Rare Dirndl

Sartorial Saturday–The Top Five Looks of 2024

Time for a very special three-for-the-price-of-one “Top Five” list!

As I was looking back over the outfits I wore this year, I realized that choosing favorites would be much easier if I organized my various looks into categories. In the end, I came up with three different styles…outfits featuring Miss Candyfloss pieces, Rare Dirndl looks, and “Festive Fashion” ensembles.

Let’s start with the Miss Candyfloss outfits. The combination of coat, hat, and jumpsuit makes this look extra impressive:

I love how bright and cheerful my dress and jacket for Easter were!

Pairing my first trumpet skirt in teal with a purple top made this outfit one step away from Disney Bounding Ariel, and I love it!

This was a surprise release from the autumn/winter Miss Candyfloss, and I loved it as soon as I saw it…the colors are absolutely gorgeous, and I feel like I’m glowing when I wear it!

Finally, a Miss Candyfloss dress in my favorite style, with a bold color palette that I love.

Next the Rare Dirndl looks. I wore a dirndl 29 times this year, so I had a lot to choose from! I paired the apron from my very first Rare Dirndl purchase with the dress from the second, and they look so nice together!

Pairing the Magician dirndl with this year’s summer apron was a bold choice, but I love how the colors look together!

The Harlequin dirndl paired with a lace apron was my pick for St. Charles Oktoberfest:

I was really into the combination of purple and teal this year, so pairing the 2024 Halloween apron (and a coordinating ribbon) with my purple dirndl dress was a natural choice:

And the Frühling dirndl from this year’s Jahreszeiten collection is absolutely stunning:

And finally, my favorite Festive Fashion ensembles. I added a new dress to my wardrobe this year, in an unexpected color palette for Christmas, and it was a lot of fun to style with a cropped cardigan and pastel accessories.

This blouse is a fairly new addition to my wardrobe, and I knew I wanted to wear it with a Christmas print…I really like how this look turned out!

I wasn’t sure that this Miss Candyfloss blouse would work with this skirt…I was afraid it would be too busy. But in the end, I absolutely love the combination…it might be one of my favorite looks period from this year!

I also wasn’t totally sure about wearing my new Rare Dirndl apron with my Magician dirndl, but it too was a successful pairing in the end:

And I was really excited to pair my newest dirndl with my gnome print apron…it’s a totally fun festive look!

Would it even be a “Top Five” list without a bonus addition? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include this outfit in the dirndl section or with the festive fashions, so I decided to just let it stand on its own!

So there you have it…a “Top Five” list that turned into 16! I’m looking forward to finding new ways to wear all of my favorite pieces in the coming year!

Sartorial Saturday…On a Thursday–The Most Festive of Fashions

This year has been all about the festive fashions…for the last month, I’ve been wearing Christmas pieces almost exclusively, and on the rare occasions I didn’t, I was still on point with colors and festive accessories. You’ll get a snapshot of all of those looks in my daily outfit recap next week, but for now, let’s take a look at the ensembles I put together for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

My look on the 24th was full of holiday cheer, but pretty standard:

But I especially liked the placement of my hair comb:

And of course I wore my Miss Candyfloss dressing gown when we got home from church…it’s the perfect glamorous piece for celebrating!

I was really happy with my look for Christmas Day, which featured my red Everyday Dirndl from Rare Dirndl, and my new Christmas apron:

And I think I did really well with accessories, too, especially the addition of a mini ornament brooch from Erstwilder on my zipper pull:

Back at home, I also got to wear the elegant new Miss Candyfloss robe I received for Christmas:

I’ve really had a lot of fun with my festive fashions this year!

Sartorial Saturday–A Velvet Apron for Christmas

It’s that time of year again…a new Christmas apron from Rare Dirndl has been added to my wardrobe!

This is a newer tradition that I really look forward…once fall hits, I start wondering what this year’s apron will look like. I was super excited to see this green velvet variety with holly-print ties (it was also offered with plaid and Santa-print ties)…velvet just screams “Christmas” to me!

It’s so luxurious, and is such a great match for my elegant brocade dirndl!

I accessorized with a tiny pair of wreath earrings, an Erstwilder brooch worn as a necklace, and a stack of Splendette duchess bangles:

I love wearing a festive dirndl to the Christkindlmarkt in downtown Belleville!

I bought a new pair of ankle boots to go with some of my Miss Candyfloss dresses, but I discovered that they are also a perfect match for my Magician dirndl!

This is such a fun way to dress for Christmas!

What festive fashion are you planning this season?

Sartorial Saturday…On a Wednesday–The Custom Dirndl Experience: Part Six

It’s only been a week, but I already have my Rare Dirndl custom dirndl in hand for a fitting, so here’s an early look at how it’s coming along!

It definitely needs some tweaks…the skirt on the dress I’m having it made from wasn’t straight (which wasn’t entirely a surprise to me in retrospect), so that’s going to need to be adjusted, and may end up being shorter than the dirndls I normally wear, so I’ll have to decide if I’m comfortable with that or if I want to add a border to it. The colors Erika picked are gorgeous, and the apron is especially lovely…I wanted something sheer enough to let the butterfly pattern of the dress show through, and she found just what I had in mind!

I’ll be sending it back so she can work on it some more…stay tuned for the next update!

Sartorial Saturday…On a Wednesday–The Custom Dirndl Experience: Part Five

I got a little glimpse at how my custom dirndl from Rare Dirndl is coming together and I’m so excited I wanted to share!

Sartorial Saturday–Falling for Frühling

It might be autumn, but I am absolutely falling in love with the Frühling dirndl from Rare Dirndl!

I’m actually a little late to the party with this one. Rare Dirndl released a new collection celebrating the four seasons, Jahreszeiten, earlier this year. The four-piece collection ranges from a summery mini dirndl to a longer-length dirndl for autumn as well as a glittery green for winter. The dirndl that caught my eye, however, was the one inspired by spring. The dress is a lovely shade of grey, with a small print on the bodice and a solid skirt. The apron included with the dirndl upon release was a pretty coral, grey, and white floral print, but what really convinced me that I needed to add this dirndl to my wardrobe was the lilac, mint, and white apron that was added as an option when the other fabric sold out. The coral was beautiful, but this is absolutely stunning!

I went with my standard accessories…edelweiss earrings, necklace, and wrap bracelet with a pop of color, plus a floral crown in keeping with the spring theme:

Speaking of accessories, the dirndl came with a lovely edelweiss zipper pull:

The cool grey of the dirndl is so beautiful with the lilac and mint of the apron, but it’s also a nice neutral backdrop that will look fantastic with many of my aprons!

I have gotten so much use out of this lederhosen handbag this Oktoberfest season!

My Docs plus my grey dirndl socks were great accompaniments to this look:

It might be fall, but it was a warm day when I wore the dirndl, and the lightweight fabric was very much appreciated!

Here’s a closer look at the stunning apron…I especially love the tiny print on the tie! And of course the dress has pockets!

I had a lot of fun wearing it for the first time to Oktoberfest in Soulard, St. Louis, MO!

The regal high collar neckline is a little different from my other dirndls, and I really love the fit.

I’m already looking forward to seeing what kind of collection Rare Dirndl might introduce next year!

Sartorial Saturday…on a Wednesday–The Custom Dirndl Experience: Part Four

My custom dirndl is off to be sewn! Check out the amazing butterfly-print fabric Erika found for the lining!

Oktoberfest 2024

It’s time for a look back at all of the Oktoberfest fun we’ve enjoyed over the last month or so!

We started close to home toward the end of September, with Belleville Oktoberfest, which begins even before the big celebration in Munich. It’s not my favorite Oktoberfest, but it’s easy to attend, and I love any reason to wear a dirndl!

Next up was my favorite area Oktoberfest, in St. Charles, MO. This year’s event was interesting because it was super muddy, but still a lot of fun, with music, dancing, food, and shopping.

We went back to Zootoberfest at the St. Louis Zoo…they still have the best pretzels!

New to us this year was Soulard’s Oktoberfest in St. Louis. There was more good music with the added bonus of a stroll through the Soulard Market.

And finally, our family Oktoberfest, once all of the other area celebrations had wrapped up. We started with an Oktoberfest Eve meal of brats and sauerkraut, plus German tater tots inspired by the ones we tried in Soulard, and apple strudel made by Ladybug for dessert.

Of course I had to put together one more look featuring Rare Dirndl, and it was also a bit of a Disney Bound, as a nod to the Disney Princess with my favorite fashion sense, Rapunzel!

We made pretzels, and instead of fondue, I made Obatzda, a German cheese spread that’s great on the pretzels.

For dinner we had all of my German favorites…Schweineschnitzel, spaetzle, and rotkohl….all homemade, too!

Every good holiday deserves a special drink…I made an apple pie mocktail with apple cider, caramel syrup, cinnamon, and ginger beer. It tasted like fall in a glass, and I even learned how to make an apple fan for a garnish!

And for dessert, one of our family’s all-time favorites–Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte!

I’m kind of sad that Oktoberfest season is over already…it’s become something I really look forward to every year!

Sartorial Saturday…on a Wednesday–The Custom Dirndl Experience: Part Three

Erika followed up on the sketches she made for my custom dirndl very quickly, and I had the swatches in the mail yesterday!

It was so exciting to see the fabric and trim bits she had chosen, and just like the sketches, they were exactly what I had in mind, from the bold yellow for the bodice to the sheer green of the apron, which will allow the pattern to peek through. I also love that she included two options for the pink trim…it’s so nice to have choices! I’m so excited to see it all come together!!!

Sartorial Saturday…on a Sunday–The Custom Dirndl Experience: Part Two

This weekend I have a bonus Sartorial Saturday (on a Sunday), because I’m so excited to already have an update on my custom dirndl experience with Rare Dirndl!

Less than a week after she received the Mary Blair dress I sent her, Erika put together three sketches of potential transformations based on the conversation we had:

I was expecting there to be some back and forth to hammer out the details, but when I looked at the very first sketch she sent me, I realized that was going to be unnecessary, because she had drawn EXACTLY what I wanted. I actually cried, it’s so perfect. Some details were things we had discussed…I had mentioned an interest in a yellow bodice for the dress, and a somewhat sheer fabric for the apron so that the butterfly print would still be visually present. But she picked precisely the shade of green for the apron I had imagined, and added some pink braid trim to the bodice, which I also had in mind. I hadn’t brought up all of these small details, because I couldn’t actually picture how they would look in my mind, and I wanted to see what Erika would come up with because I really trust her fashion and design instincts. As it turns out, she understands the vision I have for this project just as well, if not better, than I do!

Next Erika is going to be sourcing fabrics and trim and sending me swatches…I hope what she finds is as gorgeous as the sketches she drew!