Dear pseudo bavarian men who swarm Munich at times of Oktoberfest, I have to raise a plea. Yes, of course you can wear Lederhosen. Of course, of course. But consider this: You need good legs for this, you really do.
Don’t worry, life is not easier for women, not at all. Every woman at size M and above just does not really look sexy in a Dirndl, no, they don’t. They just look like a matron. But, this does not lower the benchmark for you, it just means that you are in charge to keep non-dirndl women from being displacedly embarrased for their fellow women who misinterpret Oktoberfest with Carnival.
Boys, you need good legs for this, otherwise you cause sympathetic winces rather than the appreciation you desire. And – important – you need to wear proper shoes, too. Those shown in the picture are not proper shoes, b.t.w.
P.S.: I just learned today, that “fremdschämen” is very hard to translate to English, causing interminable threads in Leo explaining the word to language-lovers who have never before heard it. Finally, I found “displaced embarrassment” and “sympathetic wince” which seems to represent it best.
It apparently is called vergüenza ajena in Spanish, and plaatsvervangende schaamte in Dutch – as taught by http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=635.
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