Heavy fabric

Bright colors on a golden background next to deep black bridal attire: Traditional Danube Swabian costumes provide surprising insights into the former lives of women and girls.

For the first time, the DZM is showing the most valuable pieces from its textile collection: women's and girls' clothing from 1880 to 1990. The completely preserved clothing ensembles illustrate the close relationship between people and their clothes - from working garments to bridal outfits, from girls' costumes to burial dresses. The special feature: Each costume is associated with a female life story.

Each ensemble in the exhibition is unique. Until the Second World War, clothing was not mass-produced, but made to measure. Girls and women made them themselves, fitted them, cleaned and repaired them. They followed village traditions, but were also enthusiastic about newfangled fabrics and the rich colors of neighboring Hungary. When National Socialist "innovators" introduced a uniform Danube Swabian costume in Yugoslavia in the 1930s, many women were seduced by it.

But textiles can be transformed when life demands it. After 1945, displaced women sewed their wide traditional skirts into chic dance dresses. And for the exhibition, young people have upcycled the remnants of old Danube Swabian clothing into fashionable outfits.