For Oktoberfest 2026: Lufthansa’s New Traditional Bavarian Attire

Shop assistants selling haferl shoes, vests, and dirndl bodices in their best Bavarian dialect frequently offer the same piece of advice: “You could totally wear that with jeans.” That the combination can actually look incredibly stylish is proven by designer Elisa Berzgahi-Freymann when we meet her at her showroom in northern ​Munich. She’s wearing a sunflower-yellow dirndl bodice paired with rhinestone-studded blue jeans and equally sparkly ballet flats. 

The color palette of her fantastic outfit – yellow and blue – already hints at something: Berzgahi-Freymann is the designer behind this year’s collection of Lufthansa traditional garments. Unlike her other designs for the traditional wear label Spieth & Wensky, though, this particular collection isn’t for sale. The Lufthansa dirndls, lederhosen, jackets, and other items will be worn exclusively by Lufthansa flight attendants on select long-haul flights during Munich’s Oktoberfest. 

“When I got the call that I’d been chosen to design the Lufthansa collection, it was just wonderful – such an emotional moment,” Berzgahi-Freymann says. “I had manifested that moment deep down, and I still get goosebumps talking about it.” 

Berzgahi-Freymann studied fashion design at the Munich campus of ESMOD, the renowned ​Paris fashion school. Knowing how fierce the competition in the fashion industry is, she went looking for a niche – and found one early on, during an internship at the German luxury label Escada. “At the time, they were working on their first traditional wear collection, and I got to help develop it,” the designer recalls. “I loved it. I kept digging deeper and deeper into the subject, and in 2011 I went independent.” She launched her own collection while also producing custom, made-to-measure pieces. 

Being chosen to design the Lufthansa collection brought things full circle for the Munich native in a way. Running her own business – and the fact that traditional wear is a seasonal trade – left her time for a side job: in 2017 and 2018, she spent exactly one year working as a Lufthansa flight attendant. “I’d always been drawn to flying, and I wanted to see more of the world,” Berzgahi-Freymann says. Choosing Lufthansa was an easy call. “My family originally comes from ​Brazil, and whenever we flew back to visit, it was almost always with Lufthansa,” she says. “Those are some really fond childhood memories.” 

“I think it’s important to always remember that the "Tracht" is rooted in tradition,” Berzgahi-Freymann says. “You shouldn’t just chase trends – you need to engage with the ​history behind the clothing. Where do the different cuts, techniques, and materials actually come from?” 

Designing a traditional outfit whose wearers would still be instantly recognizable as Lufthansa crew – that was the challenge Berzgahi-Freymann set out to overcome. The answer came down to colors, materials, and details. “For the lederhosen, we chose an elegant, cool gray, and the embroidery is done in Lufthansa’s signature dark blue,” the designer explains. The dirndl is also dark blue, though the skirt uses a specially developed jacquard fabric. “Here we worked with Lufthansa’s distinctive ‘wing pattern,’ the same motif you’ll find, for instance, inside the aircraft cabin,” Berzgahi-Freymann says. “We used that fabric for the men’s vest as well.” 

Details were just as important to Berzgahi-Freymann. The bow tie blouse, for example, pays homage to a signature element of the ​Lufthansa uniform: the neck scarf. “Of course, the crane is one of the main symbols people associate with Lufthansa,” says the former flight attendant. That iconic logo shows up throughout the new collection on the buttons – on both the women’s and men’s cardigans, as well as on the traditional vest worn by male flight attendants. 

Lufthansa’s Oktoberfest tradition is, comparatively speaking, a new one. Lufthansa flight attendants first wore dirndls back in 1957, delighting passengers even then – but it was a one-off event. Lufthansa revived the idea in 2006, and for 20 years running, guests have gotten to enjoy being looked after by dashing crew members in dirndls and lederhosen during Oktoberfest season. This year, 2026, will be no exception.

Elisa Berzgahi-Freymann studied fashion design in Munich. After an internship at Escada, she launched her own business as a designer of traditional Bavarian attire, creating both her own collections and custom, made-to-measure pieces. Today, she serves as head designer at the traditional wear label Spieth & Wensky.