EDITORIAL

Left: Mother & daughter dressed in regional dress from Hohenloh. Together with husband/father they received the 1st Prize of the German Regional Dress Society in 2000 (see page 33)

Of the 106 issues of TF magazine thus far, this is the second dealing with clothing fashion and its variants. Two parallel events prompted us to choose this theme; first, we visited a regional dress exhibition, “Entwicklung und Tradition” (Development and Tradition€ at Galerie Handwerk, Munich. Despite reviewing it in TF 4/2007, we felt our contribution did not do it justice, as it left a lasting impression on us. The second event, “Hannover goes Fashion”, is currently taking place in our home town. It involves ten museums & cultural institutions, and is subtitled, “Kunst und Kultur der Mode. Ein Thema. Zehn Orte” (The art and history of fashion. One subject. Ten venues.€

As for the main event, Galerie Handwerk belongs to the Chamber of Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria, and thus seeks to promote craft trades. To this end it organises special shows at the International Craft Trade Fair in Munich. A special show in 2007, presented during the š9th edition of the fair, was entitled “Handwerk macht Mode” (Crafts Make Fashion€, and introduced many crafts involved with the production of regional dress and regional dress accessories. Maintenance of regional dress tradition probably plays a more important role in Upper Bavaria than anywhere else in the German-speaking areas, both historically and in public appreciation. To our knowledge, the local Regional Dress Information Centre, housed in the building complex of the former Benediktbeuern Abbey established on the northern edges of the Alps in 740 AD, enjoys more financial support from its regional authority than any other such centre. Incidentally, it currently has an interesting exhibition of Alpine regional dress

belts in its exhibition area, accompanied by a de luxe publication on the same theme (see page 27€.

Regional dress has attracted a great deal of scepticism in Germany and Austria since World War II. Under Hitler, it was abused as a national costume, and after the war it came to be perceived by critical young people as a relic of reactionary attitudes. We held the same view before visiting the Munich exhibition, but our fascination was kindled by the crafts that have survived due to a lively regional dress tradition. We saw for ourselves that our prejudice had caused us to ignore a small but beautiful world that is worth preserving and developing. Today these crafts survive because people still wear regional dress, but tomorrow they may thrive because they find entry into much broader applications, reconnecting us more closely with our origins.

Although we looked beyond the German border to Austria and Switzerland when considering our theme, we chose to focus on Bavaria, from the wealth of possible examples, because our personal experiences relate to this German region, and because Bavaria stands out in the way it recollects its own traditions. This is not least due to Oktoberfest, which lures people to Munich from all over the world. They immerse themselves in the bustle of the festival clothed in their dirndl dresses and lederhosen, and perhaps take home a slightly skewed image of the region.

We were unable to ascertain whether regional dress has a future beyond its role as a tourist attraction, but we hope that this issue will provide an interesting viewpoint on its future potential. „ „„„„„„„„„Beatrijs„Sterk/Dietmar„Laue

PRICE INCREASE FOR TEXTILE FORUM AS OF 2009 Price increases are not popular with clients, but having kept prices stable for five years we are obliged to raise them by 10% on average for individual issues of our magazine and subscriptions. This corresponds to an annual increase of 2%, well below the annual rate of inflation. In future, individual issues will be charged at Euro 12, and annual subscriptions at Euro 40 within Germany, and Euro 4š abroad. That this keeps us comparable

with similar magazines is small comfort to our readers. What may reconcile them is that from now on, we are printing all pages in colour, except the front and back inside covers. We expect to cover the associated increase in cost through internal rationalisation. (Incidentally, we will continue to apply the old price for combined subscriptions to TF + ETN!€ Beatrijs„Sterk,„publisher

Centre: Hunting amulets called "Charivari", worn by Peter Fugger from Munich, producer of hunting knifes Above: Pinfeather embroiderer Christian Fankhauser (centre) from Tirol All photos taken at the Greding Regional Dress Market 2008 by Beatrijs Sterk