Celebrity stylist Samuel Sohebi expects an Oktoberfest with lots of pink this year. “2023 is simply the Barbie year and pink is an absolute trend,” said the 33-year-old fashion consultant and influencer of the German Press Agency in Munich. “Because of Instagram in particular, this Barbie hype has become really huge and nobody can avoid it this year.”
Millions of visitors are expected again this year at the Wiesn, which starts on September 16th. The majority of them still go in dirndls or lederhosen – but not all of them anymore, as Tobias Appl, district home nurse in the Upper Palatinate, says.
“In fact, it is reported from various Bavarian folk festivals that the majority of people continue to appear in traditional costume,” he told the dpa. The times when that was “100 percent of the visitors: inside” are “probably over”. The proportion of non-traditional wearers is increasing year by year. “You can see that there are fads here too,” says Appl. Axel Munz, Managing Director of the Angermaier Trachtenhaus, contradicts this. He finds: “There has never been so much traditional costume at the Wiesn as there is now.”
For Sohebi, who styled Paris Hilton for the Oktoberfest in 2007, jeans and a shirt are a no-go at the Oktoberfest: “It’s a festive tradition and I think it’s extremely important that you go to the Oktoberfest in traditional costume and not in Everyday clothes,” he says – and not in jeans. “It’s like going to a wedding in jeans or going to church on a Sunday.”
In terms of fashion, the Oktoberfest is also so important because of the time of year, says Sohebi: “September is the New Year in the fashion world, everything starts all over again in September and that’s why the Wiesn is a platform for Munich in terms of styling, but also for Bavaria and Germany. You show who you are with the latest trends.” In addition to pink, there are mainly flowers – large on the head as a wreath of flowers, discreetly embroidered on the dirndl or as a brooch.
District home nurse Appl sees a trend towards more restraint: “At the moment, fashion seems to be suggesting more high-necked blouses, longer skirts and less flashy colors,” he says. But there is always “a lot parallel: cheap dirndl, self-tailored, expensive made-to-measure products, high-quality industrial goods, heirlooms, designer parts with sometimes unusual motifs and colors – and summer dresses or jeans and T-shirts for women who do not wear traditional costumes.” ( dpa)