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Visit Villach, Austria! Swiss Festivals Kaiserslautern JUNE/JULY 2013 Dirndls in the USA $5.95 CANADA $6.50 Timber Rafting DIRNDLS ON DEMAND BY MARK MEIER

Today, Dirndl designers in the are both basking in the traditional and stretching the boundaries for a look that is unmistakably German.

NEUMAYER USES DESIGN TO NEW LIFE TO ONE OF THE TRADITIONAL SYMBOLS OF HER GERMAN HERITAGE. HERE SHE ADDS THE FINISHING TOUCHES TO ONE OF HER CONTEM- PORARY DIRNDLS. COURTESY ERIKA NEUMAYER.

The dirndl is a staple of the world over and instantly recognizable: a , a , a , an . Like other traditional Trachten, such as Leder- hosen, the dirndl was once the everyday wear of work- ing folk in southern and Austria and became popular around the end of the nineteenth century as an emblem of national heritage. The German-speaking remain the center of the dirndl universe, with a few dirndl designers in Salzburg and many more in , where – since 2011 – the glossy, high-fashion Dirndl Magazine has also been published. The spring/summer 2012 issue even featured wedding dirndls, bedecked with pearls and shimmering in shades of white. The United States, how- ever, also has its dirndl designers, who maintain a neces- sary balance between tradition and contemporary fashion. One designer – Christel Cloyd – grew up near Han- nover, Germany. She moved with her husband to Kansas, but made regular trips to Germany and Austria to visit family. “Every time I went there,” she recalls, “someone wanted me to bring something back: sweaters, Lederho- sen, jackets. My friend said, ‘Instead of bringing some- thing, why not just import it and sell it?’” With that sug- gestion, Bergland Trachten was born in 1987. Cloyd’s company imports and sells some items, such as men’s hats or jewelry, but Cloyd also imports fabrics from Germany and Austria, which she then turns into custom UNLIKE MOST FASHION, THE ENDURING DIRNDL HAS dirndls. She does make some dirndls without an advance REMAINED, BASICALLY, UNTOUCHED BUT ERIKA NEUMAYER order to sell off the rack at festivals, at a store in Wich- IS FORGING A NEW PATH WITH HER FUN, YOUTHFUL ita open only by appointment, or through her website DESIGNS. COURTESY ERIKA NEUMAYER. http://www.berglandtrachten.com/. Most of the time,

16 GERMAN LIFE • JUNE/JULY 2013 THOSE SEEKING TRADITION- AL DESIGN AND UNIQUE FABRICS TURN TO CHRIS- TEL CLOYD OF BERGLAND TRACHTEN. CHRISTEL TAKES PRIDE IN SOURCING HER REGARDLESS OF THE AGE, FABRIC SELECTIONS FROM A DIRNDL MAKES A DISTINCTIVE GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. FASHION STATEMENT. COURTESY CHRISTEL CLOYD. COURTESY CHRISTEL CLOYD. however, Cloyd’s customers come to her with specific fashion for dirndls.” orders: “They tell us exactly what they want.” Eventu- Neumayer won awards for a collection based on ally, that is. Since Cloyd supplies to choirs and Donauschwaben dresses, and after graduation, worked a dance groups, the members sometimes need a whole year few nights a week in a German restaurant and set up a to agree on a final design. Cloyd always works with the fashion shop, Rare, in her parents’ dining room in 2010. most recent fabrics and will not offer the same fabric to “The dining room table is my cutting board,” she says, two different groups, however, thus ensuring that each “and I emptied out the China cabinet and it now holds all organization has a unique look. my materials.” The day we spoke, however, she and her Once the design is finished, Cloyd and a team of several dad were going over to refurbish the floors of a space that workers swing into action. In a typical year, she may pro- is now her studio at 5051 North Lincoln Avenue in Chi- duce one hundred to one hundred fifty dirndls for adults cago. (Neumayer mainly takes orders through her website and another forty or fifty for children. Most of her cus- http://erikaneumayer.com/). tomers live in the Midwest or on the East Coast, such as Neumayer was drawn to dirndls because of her heritage the Alpenrose group in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. None- and because she likes “to be creative and really push the theless, Cloyd fills orders coast to coast, and has even boundaries. In the fashion world, so much has already been able to get an order one night and send it out the been done. With dirndls, though, the style is so far back next morning. Customers seem thrilled by their dirndls’ in time, not a lot has been done. I like to mix fabrics and arrival. Cloyd quotes from a recent e-mail: “First let me colors. It’s fun.” She quickly began to produce menswear, say that I am very impressed with everything! The Mieder too, in response to demand. with pin tucking is gorgeous!” Neumayer’s collections comprise twelve to fifteen piec- Such feedback, frequently accompanied with pictures, “is es, of which she may make only ten of any piece, meaning definitely one of the highlights of our business” for Cloyd. “if you buy something, you know only ten other people Another highlight is “I can do it whenever I want; I can in the United States are walking around with it.” The col- work at my own pace.” Granted, September to Christmas lections run the array from the bright primary colors and is exceptionally busy, but Cloyd still enjoys the business. polka dots and zebra stripes of “Sunkissed” to the dark- North of Cloyd, Erika Neumayer was born in Chicago er shades and plaids of her fall/winter 2012 collection the year before Cloyd began Bergland Trachten. Neu- “Beautiful, Dark Days,” inspired, Neumayer explains, by mayer grew up as a member of the American Aid Soci- “listening to lots of grunge.” The 1990s musical theme ety for German Descendants and began dancing with the carries through to the names of individual items, such group in high school, which meant wearing the requisite as the “Smells Like Teen Spirit Dirndl” or “Black Hole dirndl. Neumayer went to Dominican University to study Sun Dirndl,” which pale women model in front of an old fashion and also spent a summer studying in . She building with peeling paint and tires in the foreground. began to realize that “the United States dirndl market Her Facebook page, meanwhile, hints of an Alice in Won- could use a little lift. Europe was way ahead in terms of derland theme for spring/summer 2013.

JUNE/JULY 2013 • GERMAN LIFE 17 BY POPULAR DEMAND, RARE’S LINE OF CLOTHING NOW ALSO INCLUDES CLOTHING CHOICES FOR MEN. COURTESY ERIKA NEUMAYER.

working with her. Yet building the business is much like Neumayer’s least favorite task, making patterns and get- ting the fit right on a new pattern. “It’s always a challenge and can be really tedious. Creating new shapes for the human body is always difficult.” Nonetheless, with Cloyd and Neumayer, through more fun than toil, the familiar dirndl keeps finding new shapes ERIKA NEUMAYER DESIGNS FOR and figures to drape.GL WOMEN WHO, “HAVE A DIRNDL CLOSET LIKE I DO, BUT WANT Like the Look? SOMETHING FRESH…” If you are in the market for a Trachten, the following COURTESY ERIKA NEUMAYER. businesses might just have what you are looking for:

Bergland Trachten Explaining yourself as an haute-couture dirndl designer 547 E. Grand Avenue may provoke some confused faces, but Neumayer relishes Ste. 5, P.O. Box 52 the mix. “I can stay in touch with the fashion world, but Haysville, KS 67060 I can also have a bear in my fashion shoots.” She keeps Telephone: 1-888-524-0052 or 316-524-0019 up with the major fashion shows in Paris and New York www.berglandtrachten.com as well as trends in Munich. “But of course,” she adds, “I have my own ideas and keep up with what’s going on in Ernst Licht the United States. Ninety-nine percent of my customers 347 Main Street are American.” Neumayer describes her buyers typi- Oley, PA 19547 cally as women “who have a dirndl closet like I do, but Telephone: 610-987-3298 or 1-800-776-3298 want something fresh. They want to be fashion forward but also want to hang onto their German heritage.” The German Wear men who wear her shirts likewise have an equal interest in Telephone: 888-743-6296 tradition and innovation. www.germanwear.com Being based in the United States helps cut down on the competition for Neumayer, but as a one-woman shop Rare with only occasional interns, she still struggles to stay on 5051 N. Lincoln Avenue top of everything. She attends festivals and trade shows, Chicago, IL 60625 takes and fills orders, plans new collections, and keeps ac- Telephone: 312-806-5099 tive on social media. She looks forward to the day when www.erikaneumayer.com she is not doing it all by herself and can have a few people

18 GERMAN LIFE • JUNE/JULY 2013 The acculturation of the For- ty-Eighters: Lessons for today’s immigrants. Biographical sketches of Forty-Eighters. German-American Immigration Experience. Low German in America. How would widely held Turner be- liefs mesh with recent developments in the United States, such as the role of government versus the rights of the individual, public education ver- www.germanwear.com Short & Long Dirndls sus private religious beliefs, or public Dirndl Set (Includes Top & Apron) health care programs? With Suspenders Graduate students and junior fac- Boiled Jackets & Sweaters ulty are especially encouraged to ap- Trachten Jackets & Long Coats ply. For these applicants, a limited number of travel subsides is avail- able to defray transportation costs. In your proposals, please indicate if you would like to be considered for the subsidy. The conference is funded through generous donations from Deutsche Welle and a private individual. Ad- ditional support is provided by the High Quality Clothing from Germany & Austria Kleinfeld Lecture/Event Series at www.germanwear.com • 888.743.6296 Wartburg College. More information about the con- ferenceCOURTESY as it becomes ERIKA NEUMAYER. available can be found at the conference website: NewDrink Spring 2013 Collection! like a www.wartburg.edu/1848. German In the Beginning… Down the Leipzig Celebrates its Famous Rabbit. . . your Hole tea that is! Son RichardThere Wagner was in 2013 Music Jewelry Leipzig is celebrating the two hun- dredth anniversaryErnst Lichtof the birth of Germany’s finest teas and tea RichardErnst Licht Wagner, who was and born Imports here accessories available online onis the 22 oldest May supplier1813. Whoever of Dirndls wants and Beer Steins toother understand Trachten theand traditionalyoung Wagner Ger- www.TEEKANNE.US.COM mustman goodscome into the Leipzig, US. Founded especially by or call toll free 800.556.6674 inthe the German anniversary emigrant year Ernst 2013: Licht, one the company hasContinued an extensive on page online 29 catalog (www.ernstlicht.com) and printThe catalogue Wooden as well Wagonas a store in Shop Oley, Pennsylvania, about 55 miles Oktoberfest northwest of Philadelphia. The Now!! Ladies Clothing store’s team of tailors produces and customizes Dirndls with materials from Germany and can offer quan- Hats and tity discounts. In 1983, the entire Feathers Oley Township was designated a Na- tional Historic District to preserve the agricultural natureHandcrafted of the German area as Mens Clothing well as many of folkthe arteighteenth-cen & natural toys - from Europe tury Pennsylvania Dutch buildings www.ernstlicht.com andwww.thewoodenwagon.com other historic architecture. www.raredirndl.comby erika neumayer 610 987 9496

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