Figure 1.--

German ethnic costumes existed for both men and women. There were no destinctive chidren's clothes. Boys and girls simply wore smaller versions of the outfits worn by their parents. Actual outfits varied greatly among different Alpine regions.

Gender

We note both boys and girls wearing German ethnic costumes. Some of the best known German ethnic costumes are lederhosen, both short pants and knicker style. These ethnic costumes are called "tracht". Lederhosen are commonly worn by German bands and dance groups. Boys participating in German ethnic events commonly dress up in lederhosen. HBC has noted consideable variation in folk costume. Women and girls also wear a variety of ethnic outfits. There are many regional differences. One example is Allgäuer style. The woman's Festtracht exemplifies the traditional simplicity of the area. We wear: a gray skirt (about 16 rows of gathering---the way this skirt is gathered typifies the Allgäuer style) , a white Trachten blouse, a black Mieder, a Allgäuer Hat with feather (worn on the crown of the head) , a red apron, a single red flower Trachten Shoes (white or black hose).

Male

Some of the best known German ethnic costumes are lederhosen, both short pants and knicker style. These ethnic costumes are called "tracht". Lederhosen are commonly worn by German bands and dance groups. Boys participating in German ethnic events commonly dress up in lederhosen. HBC has noted consideable variation in folk costume. Many of these variations may be just variation of the costumes worn in Germany. Some of these differences may be regionally based. The outfits included different types of hats, blazers, shirts, pants, and socks. I'm not sure what the hat style was called but feathers or Gamsbarts (beards of a chamois) were often added. One style is the Allgäuer Hat with Gamsbart. For festive occasions--a single flower in hat is added to match the womens' hats. The blazers were often grey with a wide variety of trim--often in green. Trachten shirts often have their sleeves rolled up. The pants were either lederhosen or knickers style pants. Some were elaborately trimmed. Hosenträger is one distinctive regional style. It may have gereen embrodiery with large white Edelweiss. Boys wore both kneesocks and a kind of hose that was a band around the calf. The kneesocks are most commonly gray with double green stripes. I'm not sure why this type of kneesock is so common. Trachten shoes are also worn. A German reader tells HBC that until about 1920 or so, the boys, who took care of cattle in the Black Forest, wore a mantle of straw over the clothes, which they usually got from their employer.

Female

Women and girls also wear a variety of ethnic outfits. There are many regional differences. One example is Allgäuer style. The woman's Festtracht exemplifies the traditional simplicity of the area. We wear: a gray skirt (about 16 rows of gathering---the way this skirt is gathered typifies the Allgäuer style) , a white Trachten blouse, a black Mieder, a Allgäuer Hat with feather (worn on the crown of the head) , a red apron, a single red flower Trachten Shoes (white or black hose).

Conventions

German children might wear ethnic costumes for festivals and other celebrations. Most villages and towns celebrated a number of festivals related to the seasons such as harvests or bringing the cows down from Alpine pastures or historic events. There were also religious celebrations. Often the children participating in these celebrations wore accurate ethnic costume which had a number of regional varriants. We also note German boys wearing a kinfd of mock-ethnic costume. Here there is no effort at real accuracu, only a generic folk look. In some instances boys might wear these outfits as a kind of dress up garment. This was especially the case of younger boys. It seems to us that this use of an ethich costume for dress up occassions was less common for girls.

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Created: September 10, 2001
Last updated: 6:15 PM 8/22/2004