Lederhosen...Germany's Kilt

[James Hood]

This past spring, daughter was doing a final master's class in Berlin and invited her father to join her for some German travel when classes ended.

As her fraternal family is heavily deutsch, the offer was accepted and we had a lovely, memorable experience. Great sightseeing, accomodations, vibe, food, beer, people...'felt oddly "at home," despite being a 2nd generation American.

To the purpose of this thread however; one personal goal was to seriously investigate knee-length Lederhosen and if appealing, bring a pair home. As it happens, daughter now has a full dirndl and her Vater a splendid Lederhosen.

We were in Munchen (Munich) during Carnival and a bunch of locals wore Lederhosen, tho nowhere near the number who chose (ironically, "America's pants, blue jeans") costumes or street clothes.

On the streets and towns of southern Germany, only a handful of local men wore Lederhosen, but they were not seemingly noticed as unusual.

Submitted for your thoughts and comments, sitting at the keyboard in Lederhosen with German folk music on the CD player. (no kilt, or pipes, today; Americans have this tendency to veer away from ethnic purity, begun by our grandparents and parents...and we certainly "do not always" endevour to keep the gene pool ethnically linear....)

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

This was discussed in detail over on the now-defunct site "Umlaut Marks the Kraut".

[O'Searcaigh]

This was discussed in detail over on the now-defunct site "Umlaut Marks the Kraut".

[Tobus]

When I lived in Germany in the mid-1980s, lederhosen were commonly seen at festivals such as Oktoberfest. Mostly on older men. The younger generation seemed to avoid wearing them. I would imagine that most 'ethnic garb' in its native country suffers from the same effect. Younger folks typically want to be seen as hip and cool instead of traditional.

Sadly, lederhosen have attained much of the same reputation here in the USA as kilts. A lot of people view them only as a 'costume', or can only associate them with ridiculous caricatures of a foreign culture.

[O'Searcaigh]

Alas, though an American, I find the "Americanization" of world culture saddening: The blue jeans, T-shirt, Walmart, McDonald's-ization of everything and everyone. I get just as strange looks from people here if I wear a Tracten jacket as a kilt or worse still, even just a tweed sport coat with vest (waistcoat for you Brits), tie, moleskin slacks and actual leather shoes. The "official" uniform is blue-jeans (or shorts), T-shirt and flip-flops -- or athletic shoes for more "formal" occasions. Hardly anyone seems to have any "class," "style," or even "fashion" anymore -- just sloppy casual conformity. I was raised with the idea that how one dressed was a reflection of one's self respect and respect for others. Proper "ethnic" dress of any kind reflects that.

[Meggers]

This was discussed in detail over on the now-defunct site "Umlaut Marks the Kraut".

LOL!!!!

I have to tell that to my German mama. She will love it.

Actually, speaking of my mom, she is like 100% German with a little fleck of Scottish in her (we found one random Scot in her family tree) and my dad is the Irish and Scottish side of me. Ive always been fascinated with my Irish/Scottish side and wanted tartan skirts and such my whole life. Finally my mom got offended and was like "You know it's just as cool to be German too!" and I told her that I agree but Im not going to walk around in leiderhosen the same way Id walk around in tartan. She had to agree there.

Alas, though an American, I find the "Americanization" of world culture saddening: The blue jeans, T-shirt, Walmart, McDonald's-ization of everything and everyone. I get just as strange looks from people here if I wear a Tracten jacket as a kilt or worse still, even just a tweed sport coat with vest (waistcoat for you Brits), tie, moleskin slacks and actual leather shoes. The "official" uniform is blue-jeans (or shorts), T-shirt and flip-flops -- or athletic shoes for more "formal" occasions. Hardly anyone seems to have any "class," "style," or even "fashion" anymore -- just sloppy casual conformity. I was raised with the idea that how one dressed was a reflection of one's self respect and respect for others. Proper "ethnic" dress of any kind reflects that.

On that same note, Im very saddened that the world and even Americans consider those things as being what IS American. When I think of American traditions, I dont think of Mickey Mouse, Walmart, McDonalds, or any of those things. I think of apple pie, quilts, small midwestern towns with 4 generations of family living on the same block, farm houses, cows, mountains and dense coniferous forests, etc. Why does the world define America by freakin McDonalds? That's annoyingly offensive to me.

Not saying what you said is offensive. Just that I wish people saw America for its traditions too and not for our stuff that's still relatively new for even our country's standards. We may be a new country but we certainly do have culture and traditions and things that Americans can wear and call it ours. Even if it is jeans and t-shirts. Whats the difference between cowboy boots with jeans and shalwar kameez or kilts? Just because we see one as being exotic and traditional somewhere else doesn't mean that ours is any less exotic and traditional to them.

[Tobus]

On that same note, Im very saddened that the world and even Americans consider those things as being what IS American. When I think of American traditions, I dont think of Mickey Mouse, Walmart, McDonalds, or any of those things. I think of apple pie, quilts, small midwestern towns with 4 generations of family living on the same block, farm houses, cows, mountains and dense coniferous forests, etc. Why does the world define America by freakin McDonalds? That's annoyingly offensive to me.

They identify us with it because that's what we've exported to their countries. McDonald's, Starbucks, Levi's jeans, and stuff like that may be the only view they have of what America is like. How in the world would they know anything about small-town rural life here?

Of course, I'm sure every culture wants to face-palm over how the rest of the world views them. Just as the Scots tend to roll their eyes at the idea that Americans think of Scotland as a nation full of anachronistic kilt-wearing Highlanders with blue face paint and two-handed claymores, and just as the Germans perhaps cringe at the thought of the rest of the world thinking of them as pilsner-drinking, wurst-and-sauerkraut-eating guys in lederhosen (or worse, the WWII-era connotation). We all view our own native cultures differently than the world stereotypes us. Sadly, though, we Americans have not done a very good job of broadcasting who we are except for the worst examples of commercialised mass-marketed garbage.

[J_Mimbs]

They identify us with it because that's what we've exported to their countries. McDonald's, Starbucks, Levi's jeans, and stuff like that may be the only view they have of what America is like. How in the world would they know anything about small-town rural life here?

This is very true. I've met people in other countries who wondered if all our cities are as dangerous as they seem in the movies. Well when all they've seen of America are action movies, who can really blame them?

[Bugbear]

Plenty of my ancestors, from way back, came from regions in and around Germany. There are some traditions in America that have been carried along from Germany, though, in adapted or Americanized form. Other than that, I was not raised with German traditions. Same goes for Irish and Scottish traditions etc.

I did, however, see people of all ages working in jeans and boots as far back in my life as I can remember; as well as, casual, everyday wear, often with a western shirt. I can't change what I saw in my past, and I don't like the feeling of needing to apologize for it, either.

[James Hood]

A piece of sculpture seen in Europe recently was titled, "Chicago," (no date reference or subtitle) the realistic 3D depiction was of three men...

...one with a Thompson submachine gun and drum magazine at waist level, pointed, a second with sawed off shotgun and third with a revolver.

Clad in, respectively, formal suit and fedora, workman's clothing and driving "bummer hat" and the third also in suit, hatless.

Should this Chicago metro dweller be "happy" they were not representing the city in blue jeans, tee and flip-flops?