The Fashion History of the Dirndl - How Did This Iconic Trachten Garment Come About?

September is Dirndl-time, the Oktoberfest is going on and this may be the reason you may even know about this garment. Or, have you watched “The Sound of Music”, the Trapp family also wears the Dirndl. Needless to say, being Austrian, the Dirndl is part of my culture as well, I have worn the Dirndl, or the “Tracht”, many times, there are pictures of me in these outfits as a little girl, we basically grow up with it. I dedicated this video to our traditional costume, I am sharing how this famous garment came about, what are its historic routes and why it also has a problematic dimension to it.

00:00 Intro
02:45 What Is Tracht?
03:13 What Is the Dirndl?
04:54 Dirndl, Tracht & Fashion
06:26 The “Creation“ of the Dirndl, the 19th Century
11:49 Bavaria – The Schuetzenliesl and the Wallach Brothers
13:36 Trachten-Research by Rose Julien; the Problematic Dirndl “Reform” by Gertrud Pesendorfer & Tracht as a Tool for Politics and Ideology
16:17 The Tracht & Dirndl from the 1950s until Today

Special thanks to Susanna Steiger-Moser, Gexi Tostmann, Tiroler Landesmuseen / Volkskunstmuseum.

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** DISCLAIMER AND SOURCES **

This video is based on the general knowledge of Liz Steiger as a fashion and art historian and the following sources:

Susanna Steiger-Moser, Burgendlandrock - Überlegungen - unveröffentlichtes Manuskript, 2018.
Susanna Steiger-Moser, Rollup - Teil der Ausstellung "Baousterz und Bubikopf. Burgenländische Geschichte(n) zwischen 1933 und 1938", Wanderausstellung seit 2014, gleichnamige Publikation in : Lisa Sinowatz, Susanna Steiger-Moser (Hg.) "Baousterz und Bubikopf. Burgenländische Geschichte(n) zwischen 1933 und 1938", in: Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten aus dem Burgenland, Bd 151, Eisenstadt 2014.
Susanna Steiger-Moser, Burgenlandlandrock, Rede Juni 2012, HBLA Oberwart
Susanna Steiger-Moser, Bekleidung und ihre Bezeichnung in der Mundart, in: Dauerausstellung Ortsmuseum Pöttsching 2009.
Susanna Steiger-Moser, Pflege der Volkstracht, des Volksliedes und des Volkstanzes, in: Dauerausstellung Ortsmuseum Pöttsching 2009.
Gexi Tostmann, Das Dirndl : alpenländische Tradition und Mode, Wien/München 2008.
Elsbeth Wallnoefer – Tracht macht Politik, Innsbruck-Wien, 2020.
Elsbeth Wallnoefer, Geraubte Tradition. Wie die Nazis unsere Kultur verfälschten, Augsburg 2011.
Wolfgang Meighörner/et. al., Getrud Pesendorfer und die Trachtenerneuerung. Glossar zu einem Forschungsprojekt, Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum, Innsbruck 2019.

No fees were received by the individuals or organisations mentioned in the video.

Picture Sources

Susanna Steiger-Moser: Everyday Clothes from the Burgenland; People from the Burgenland in Festive Clothing, c. 1937.
Gexi Tostmann: Women Playing Tennis in the Dirndl in the Salzkammergut, 1919.
Tiroler Landesmuseen / Volkskunstmuseum: Getrud Pesendorfer and Her Team, 1940s.
Pinterest: all other pictures.

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