text: The history of tracht in the 19th century is inseparable from the history of the movement in German-speaking countries to promote folk costume (Trachtenbewegung). The idea of an approved folk costume dates back to the 18th century, and was promoted by the Swedish king Gustav III. At the beginning of the 19th century, enthusiasm for the different costumes of the rural population developed at the royal courts of Bavaria and Austria. The interest in traditional costume was part of a wider cultural response to the humiliations suffered through the repeated foreign invasions during the Napoleonic Wars. The German-speaking peoples investigated their cultural heritage as a reaffirmation of their identity. The result was a flowering of research and artistic work centred around Germanic cultural traditions, expressed in painting, literature, architecture, music and promotion of German language and folklore.
  The first extensive description of traditional tracht in the different regions was given by the Bavarian official Joseph von Hazzi (1768–1845). A comprehensive description of Bavarian national costumes was published in 1830 by the archivist Felix Joseph von Lipowsky. A parade of traditional costumes took place in 1835 at Oktoberfest, to celebrate the silver wedding anniversary of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Queen Therese. Under his successor  Maximilian II, traditional costumes were officially recognised as clothing suitable for wearing at the royal court. The king himself included officials wearing tracht in his court ceremonies and wrote in 1849 that he considered the wearing of traditional dress of "great importance" for national sentiment.
  In 1859, the first association to promote traditional costume was founded in Miesbach in Bavaria. In the following years, similar tracht associations (Trachtenvereine) were founded throughout Germany and Austria.  The first umbrella organisation for the tracht associations was founded in 1890. In 1895, the Bavarian novelist Maximilian Schmidt organized a parade of traditional costume at Oktoberfest, with 1,400 participants in 150 traditional costume groups.