No connotation of shape or gender whatsoever. A choker-like necklace, allegedly used to cover the goitre which, for lack of iodiferous food, is still relatively common in Bavaria. Festive bodices constist of silk satin, everday varieties of linen or wool. They are stiffened with whalebone and closed with hooks and eyes. Contemporary pictures and the fact that folk costume is basically rural suggest that they supported the body without compressing it, as a corset would.
Most common colour is black, but there are surviving examples in coloured brocades and even white.
Miesbacher Hut A flat, stiff wool felt hat similar to Tyrolean hats, black or green, worn with the costume of Miesbach. During the late 19th century, it became more and more popular with the ladies of Munich and threatened to replace the Riegelhaube. There is a piece of writing by a 19th ct. Mass. The hat is either not decorated at all, or encircled with gold, silver or black cord with tassels on either end that fall down over the brim in back. The traditional headdress of Munich women.