September 2004
Back on Tracht
There's only one thing to be seen in at the Wies'n
Forget Milan, Paris and New York. The look of the moment is happening right here, right now. Yes, traditional Bavarian dress, for years the stuff jokes were made of, is making a comeback. Now anyone who’s anyone is kitting themselves out with a sleek pair of lederhosen or a cleavage-boosting dirndl. “There’s no doubt about it—
Tracht is hip,” says Heinrich Weber, head of the men’s
Tracht department at traditional Munich outfitters
Loden-Frey. “We’re seeing an ever-increasing number of young customers and they can’t get enough of it—they’re not just wearing it as a complete outfit at the Oktoberfest once a year, they’re also mixing individual items with their other clothes to create a unique look.” The reason, he suspects, is down to the clear message coming out of today’s fashion industry: anything goes, as long as it’s unusual. “People want something different, something fun and something with a bit of history,” says Weber. “What could be better than
Tracht? It’s flattering, easy to wear and instills the kind of pride in the wearer that no other item of clothing can do.” Not only that, the look already has A-list celebrity endorsement, with Loden-Frey counting footballers Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack, Oliver Bierhof and Sir Bobby Charlton, actress Uschi Glas and Formula One driver Mika Hakkinen among its customers. As Messrs Charlton and Hakkinen go to show, it’s not just Germans who are taken by
Tracht. “We have customers from around the world,” says Weber. “Some have German genes in their family and are proud to keep a little bit of tradition alive, whereas others just think it’s fun and like the look.”
Which it seems, is the right attitude. Rest assured, any concerns you may have that you are infringing on a foreign custom by wearing someone else’s national costume are unfounded. “Far from it,” says Weber. “Bavarians are quite rightly proud when others wear
Tracht and they see it not only as stylish, but also as a mark of respect for their culture.”
Traditional as it may be,
Tracht is by no means oblivious to the catwalk trends. “The cut and details are constantly adapted to current fashions,” says Gaby Hammerschick, head of Loden-Frey’s women’s
Tracht department. “At the moment, there are a lot of pastels around—particularly pink and orange, and skirts are just over the knee—similar to the 1960s look. Generally, the clothes are also a lot less tight-fitting than they were originally.” Men’s
Tracht, too, has seen similar developments. “As well as the classic colors for the jackets, we’re selling a lot of apple green and orange ones this year,” says Weber. “And whereas shorter lederhosen were almost dead around 10 to 15 years ago, they’re really making a comeback now.” With a 150-year history, it may come as a surprise that Loden-Frey is so cutting-edge when it comes to
Tracht trends. Yet through close cooperation with manufacturers and designers, the shop manages to achieve a tasteful balance between classic and modern, focused on quality throughout. “We use only natural fabrics and many of our garments are hand-embroidered,” says Hammerschick. “This is in contrast to the growing amount of pseudo-
Tracht available. As the look has become more popular, there is now a lot of kitsch around, in the form of massive buttons, mini skirts, extremely low-cut tops and tacky embroidery. Everything is exaggerated and bears no relation to the originals.”As anyone who has shopped at Loden-Frey will know, however, these things come at a price. Dirndls range from € 249 to € 2,500, and lederhosen cost between € 279 and
€ 1,000. “The price depends on the quality of the fabric and whether the garments are made by hand or machine,” says Hammerschick. “But when you consider that they don’t date and are made to last a lifetime, they’re probably some of the best-value pieces of clothing you’ll ever buy.”
Loden-Frey München am Dom Maffeistrasse 7
www.loden-frey.de
If Barbie ever needed a dirndl, she’d head straight to Lola Paltinger. The 31-year-old originally intended her quirky collection of designer
Tracht to be no more than a diploma project when she was at fashion college. Yet the idea took off, and Paltinger is now an established figure on the Munich scene, counting Simone Kahn, wife of goalkeeper Oliver, and an array of German actresses and TV presenters among her customers. “It all started when I went to the Wies’n with friends,” she says. “I’d been struggling to come up with a project for my final diploma, but thought
Tracht had a certain potential.” Potential indeed. It was not long before the press got wind of the student’s work, which looked at ways of modernizing traditional garments to make them appeal to young, fashion-conscious women. Though she remained faithful to the classic cut, Paltinger did away with linen, and introduced pretty, lightweight fabrics, spangled with sequins and glitter. The orders started flooding in from across the world and
Lollipop and Alpenrock was born. “It’s working really well,” says Paltinger. “So well, in fact, that I think my next step will be to open a shop, I hope next year.”
If you think her story has the makings of a fairy tale, you should see her atelier in Tal, where she lives and runs the business. The sixth-floor apartment is a shrine to trashy glamour, bursting with rolls of glitzy fabric, rails of shimmering dirndls and cute spangly lederhosen. The furniture is almost theatrical—think curvy sofas with wooden frames and beaded cushions, and the walls covered in oil paintings. Paltinger, who, in her sparkly pink T-shirt, raspberry pink lipstick and with her hair in a high ponytail, epitomizes the look she has created, shares the flat with her dog, Heidi, who also sports a
Tracht-esque collar and pops up on her Website.
But though she may seem to be living a dream, Paltinger is realistic enough to see that her dirndl dalliances may not be enough to see her live happily ever after. “I don’t imagine dirndls will keep me going for the next 20 years,” she says. “Fashion is a tough business and you constantly have to keep coming up with new ideas. Just like high-street stores copy the catwalks, I’ve noticed a lot of people already copying what I do.” With three collections a year—summer, winter and Oktoberfest—Paltinger has already branched out from dirndl and lederhosen, decorating T-shirts with
Tracht-style embroidery and glitzing up traditional
Trachten jackets. Not only has this kept her one step ahead, it has made her range more accessible to those who can’t afford to pay the € 2,000 she asks for a dirndl. Paltinger has also done fashion shows with Reebok—“You’d be amazed how well boxer boots go with dirndls!”—and at the Indian Embassy in New Delhi, in cooperation with Lufthansa. Aside from opening a shop, her sights are now set on introducing ranges for children and men. “These things don’t just happen overnight,” she says. “It’s taken me years to get my women’s range perfect—you need to build up a lot of know-how about your customers, the market and the like.” Indeed, many of Paltinger’s customers are not the young women she originally imagined. “I’ve got customers in their seventies who want something a bit different,” she says. “They say they feel fresh and young in my designs.”
Her work has even gone down well with traditionalists. As well as receiving approval from
Trachten groups, she now also sells to Loden-Frey in Munich. “I know my garments look quite modern, but I have stayed loyal to the classic cuts,” she says. “I won’t do anything too mini, or too low cut, because that’s not what I’m about. I just want to make traditional garments a bit more glamorous.” Sparkle on sister.
Lollipop und AlpenrockTal 27
www.lolapaltinger.com
If you would prefer to spend your money on beer once you are at the Oktoberfest, here are a few locations where you can pick up inexpensive
Trachten.
Wiesn-Tracht und mehr, Tal 19, has recently opened a second branch at Sendlinger Str. 27. Both stores sell second-hand and new items. The advantage to buying a second-hand dirndl, other than the price (dirndls start from around € 50 and lederhosen from € 150), is that you can choose a 1960s or 1970s style and opt for a retro look. Wiesn-Tracht und mehr is also the best place to stock up on accessories—from blouses and aprons to shoes and jewelry—and with the vast choice on offer, you are bound to find a style that suits you.
Pat’s Boutique has a number of stores around the city, including one at Tal 14 and one at Hohenzollernstr. 44. They sell second-hand items and factory rejects and most are in very good condition. Pat’s also stocks many retro dirndls, bordering on kitsch. For those of you who don’t fancy trawling through the rails, check out the German Website
www.eBay.de and start bidding for the dirndl or lederhosen of your dreams.
City slickers may see
Tracht as an outdated country fashion that looks at home amongst fields and haystacks, but in fact it boasts a rather exclusive past. Just ask Alexander Wandinger, author of
Tracht ist Mode (Tracht Is Fashion) and Director of the Trachten-Informations-Zentrum (TIZ), who has devoted his life to upholding
Tracht’s true origins. “
Tracht has been traced back to the 18th century, when it was worn by royalty and peasants alike,” he says. “The rich owned several colorful garments, made of silk, fine cotton and lace, detailed with silver and pearl buttons, whereas the poorer members of society were limited to hard-wearing linen and wool. They generally wore only dull colors, apart from on Sundays, when black or blue was worn as a mark of respect.” Traditional
Tracht adheres to rigid guidelines, for example the skirt must be at least 2.7 meters wide and each pleat of equal depth. In modern times, fashions have become more experimental, coinciding with an increased interest from the younger generation—a trend Wandinger encourages. “Without change,
Tracht is dead,” he says.
Do wear traditional silver
Tracht jewelry, show your shape and wear it at every opportunity, even around town!
Don’t believe that you have to be Bavarian or even German to wear
Tracht, limit your budget as
Tracht lasts a lifetime or be shy. It’s fun to dress up.
The
Trachten-Informations-Zentrum preserves and exhibits more than 4,000 original garments and accessories from the 18th century onwards. Visit Am Zeilerweg 2, 83671 Benediktbeuern, Tel. (08857) 888 33.
