What were the trends this year at the Munich Strong Beer Festival?

Although it’s utterly delicious and wonderfully potent, we don’t just go to Munich Nockherberg brewery and legendary Löwenbräukeller for the strong beer, you know. Oh no! And although our German-speaking friends are always laughing about the cabaret performances they have at the tapping ceremony, since we don’t get much of what is said, it’s not the acerbic political commentary that had us booking our flights either. No: besides the beer, the best thing about the Munich Strong Beer Festival – which has been going since late February and is now drawing to a close – is that it shows which Bavarian fashion trends are going to be big for its bigger brother, the Wiesn.

So what can we say about what to wear to the Oktoberfest 2015 based on what we’ve seen at the Starkbierfest?

Colours
After the Great Unexpected Swap between 2013 and 2014, in which previously hot colours suddenly became not-colours (guys, if you’ve still got predominantly brown, orange, or yellow gear – seriously – it’s got to go!), we’re always prepared for another shock. But this year, we and our wallets are happy to confirm that the fashionable colours of choice are still blue, green, mauve, and black.

There has been a small change, however, inasmuch as the palettes have become less saturated and less bright. So rather than Granny Smith apple green, we’ve seen a lot of natural shades like olive and hemp; blue, meanwhile, has split into tones such as azure, gentian, and turquoise. Shaded with beige and grey colours such as moleskin, the new 2015 pieces reach a level of understatement we haven’t seen for a while, regardless of whether we’re looking at lederhosen or dirndls, shirts or shoes. The powdered, toned-down colours used by Apline folk singer Stefanie Hertel (Wikipedia) in her annual collection are a good indicator of what to expect.

Materials
The reorientation towards natural shades is matched by a new focus on authenticity in terms of materials. Guys, especially, will be wearing more and more pieces made of linen: this classic Bavarian fabric used to be reserved for farmers’ and labourers’ shirts worn with lederhosen in workaday or casual environments, but is now being used to make waistcoats, jackets, and overcoats. This new move towards simpler, matte fabrics means that anything in gleaming black nappa leather will start to look old this year – even as a recently-trendy ladies’ lederhosen.

Shapes
The newly natural look we’re seeing in 2015 doesn’t mean, however, that cuts are becoming wider and fits looser. In fact, quite the opposite seems to be happening: skimpy bodices – with their tight lace-up fronts – are still a big thing for girls (although the increasingly puffed arms are adding more material to the pieces overall). Meanwhile, for the boys, there’s still no getting around the fact that not just shirts, but waistcoats and jackets, too, are still tailored. So anyone who has spent recent years buying tighter clothes (and perhaps on the odd diet), hasn’t made the effort for nothing, because the continuity factor is high here too.

Across all of the various individual areas – colour, materials, shapes – the overall trend we’ve seen in 2015 thus far is towards a less dressy, more everyday style that isn’t just for tapping ceremonies (Anstiche) and for the Oktoberfest, but for day-to-day wear too. Although that might not seem useful for those of us who live abroad, the focus on natural, breathable fabrics and darker shades ought to make Bavarian fashion all the more practical for those of us wearing them in the stain-conducive environment of an Oktoberfest tent…