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To my regret, I have no family ties in the Black Forest.
Otherwise I would definitely own one of these chic boll hats that are part of the Gutacher costume.
Strictly speaking, however, they are only allowed to be worn in the surrounding communities of Gutach, Kirnbach and Reichenbach, I learn while I admire the traditional costumes of other regions.
Inspired by these so exclusive costumes, which are still elaborately handcrafted, cost a small fortune and are basically pure luxury, I order a used traditional jacket on Ebay without further ado.
I only call it Trachtenjäckchen because I have no idea that the correct term for it is Janker.
The term traditional costume actually includes everything that corresponds to a traditional dress code.
My jacket is made of fulled sheep's wool in proper style, cut short and wide, dark red with silver buttons and hems in contrasting colors.
The package reaches me from Mannheim - and this is exactly where the jacket was originally made - by the local manufacturer for traditional clothing, Engelhart & Sturm.
It fits like a glove, and yet I get wistful for a moment: in the north you have the sailor shirt, in the south the jacket, only traditionally not a single item of clothing refers to my home town Berlin.
And then I have doubts: Can I actually wear the traditional jacket here without hesitation?
Fashion has always been full of multicultural references, regional references and traditional echoes.
If a designer crosses borders, however, the accusation of “cultural appropriation” is sometimes raised because one or the other ethnic minority could see themselves discriminated against.
In some cases it is entirely appropriate and correct and important not to be thoughtlessly quoted.
In others, a self-proclaimed fashion police who look very closely, especially on social media, seem to mean it a little too well when they fundamentally question folkloric details.
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Integrating traditional fashion into contemporary collections can therefore be a fine line.
Designers and young creative labels are currently solving this challenge in different ways: Either several influences are combined in a collection, put into a completely different context - or the inspiration box is reached so deeply that somehow nobody is as specific knows where the part originally came from.
Reference to a habit?
Or just a long collar?
Source: Getty Images / Pascal Le Segretain
Recently, for example, at the Italian label Miu Miu, in the autumn-winter collection that is now hanging in the shops, sailor shirts and dresses that aesthetically refer to a habit, the costume of a religious community.
Young creative labels are also increasingly quoting traditional influences, so discreetly that you can identify them as such, but you don't have to.
The French atelier Maison Cléo is quite successful from Paris to Shanghai with its iconic puff-sleeved blouses, which you could just as easily wear for Oktoberfest.
Shrimps, an avant-garde label from Great Britain, has recently added a hair scarf to its range that can be put over the bun and would go perfectly with the work clothes of a Bavarian farmer's wife from the 19th century.
In combination with a leather blazer, however, it also represents an interesting break in style.
Maison Cléo makes blouses that are reminiscent of traditional Oktoberfest clothing
Source: Maison Cléo
And even the classic uniform, which Miu Miu apparently used as a model for a belted mini dress made of tweed, works on the catwalk, if you put it in the right place: you don't even come across all sorts of decorative decorations, brooches, sparkling chains and velvet details on the idea of interpreting something warlike into it.
It is the same with the comeback of the sailor suit, which is also appearing at Miu Miu, because it has meanwhile found its way into all possible cultural contexts.
In the 19th century it got rid of its militaristic origins - the uniform of the marines initially became a popular item of clothing for children.
After all, the sailor suit or individual stylistic elements of it, such as the drill collar, found their way into the bourgeois wardrobe.
In Japan, the sailor suit even serves as a school uniform in some places.
Sailor shirt by Miu Miu
Source: mytheresa.com
I plan to alienate my dark red traditional jacket in a similar way - and to wear it in combination with hot pants and a long, transparent skirt. I recently saw an almost identical outfit at Chanel, but of course a bouclé jacket was used instead of a jacket. There was also a sparkling logo brooch on the chest, which would certainly look good on the jacket. It would be a thoroughly eclectic outfit full of stylistic inconsistencies that a woman from Mannheim or Paris would be reluctant to venture out of respect for her own costume. It would be Berlin style deluxe.