<aside> 🏆
</aside>
Tina, who won the #dirndldiversity prize in 2020, has been creating costumes and apparel for fun since she was in her teens. You can find her in time-travel attire at PEERS balls, Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild and Art Deco Society events, and in more imaginative costumes at various steampunk events and cons (conferences/conventions).
Tina specializes in mashup themes, using recycled materials and unusual fabrications, and her fashion motto is “Go BIG or Go Home.” She’s indeed “gone big” at Worldcon, with creative themes such as “A Tale of 9 Lives on the 7 Seas” which won Best in Class (Master Division), and “Googly Air: Your Eyes in The Sky,” a costume which featured tens of thousands of googly eyes, which won best in show for single pattern.
If you get up close to her when she’s in costume, look carefully for hidden details!
The reigning Miss Black California of 2025 is an Oakland girl, bringing all kinds of awesome to the world. When she was in high school at Head Royce, Trinity started a nonprofit called Grace Period that distributes feminine hygiene products to women in need. A biology grad from American University, Trinity is currently pursuing her JD at Davis.
Trinity has an aunt who lives in Germany, and what’s more, she is a crochet artist! You can check out some of her couture creations at Threads by Trinity.
Janani Ramachandran is an East Bay native, attorney and mom who also represents District 4 as the as the city’s first South Asian and LGBTQ woman of color, plus the youngest person ever to serve on the Oakland City Council.
Janani is the founder of the nonprofit Tiger Arts, which puts on cultural events including the annual Oakland Diwali festival. She is also a vocalist, performing classical music since age five and a member of local R&B groups.
Janani uses her voice through political advocacy, music, and storytelling to shine a bright light on Oakland’s incredible cultural landscape, and uplift our creatives, small business owners and entrepreneurs to put Oakland on the international stage for all right reasons. And Janani loves Oaktoberfest!
<aside> 🪗
</aside>
With over three Classically-trained with over two decades of elite performance experience, Erica Messer is among the most sought-after harpists in the Bay Area. But she’s no stranger to Oktoberfest! Having lived in Germany and Austria for over 5 years, she has a collection of Dirndl and a German-made harp which she is playing today!
A percentage of this and every performance fee is donated to Wolfie’s Wish, providing grief support tools for those navigating the loss of a beloved pet.
<aside> đź‘—
</aside>
Writer, comic, and cultural creative Kristen Caven wrote The Dirndl Diaspora because she wanted to start a fashion trend inspired by Oakland. The granddaughter of German immigrants, Kristen studied German in college at Mills College when it was a Liberal Arts mecca. She and her mother, Dr. Louise Hart, write and publish books that heal the parenting wounds left by fascist (Nazi) ideologies.
Kristen teaches polka in her Zumba classes and keeps funny German words in the pockets of her pink dirndl. A creative force and champion of women’s voices, diversity and positivity, Kristen was the original Miss Art Deco and is the author or co-author of seven books. She is currently the California Writers Club Writer in Residence at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland and does lectures on Joaquin Miller.
Follow Kristen at @generous_muse
We couldn’t pull this off without our beloved Dirndl Herders! ****
Lincoln Smith a.k.a. “Herr Hassenpfeffer” lived in Bavaria for 5 years and is not only a mandolin player and lederhosen wearer but a sought-after dance partner at Art Deco Society and other events.
Cecilia Stolzer-Grote is a closet designer and adventuress …
