Designer Blames Recession for Fashion Faux Pas

The questionable fashion sense of German men is as long standing a stereotype among fellow Europeans as those including sausages, lack of humor, mullet hairstyles and handlebar moustaches.

Such is the nature of preconceived ideas of national identity, these stereotypes are seen by more culturally-aware types as sweeping generalizations, and that white socks worn with sandals and shin-length stone-washed denim is the exception rather than the rule.

But when one of Germany's style gurus turns round and says that German men need to sort out their dress sense, it should be awarded a little more credibility than a statement made by a continental neighbor.

Jil Sander, one of Germany's most famous designers, has turned on the native male and accused him of neglecting fashion more than ever before. But rather than just sniping at the kind of fashion mistakes which can only be attributed to getting dressed in the dark, Sander offers her own insight into the causes of the problem.

Economic climate hinders fashion sense

Sander believes that German men have been hardest hit by the current financial climate in Europe's lumbering economic monster, not in the pocket as such but certainly in the trousers.

The designer added in a column in the fivetonine lifestyle magazine that German men have reacted to the country's economic downturn by sacrificing style in favor of saving. Men's fashion sense, she claims, is therefore suffering from the fact that they would rather horde their money than splash out on some decent clothes.

As a result, the majority of wardrobes fail to be updated and slip into a kind of fashion time warp while the men wait for the right economic climate to arrive.

Businessmen are not immune

Sander also made some observations about the sartorially-challenged men of her native land who should really know better: " Look at the businessmen in their shoulder pads which look from the back like they're made of cardboard; with the huge sleeves, the creases and the fact that the whole body is covered. This is the instinct of the herd, to look identical with no attempt to look striking."

However, there does seem to be some hope. Sander held up the example of one man, who she believes should be a beacon in these dark times for German men's fashion and style: "(State broadcaster) ARD presenter Reinhold Beckmann. This is an intelligent man, he looks good, he has a great posture and his figure is also in order."

Maybe the future of German stereotypes is one where all the men are perceived to look like newsreaders.