Unusual question; sorry. DD is moving to Lyon, France next week and going to Oktoberfest end of September. Are OKtoberfest costumes available for sale outside of Germany?
Thanks for any opinions.

sure they are available outside germany, they are for sale in some places in the US that are really German communities.

If they were anywhere, I'd expect Alsace and Strasbourg which is right on the border, not Lyon.

They have those Goethe Institutes abroad to further culture, etc (like Alliance Francaise). They probably could help her out, there is one in Lyon.
http://www.goethe.de/ins/fr/lyo/frindex.htm

Of course you know you can buy anything online nowadays, including plenty of Oktoberfest duds.

do folks actually wear those costumes?

You betcha. Lots of Bavarian men wear the loden jackets with pewter buttons, too. And sometimes lederhosen.

> men wear the loden
men from 75 years of age and up wear the loden jackets.

If you see Lederhosen in Munich for Oktoberfest, they're fake. Far too precious for such a profane occasion.

Bavarian folk clothing in Alsace, or even further into France? They have a culture and traditional festive clothing of their own. Why should any shop there sell Bavarian stuff?

If you want to give the Goethe institute people in France a real hearty laugh, ask them about where to buy Dirndls in France. They'll enjoy the joke for years to come.

Susan, your daughter will better do her shopping in Munich.

The men I saw in Bavaria wearing loden jackets were more like 30 than 70 or up.

Is this search for a dirndl part of the common American aspiration to blend in with the locals?

She doesn't want to look like a tourist.

For all your perversions look here, it once was a Loden store.

http://www.lodenfrey.de/chiemgauer_dirndl.html

http://www.lodenfrey.de/herren.html

The place where Waldi shops (Prost, found the picture? ), you'll never see Harry there.

I don't get this obsession with dirndls that some Americans seem to have.
Underhill, you say that lots of Bavarian men wear Loden jackets, fine but they are Bavarian.
Apart from the waitresses at the Oktoberfest how many Bavarian women actually wear dirndls? And how many non Bavarians/foreigners do? Not very many of either I suspect.
Why go to all the expense of buying such a thing just to wear it once? Or do women who buy them then wear them at home in the US afterwards?

Maybe a fetish. Remember all the dirndl-sex movies of the seventies? Since they're no longer shown on RTL there's a pay TV channel with dirndl-sex only.

So yes, there's a market for that stuff

Hi Logos,

I've noticed German TV has deleted their Lederhosen in the hay movies Wonder why?

Regarding dirndls, I agree with Logos.

Almost every woman looks a bit sexy in a dirndl. Something about the play between innocence and complimenting the breasts.

I bought a dirndl-like top last month and got lots of compliments.

Hi Schuler,
the Lederhosen movies are "out". From the cimema to years of reruns on TV, now they're on "Alpenglühn TV", everyday from 21:00 for the fans that maybe still exist.

www.alpengluehen.tv

Oops, only available in Austria and Germany. Sorry

Todays feature:
"Sexgrüße aus dem Lederhöschen - Wo der Wildbach durch das Höschen rauscht"
followed by "Dirndljagd"

You can't blame the title for not being creative.

Actually, if she wears a dirndl, probably most of the people will mistake her for a waitress and expect her to bring them beer.

It's hardly an obsession, rather, just information someone requested. Gee.

You might be surprised to know that there are folk-dance groups here in the U.S. that perform in costumes from various countries.

I know, I've been at 2 of those "meetings". (One was in Canada). It was fun!!, but really really weird. Like a melting pot, where totally different German traditions were melted into one. The clothes at least were unrecognizable.

I think it's just wanting to be part of the festivities just for fun, that's all. I know lots of people that will buy a Halloween costume for a party even though they don't intend to wear it again. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on such a thing, though, that's the problem, some of them are pretty expensive from what I've seen. I know folks who have bought mantillas and special outfits for some festivals in Spain, also (I think the Feria in the spring or something).