Today’s the day – it’s Ugly Christmas Sweater Day – the third Friday in December. In previous year’s you would have worn it to the office. Now you can wear it on your Zoom interaction. But you certainly can wear them the rest of this festive season.
This is a relatively new Christmas tradition, and it is interesting to see how it has been evolving. Unlike so many of our Christmas traditions it cannot trace its origins to the days of the pagans or preferences of the popes or kings.
The concept of the Ugly Christmas Sweater may have started from your aunt’s Christmas gift of an unfashionable handmade sweater.
Many of what are donned now as Ugly Christmas Sweaters are not even sweaters.
Originally they were cardigans A cardigan is a garment was named after James Thomas Brudenell, the seventeenth century seventh Earl of Cardigan. His troops were outfitted in knitted military jackets - named cardigans. Who Invented the Ugly Christmas Sweater?
Then in the 1950s there were Jingle Bell Sweaters. These weren’t regarded as ugly sweaters, but fashionable.
In the 1980’s Ugly Christmas Sweaters became a craze. They began as oversized, with shoulder pads, bright colours and patterns, embellished with pom-poms, tinsel, bells….. and maybe a dickey or ruffle. They could light up too!
Here's a selection of vintage Ugly Christmas Sweaters found out Etsy
Christmas fashionistas say that this 1990s saw fewer of these items. Fox News reported that TV sitcoms revived the tradition.
Vancouver claims to be the birthplace of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party hosting a gala for the Make a Wish Foundation.
The Ugly Christmas Sweater is really a “pullover” and often a sweatshirt.
I have a beautiful Christmas vest. I will model it on Christmas Day!
It is a marketing opportunity as are many Christmas traditions, but it may be a fun one to adopt. According to an article in Time Magazine. “Holidays are often fraught with anxiety about the financial drain of gift-giving and the copious amounts of family interaction. What better way to de-stress than to throw on an obnoxious sweater and have a laugh?”
Websites abound.
There is the official Ugly Christmas Sweater web site
You can find endless possibilities. They can show your personality or interests. Glitchy or sexy. Star Wars, Harry Potter….
I think my son has this one!
There are couple themes.
Let’s start planning a Christmas Sweater party for next year. And they don’t have to be ugly.And to be even more authentic in the anti-commercialization of Christmas, don’t buy your Christmas sweater from Bloomingdales’s or even off Amazon. Next year visit a charity thrift shop.
