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Traditional German Clothing

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It's pretty easy to recognize traditional German dress.


POLKA DOT IMAGES/POLKA DOT/THINKSTOCK

Food is one thing, but we've just begun to scratch the surface of the
eccentricities German culture has to offer. If you've been to Oktoberfest, which
are celebrated all over the world, you're familiar with lederhosen and
dirndls. Lederhosen, which means "leather trousers" in German, are the
short, leather pants worn by men. These are usually knee-length and are the
historically worn by working-class German men. The dirndl is a ruffled apron
dress worn by German women that consists of a bodice, or blouse, and a
skirt. In the 19th century, the dirndl was the standard uniform of servant girls,
but today it is mostly worn in Bavaria and Austria, and like lederhosen, usually
for celebration. Each of these garments is a type of tracht, which historically
was used to help identify people as members of a certain status (social,
political or otherwise).

How in the world would one accessorize such things? Let's start with shoes.
For the ladies, a soft, felt shoe with clunky heels and decorative buckles would
typically accompany the dirndl. While not exactly clogs, these shoes would
work just fine for an evening of dancing. Men would usually opt for
the haferlshoe, a thick leather or rubber sole invented in Bavaria for farming.
Shoemaker Franz Schratt based the design on that of animal hooves, and the
word heferl, roughly translated, means "half a shoe." These were also easy on
the feet, and men took great pride in the care that went into handcrafting their
haferl.

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