If you are a beer enthusiast or just love to party chances are you will attend some kind of Oktoberfest event during the next few weeks. If you do, you might see some of these bad boys out and about:
So what are lederhosen, really? The literal translation is "leather pants" (leder = leather and hosen = pants) but "leather shorts" is a better interpretation for Americans since the pants in question are usually knee-length or above. If you've ever wondered whether lederhosen was a unique term created just to refer to this garment, now you know. It's a compound of two other German words. That's how Germans roll, in general--they don't usually make up new words for things, they just smush together existing words to form compounds.
You may also see ladies wearing traditional outfits like this at your local Oktoberfest:
This is a dirndl (deer-n-dle). Don't call it female lederhosen! It is neither leder nor hosen.
Lederhosen and dirndl are traditional folk costumes from the Alps: southern Germany, western Austria, northern Italy. People used to wear this kind of clothing every day, although the practice diminished over time as those regions became more modern/westernized. If you want to see some authentic lederhosen in the wild nowadays, you will see people wearing them at formal events (weddings), strolling around on Sunday afternoons, or if you visit a traditional German restaurant or cultural site. Lederhosen and dirndl are collectively referred to as Tracht, the umbrella term for folk costumes worn by German-speaking people.
Tracht components
Traditional lederhosen have a flap front and are made of deer leather. Suspenders, jacket, and hat are optional, but you'll always have a cotton shirt underneath. Real lederhosen are extremely durable; some families pass them down over generations as heirlooms. Good-quality lederhosen aren't cheap but they'll last forever if you take good care of them.
A complete dirndl outfit has additional basic components. The dress part (kleid) has a fitted bodice and a skirt that falls below the knee--sometimes you might see a dirndl with separate top and bottom pieces, but most of the time the kleid is one piece. Underneath the kleid you wear a cotton blouse (bluse) with poufy sleeves and/or other detailing like lace, buttons, ruching, etc. Over the bottom part of the kleid you wear an apron (schürtze). Both men and women can wear strümpfen (stockings) with their Tracht (the older guys are wearing some in the photo above).
If you feel like you've seen these somewhere other than Oktoberfest, you may be thinking of The Sound of Music:
Kurt (far right) is wearing some lederhosen with matching suspenders and Maria is wearing a dirndl-style outfit. No apron, but it's got the fitted bodice, A-line skirt, and blouse underneath. Friedrich's (second from left) pants are probably also lederhosen, although they look like more of a suede fabric or maybe velvet.
In this scene, Friedrich is wearing one of the outfits Maria made from her bedroom curtains. So they aren't technically lederhosen (the fabric looks like a heavy brocade) but construction/pattern is definitely traditional, just not made from leather.
The whole family. All the girls are wearing some variation on a traditional dirndl, including Maria. Captain Von Trapp's jacket has a Bavarian/Austrian look to it (single breasted, contrasting lapel and cuffs, brass buttons), but he's paired it with western-style trousers instead of lederhosen. The two boys are wearing lederhosen and strümpfen.
Again, everyone is wearing some variation on traditional dress here but Capt. Von Trapp still isn't wearing lederhosen! I wonder if Christopher Plummer wrote a clause into his contract that he would not be required to wear them for the film.
Why do I know so many random facts about Tracht? I own two dirndl, strangely enough--I bought the first when I was studying in Germany in 2006. I wanted to bring home some kind of souvenir to remember my time there but didn't want to get a tchotchkie that would just sit on a shelf. So I bought a dirndl in Munich. The whole shebang: dress, blouse, apron, and stockings.
The second dirndl I bought was more of a spontaneous decision. We visited Germany and Austria in May 2016 and stayed with some family friends who live outside Munich. Somehow we got the idea that we should buy Eric some lederhosen.....and I figured, well if he's going to have lederhosen then I want a nice dirndl to match. The one I already owned wasn't the best quality; I bought it in downtown Munich at a store that probably lures in a lot of tourists. The second time around I wanted to get something nicer that I would keep and wear forever (or as often as one finds opportunities to wear a dirndl in 21st century America...)
Our friends took us to a Tracht shop out in the country. It was like a lederhosen superstore! They had so many choices it was overwhelming. We were there for probably two hours and tried on a million different outfits. This is the kind of place the locals will go if they need to get traditional clothing for an upcoming event. There was another lady about my age trying on very fancy, satin Dirndl--I assume for a wedding. The lederhosen superstore also had every accessory you could possibly think of, including special bras that give you maximum cleavage. That's not really my thing, so I opted for something modest and simple instead:
Here's Eric in all his glory:
I just now realized his lederhosen don't have the front flap, but he gets extra points for posing in front of the Alps.
In downtown STL with his bro dawg Trent.
If you'd like to toss back a beer with us and see our traditional costumes in person, you can find us at Urban Chestnut Oktoberfest this Saturday!
