Lederhosen shirts: smart or casual?

Bavarian leather breeches have a lot in common with jeans – and not just because there are now jeans available in lederhosen look! Both jeans and lederhosen can, for example, be worn both smart or casual depending on what kind of shirt you wear with them.

Which is a very handy characteristic! All you have to do is buy one decent pair of leather shorts and then you can wear them for all sorts of different occasions while you’re in Bavaria: all you need are the right Lederhosen shirts. So if you want to know which shirts to wear with your lederhosen at, say, a Bavarian wedding or at the Oktoberfest, read on…

Everyday wear
Guys who actually wear leather breeches for their original purpose – as work clothes – know exactly what the perfect work shirt needs to be: comfortable and robust. So if you’re planning to wear your lederhosen all day (or to look as if you do!), then you’ll need a classic linen shirt in white or beige. They have short crew-neck collars to let your skin breathe and can be opened down to the breastbone; the cut leaves plenty of air around your torso and hips and they’re simply a joy to ear. A must for anyone with plans while they’re in Bavaria beyond just sitting in the beer garden.

Stylish models
For those who are planning to spend all day in the beer garden, however, there’s a simple recommendation: a traditional Trachtenhemd, a Bavarian checked shirt. The cut is much like that of a standard shirt – the collar and cuffs will be familiar to anyone with an office job – but they’re worn casually with the collar one or two buttons open and the shirt sleeves rolled up when it gets warmer. The traditional colours are blue, red, and green with white, but you’ll also see more modern variants in sky blue and turquoise, lilac and even pink. Also, in recent years, the check patterns has also been experimented with, with newer versions offering larger, stronger squares.

Fashion shirts
Which brings us onto the next point: if you really want to look fashionable, your shirt is your friend. After all, most of us won’t want to be buying a new lederhosen every year, as this would go against the principle of investing once in a long-lasting piece. It makes far more sense just to change the shirts, and in 2014, the most up-to-date models are playing with typical check patterns. Not only are the checks themselves larger and broader, but we’re now seeing lots of “deconstructed” check patterns in which, for example, the horizontal lines disappear in the bottom half of the shirt, or two sizes of check blocks appear on one shirt. Another big message in 2014 is that prints and patches on shirts are bigger than ever. Previously limited to shoulders and the upper back, prints are taking over entire shirts: nothing is safe from deer sketches or German vocabulary. So this year, if you fancy something outlandish, just go for it.

Dress shirts
But now let’s imagine you’ve been invited to a real Bavarian wedding, for example, or to a reserved box at the prestigious Augustiner tent. Now your shirt can only be one thing: classic. That means white, starchy, and with no details other than staghorn buttons and pin tucks (those fold-ins along the opening at the front). No prints or extravagant check patterns here, I’m afraid it’s just got to look classy. Even if the lederhosen itself isn’t brand spanking new: that’s not only acceptable, but encouraged!