fashion trends now-a-days are on similar lines all over the world. Germany may not be recognized as an important fashion destination but fashion did have a significant role to play out here. German fashion is known by their classic style of dressing. Germany also boasts of some creative fashion designers as well. Of course, the scene today is quite different from the traditional German clothing. In the olden days, colors also had an important part to play as far as German clothing was concerned. Have you ever wondered what traditional German clothing was really like? Was fashion as liberated as we see it today? Get to know all the know-how about traditional German clothing right here.

Traditional German Clothing:

Dirndl:
A dirndl is a traditional dress, which was worn in the Southern area of Germany. Originally, the dirndl is a simplified version of the folk costume. The dirndl was actually the uniform of the Austrian servants. This was during the 19th century. In the ancient days, every village even had its own particular style of this dress.

The dirndl comprises of many garments that makes up the entire outfit. This has a bodice, which is worn with a blouse, a full skirt and even an apron. The ancient days saw many simplistic designs of the dirndl. Today, one can come across many expensive versions of the same. This traditional German outfit was styled into a heavier design for the winter days. In such cases, materials such as thick cotton or even wool were used for the skirts or even the aprons.

The dirndl is worn today only for traditional events. In the earlier days, the dirndl was often in softer colors as compared to the brightly colored outfits one may see today. The designs available today are also modified to suit the modern trends. A knot on the apron of the dirndl is considered to be a symbol to indicate that the woman is married.

Lederhosen:
The lederhosen mean leather trousers in German. These are knee breeches and were worn by the Germanic men of the Alpine areas and the surrounding locales as well. The lederhosen are made of leather. This traditional style of German clothing was also worn by young German boys till the age of 16. As compared to the traditional Bavarian garment, the lederhosen were less decorated in these cases. It always had features such as the suspenders and the front flaps. The lederhosen were worn in the mountains of South Germany and were preferred by riders or hunters.

Tracht:
Traditional German clothing cannot be complete without the mention of tracht. The style of the traditional tracht has even resulted in the creation of the Landhausmode. Landhausmode sees its influences from the costumes that were worn by the farmers and the peasants. For this outfit, there is major use of linen and loden material.

Gamsbart:
The Gamsbart is also a part of traditional German clothing. The Gamsbart is actually a tuft of hair that is used as a form of a decorative element. This is worn on the trachten hats. Here, the lower end of the hair is set into metal and the upper portion tufts out like a brush. As per the old traditions, these were placed only on hats. Even today, the Gamsbart is used as a part of clothing and is infused in female clothing as well.

It was probably only till the 16th century that people who belonged to the lower strata of society had to wear shades of brown or gray. In fact, clothes in shades of blue were worn only on holidays. When the industrial revolution took place in the middle of the 19th century, factory made outfits started to conquer the markets. Even then, the end of the 19th century saw a revival of these native dresses. This can be seen in the modern styles of dirndls that are found today in the market.

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