In Austria the dirndl is widely seen as a national symbol, and many tourism and hospitality staff wear it as a uniform.
From working dress to summer fashion
The Austria-Forum describes the dirndl as a bodice, blouse, wide skirt and colourful apron, originally the working dress of female servants. Its name comes from a word for maid. Around 1870 to 1880 the upper classes took it up as a modern dress for summer holidays. An AFP report on an exhibition in Bad Ischl, the imperial summer residence, adds that court ladies wore it on trips to the countryside, while Wikipedia notes that Empress Elisabeth promoted a rustic dress based on it around 1875. Austria’s tourism board also notes that nobility and the bourgeoisie adopted Tracht as holiday fashion in the 19th century.
Regions and revival
Dirndl colours reflect landscapes, from blue for lakes to green for forests and pink for the alpine rose. Wikipedia mentions the blue polka-dot everyday dress of the Wachau. The Linz Goldhaube, a married woman’s bonnet of sequins and pearls, takes over 250 hours of handwork and is listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. After the Second World War interest declined, and the AFP report notes the word dirndl was banned under the Nazis. Wikipedia dates the revival to the 1972 Munich Olympics and a boom from the late 1990s, and a made-to-measure dirndl today can cost 650 to 1,000 euros.
Sources: Austria-Forum: Dirndl, Gulf Times (AFP): The humble Alpine dirndl, Austria.info: Tracht, Wikipedia: Dirndl.
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