A standard work that still needs to be written is the one about the influence of dirndls and traditional jackets on the acceptance of politicians by voters. However, there must already be previously unpublished studies on this. Why else would Markus Söder, Prime Minister of a country in which everyone can say what they want, eat what they want and hopefully also wear what they want, instruct his Agriculture Minister to appear at her swearing-in in a dirndl ? And throw himself, who never misses an opportunity to emphasize his belonging to the Frankish tribe, into completely non-Franconian Joppen?
The traditional costume, and unfortunately also the Kasperlgwand, which is sold under this title especially during festival times, has become a kind of Bavarian uniform. When Marga Beckstein, the wife of the then Prime Minister, refused to do so, citing her Franconian, non-traditional origins, she was then even accused of complicity in the CSU election defeat in 2008.
Former Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber in the light Sommerstoiber in 2013. His wife Karin is wearing a dirndl.
(Photo: imago)
The former Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber wore the traditional costume – and even the stopper hat of the mountain riflemen – for state political reasons and with such conviction that the “light summer Stoiber” has become synonymous with the summer linen jacket.
Nevertheless, overall there is significantly more talk about the wardrobe of female politicians than that of male politicians. Only when Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg’s star shone briefly over Bavaria like the one over Bethlehem did people notice, almost astonished, that this man was extremely well dressed.
No one has ever said that about the incumbent Prime Minister, but given the many comparisons with his former rival, this probably hurts him the least. When it comes to wardrobe, he is painless, as he proved often enough in Veitshöchheim. And so on the first two Sundays of Advent he greeted the Bavarians online in a Christmas sweater. More precisely, in a different Christmas sweater every Sunday. There must be a previously unpublished study about the high level of acceptance of politicians in hideous sweaters. We are already very excited about the third Advent. And here’s to further studies.