Anja Tufina

Traveling to discover local fashion throughout Italy has been on my wish list for a while. I love traditional costumes and their history and get saddened to know that the craftsmanship of these dresses is being lost with time as the new generations are not interested that much in tradition. When I visited Merano, in Northern Italy, this past weekend I had the opportunity to visit a local shop, Trachten Runggaldier, that keeps the tradition strong and still offers to the locals and tourists a great selection of beautiful traditional dresses from the region.

  What I was surprised to learn is that in Merano every woman has a festive dress called Meraner Tracht or Merano Dirndl in their wardrobe and get to wear them around 40 days in a year for various celebrations like weddings, the Beer fest, and more.

In these pictures I’ve worn the Meraner Tracht, the typical dress from Merano that comes exactly in these colors but local girls also wear colorful versions of it called Merano Dirndl where you can actually decide according to personal taste the colors of the skirt, the bodice, bodice ribbons, apron etc.

I also loved the story of the apron and the messages that it can send depending on how you tie it. I learned that depending on the side and way you tie it you can send a message of you being single and available or married.  This way girls would ask to be approached at festivities.

Even though these were cold days of February the long sleeved Tschoap made from wool fabric or light Loden kept me warm in the walks around town. I also managed to get the hair style right in a bun, pierced horizontally from a silver hairpin.

I loved shooting an outfit like a fashion blogger while wearing this dress.