What is a Black Forest dress?

Black Forest or Schwarzwald is a thickly wooded mountainous region in southwest Germany, extending over 4,600 square miles. Three neighbouring parishes – Gutach, Wolfach-Kirnbach, and Hornberg-Reichenbach of Black Forest – are known for their women’s traditional costumes known as the ‘Black Forest dress’ worn on special occasions. It consists of long skirts with floral designs and the Bollenhut, a wide-brimmed hat decorated with woolen balls or pompoms. Red pom-poms are worn by unmarried women and black by married ones.