Germany doesn't strike many people as an international stronghold of fashion. France may have the reputation of being Europe's fashion center, but Germany can hold its own when it comes to the realm of fashion and design. Germans have made a strong impact in the fashion industry - designers such as Karl Lagerfield, Wolfgang Joop, Hugo Boss and Helmut Lang are icons in the fashion industry. Their creations have shaped the fashion industry for decades and will continue doing so for years to come. German super models like Heidi Klum and Claudia Schiffer are considered some of the most beautiful women in the world, gracing catwalks across high profile fashion shows and appearing on the covers of fashion magazines.
Learners of the German language with an interest in fashion can choose from many methods to quickly familiarize themselves with fashion terms and the names of apparel in German. Learning the names of clothes in German falls under learning German vocabulary; all the tips and strategies used for vocabulary study can also be used here. Flash cards are a great way to expand one’s vocabulary by memorizing new words. You can use flash cards with pictures of clothes on one side and their names in German written on the other. A series of about 20 or 30 cards denoting an item of clothing each can be employed to help teach basic names of German clothes.
The English phrase “it makes no difference” has a German counterpart in 'Das ist Jacke wie Hose' which translates, word for word, to “this is jacket like trousers”. Like most idioms it makes no sense when translated to English but an examination into the origins of the phrase reveals something interesting about the influence of fashion on the German language. The 17th century saw a change in fashions in Europe where different items of clothing would all be made from the same fabric. The jackets and the pants of a suit worn by a man would be of cut from the same material. This is why the German equivalent of the phrase “it makes no difference” compares a jacket to a pair of pants.
Some common names of clothing items in German are as follows: shirts are “hemd” while pants are “hose”. A shoe in German is “schuh” and socks can either be “socke” or “strumpf”, depending on the gender of the wearer. Like most European languages German nouns are gender specific and this must be taken into account when learning the name of an item of clothing. The names of some clothes like T-shirt, jeans, pajama and sweatshirt are the same in German as they are in English, however, one must always keep in mind the differences in pronunciation.
The Fashion Phrasebook and the English to German clothing glossary at About.com are good webpages to refer to when looking for clothes' names and fashion phrases in German. To learn about the contemporary and historical styles and current trends of fashion in Germany one can visit the Fashion and Clothing section at the German culture website. This site also includes links to the online shops of various German retailers. It must be remembered that 7.7% of all web-pages on the Internet are written in German – many online shops are included in this statistic. Browsing an online shop can be a fun way to brush up on one's German skills while at the same time looking at the latest styles on offer.
