German Fashion

This year my sister is hosting a German Exchange student. This week’s post is going to be about the Fashion in Germany. She has told me that American clothing is much cheaper than clothing in Germany. However, she has also informed me that she doesn’t have the amount of retail stores that we have here in the US. She said that the closest Victoria’s Secret is in Berlin and is very expensive. She likes Hollister and has informed me that jeans from Hollister in Germany cost around $100 a pair and here they only cost around $50.

Traditionally German woman wore the “dirndl”, which is a dress with a blouse, bodice, apron, and full skirt. Women rarely wear the dirndl now. Men used to wear leather pants, also called, “lederhosen.” Men only wear these now for traditional events like weddings or folk festivals. Same thing with most women. A lot of them dress up for festivals such as Oktoberfest which is going on right now.

Berlin, that capital of Germany hosts a Fashion week twice a year. Some famous designers who have come from Germany are Jill Saunder and Karl Lagerfeld. Some famous models including Claudia Schiffer, Nadja Auermann, and Heidi Klum have all come from Germany.

Berlin is becoming a hub for experimental and unconventional fashion that brings creative people from all over the world. German designers play with traditions when designing new clothes. Their designs range from fresh and wacky, to elegant, colorful designs. German fashion designers may be growing but retailers are hesitant on bringing new German designers into stores. Most have to start out in Paris to test the waters. 

While on the runway there is a lot of German culture mixed with other ideas, on a normal day most people from Germany dress very westernized.  The kinds of dresses, shorts, shirts, and shoes they were are close to what we wear. There are some small differences but for the most part, we dress alike. The exchange student my sister is hosting has the same taste in fashion as I do. The clothes she wears are similar to the ones that I wear.

If you were to go to Germany and didn’t want to look like a complete tourist here are some things you would want to wear to avoid that:

• ·         Wear tighter clothing. Germans tend to wear their clothes tight to the body.
• ·         Don’t wear long clothing. Both men and women in Germany wear pants that go to the ankles, or if they are in shorts, they wear short shorts. Also if you have a long shirt on that goes past the hip, most Germans tend to tuck their shirt in.
• ·         Don’t wear sweats unless you are going to the gym or jogging on a trail.
• ·         Flip flops only get worn a small amount of the time, but never in town. They are usually worn at home or to a pool. Additionally, middle aged men or older are seen wearing socks and sandals.
• ·         White tennis shoes are not worn a lot. Usually they wear thinner-soled, narrow sneakers in brown, black, or tan.
• ·         Wearing Tommy Hilfiger will make you look like you belong. Young Professionals in Germany can be seen looking like a Tommy Hilfiger model.
• ·         NEVER wear a sports jersey unless you are going to a game.
• ·         NO Coach purses, that stuff isn’t even sold in Germany.