Costume in the Kingdom of Bavaria: 1825

As a sort of continuation of my last post, I wanted to talk about the second super useful book which I was shown at the Trachten Informationszentrum.  National Kostüme Des Königreiches Bayern is a reprint of a collection of prints from 1825, all of which show various styles of dress and genre scenes of everyday life across Bavaria.  (naturally, it is also out of print and not easy to find...)

Fig.1: [1825] Kellnerinnen von München (Waitresses/Bar-Maids from Munich)

The women pictured in Fig.1 are wearing gowns that appear to be in line with the fashions throughout Europe at that time.  The waistlines are at a fairly natural height, hems gently brush the top of the feet and carry various styles of decorative trim, and the sleeves are moderately full.  Over top of these gowns, the women wear a stays/corset-like garment called a mieder, which unlike the more broadly fashionable gowns is a specifically regional item of clothing.  Their ensembles are finished off with aprons, colourful kerchiefs, and a style of embroidered or beaded headdress specific to Munich and Upper Bavaria.

 Fig.2: [1825] Sennerinnen von der Kreutz Alpe Tegernsee (Milkmaids from Tegernsee, an area near the Alps not far from Munich)

The styles shown in Fig.2 appear quite different to those in Fig.1, but though highly regionalized, the silhouettes still reflect broader fashions of the time.  The waistlines are still raised to the height which had been fashionable about five to eight years prior to this point, and skirts maintain the volume as those seen in Fig.1. However, Fig.2 is particularly wonderful as it depicts nearly every item of women’s clothing typically worn in the Upper Bavarian region during this time period.  These garments consisted of a linen shift worn underneath everything, over the shift came the leibchen which was often armless and buttoned up the front, next is the mieder as mentioned above, skirt, jacket, kerchief, apron, and the footless stockings which were also worn by the men of the region.

 [1825] Kirchwieh Tanz in der Umgegend von Tegernsee (Religious Festival/Parish Fair Dance in the area of Tegernsee)

This last example is also featured on the front cover of the book, and for good reason I think.  It's great seeing men's and women's fashions side by side!  The book is chock full of a wide variety of wonderful imagery, but I'm rather leery of stepping on too many copyright toes and don't feel comfortable posting everything.