From schnitzel on a double decker bus to Oktoberfest in Wapping, German culture is hitting the capital hard this month.

If you want to get in on the action, first things first, it’s important to look like a German. In the absence of an Angela Merkel pant-suit or Boris Becker tight shorts, most people opt for traditional Bavarian lederhosen (literally: leather trousers) or dirdl.

Lederhosen are sort of brown goats’-hide dungaree-shorts. Presumably everyone in Bavaria looks like a toddler blacksmith. The dirndl is best described as a serving wench outfit with a built-in push-up-bra; cleavage featuring centre stage.

Should your leather-clad suitor shift his gaze then he will be able to determine your relationship status by the knot of the pinny round your waist. Achtung feminists! The knot tied to the left signifies she’s up for it, to the right means she’s taken. Or was it the other way round? 

Rachel Penn from Dirndl and Lederhosen supplier Winkler sets the record straight, “if the knots are located on the left side, it indicates that she is single, if the knot is on the right side, it means that the lady is either engaged or married and a knot tied in the front centre means that the lady is a virgin. If it’s tied centrally at the back, that means that she is widowed”. Tinder must’ve gone down a storm in Bavaria.

Unless you’re passing through Munich the best place to get the authentic costume is online. Winkler is a UK- based supplier shipping direct from southern Germany.

If you’re less fussy about authenticity, most London joke and costume shops can help out; Clapham’s non-stop Party shop has lederhosen starting at £35. It even does it in PVC, in case.

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