12:06 clock: Skeptics saw a delay in the trend. But Dirndl and Lederhose are announced at the Oktoberfest. It is wonderfully traditional, you can hear it – just like in the past. Mistake: at the beginning of the Oktoberfest there was no dirndl and the gentleman wore a gown and a top hat.

Colorful Dirndl, Lederhosen: They all carry this now at the Oktoberfest, Japanese, Americans and Italians, as well as many locals. That is how it is, tradition says. In fact, from the beginning of the folk festival more than 200 years ago until the 1990s, hardly anyone had the idea to come to Lederhose or Dirndl. More: The dirndl as a fashion form has not yet been invented.

Lederhosen would have been too farmer

"The Trachtenzwang on the Wiesn has no historical equivalents", says Alexander Wandinger of the information center of Trachten in the district of Upper Bavaria in Benediktbeuern. "The Wiesn Dirndl is mainly party wear."

At the time of the first Oktoberfest at the beginning of the 19th century, the ladies came in the French Empire style: beautiful fabrics with a high waist. The gentleman appeared in a dressed coat and with a cylinder. In flowers and plaid or in short leather trousers, no townspeople would have gone out on the streets: too farmers.

The Oktoberfest originated from the wedding of crown prince Ludwig I with Therese van Sachsen-Hildburghausen in October 1810. King Max I Josef also arranged it as a feast for the people. This should promote the sense of community after the proclamation of the kingdom and underline the orientation on the Munich residence. Children's couples in farmer's costumes from all Bavarian regions, for example, brought flowers to the royal pavilion. Farmers came in Sunday clothing – which is now considered a costume.

Brothers gelding made dirndl popular in Munich

The dirndl, on the other hand, was originally called a simple workwear, hay pants or Leibegwand, as Wandinger says. Around 1900, the townspeople discovered the summery freshness, the rural life – and with it the dirndl. You did not see it in the city. No one would have had the idea to put on the holiday outfit at the Oktoberfest.

Not least, the Jewish brothers Wallach from Westphalia, who ran a clothing store in Munich, promoted the dirndl's access to the city. "The two were total fans of Bavaria", says the cultural researcher Simone Egger in Munich. "They made the dirndl popular in the city." In the thirties it also fitted in the house ideology of Hitler. But at the Oktoberfest: next nonsense.

There the lady also wore clothing or costume in the post-war period, the men's suit and tie. Mayor Thomas Wimmer, who invented the tapping ritual, swung the hammer into a dark vest, shirt and tie, as well as his successor Hans Jochen Vogel. Apparently the vest was no longer obligatory since Erich Kiesel: photos let him at least be tucked into his shirt and tie, like his successor Erich Kronawitter. Even Christian Ude came so at the beginning of the nineties. It was not until the mid-nineties that Ude appeared in leather trousers in the bar.

The Oktoberfest became more modern and younger with time

Ude was a pioneer like the then Wiesnchefin Gabriele Weishäupl, says Egger. "They knew of their function as an advertising medium." The trend takes place. "At the end of the nineties and early 2000s, young people began to find dirndls and lederhosen funny," says Egger. "It started with a generation that did not have to distinguish itself from parents as before."

Around this time, the image of the Oktoberfest is also changing. While it used to be a joy for the elderly and families with children who have carousels and candy sugar boxes, the young people now discover the Oktoberfest. The tents no longer play brass music, but fast songs from the charts. The details of the Dirndl become deeper. Everything is allowed – T-shirts with printed braces and soft hats.

"The Wiesn is a social event," says Wandinger. "Groups give themselves standards, so traditional clothing is very suitable." Since then, Dirndl and Lederhosen have kept their uninterrupted triumphal procession on the Oktoberfest. "It's fantastic, but it's not the real Oktoberfest – it's the longing for the old & # 39 ;, # 39 ;, says Wandinger.

The trend continues after the Oktoberfest. Receptions or weddings in costume or traditional outfit: formerly inconceivable, today chic.

11:25: Crowds flock to Theresienwiese en masse. Many families belong to the visitors.