From the Fringe | 22.09.2008
Oktoberfest and the Great Dirndl Debate
The number one reason many people go to Oktoberfest in Munich is, no doubt, the beer. But the chance to ogle busty barmaids in low-cut, tightly laced Alpine outfits is probably a close second.
This year, however, there's been a bit of a battle over the dirndl.
First, in an unheard-of move, the wife of Bavarian Premier Guenther Beckstein showed up to open the festivities dressed not in a dirndl, but in a -- gasp -- suit.
So what if the jacket had that loden-green piping that shouts Bavaria from 100 paces away? So what if the frowsy, middle-aged first lady Marga Beckstein may have just been trying to avoid a replay of the hulabaloo that followed Angela Merkel after she showed too much cleavage at the opera?
The wives of German politicians, especially prominent right-wing German politicians, are expected to follow tradition. And tradition calls for opening Oktoberfest in a dirndl.
If that wasn't enough, traditional German dress took another blow when the wife of another great German leader -- this time the Premier of Formula One racing -- showed up in a dirndl that looked like it had been designed to be worn backstage at a Grateful Dead concert.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Now that's what real dirndls look like, traditionalists would argue
In Germany, the dirndl is just one aspect of a broader clothing style known as Trachten, which many southern Germans wear as their "Sunday best." While the dress is generally a low-cut and tightly laced affair, it also represents a conservative style.
But in a move that seemed designed to "epater les bourgeouis," Cora Schumacher, the fashionable wife of Formula One driver and German national hero Michael Schumacher, wore a dirndl whose fire-engine-red apron had a black skull embroidered on it. The low-cut black-and-white blouse had a skull-and-bones pattern as well.
Locals were shocked, but Lady Schumi defended her choice.
"I am crazy about them! I just love skulls plain and simple," she told Spiegel Online. "Death is part of life. And I feel like skulls are totally my good luck charm."
Indeed, Cora Schumacher is known for wearing skull accessories, including earrings, t-shirts, bags, belts, a leather jacket with a skull made out of rivets by designer Thomas Wylde, and even a diamond-studded watch with little skulls on it, apparently valued at 50,000 euros.
