Holiday Sweaters Should Be More Than a Punchline
When you hear “holiday sweaters,” your mind probably jumps to the bad kind. We’re familiar with those, too: cheap yarn, deliberately ugly, emotionally disposable, often emblazoned with corny catchphrases, seasonal mascots and, every so often, an inevitably disappointing electronic device.
This is a real shame, because it distracts from the fact that there are a ton of good festive sweaters out there—great ones, even. Ones that you’ll be thrilled to pull out every year because they channel the holiday spirit without bonking you over the head. Think wild-style Fair Isles, patchwork cardigans and jacquard masterpieces, all of them destined to shine in any holiday hang and carry you well into the winter that follows, groundhogs be damned.
But a few rules apply. First: skip anything tied to a specific holiday. You’ll never wear it once the calendar flips. Plenty of sweaters will read Holiday Cheer! by association alone, which means they’ll still look right at the office or at apres drinks in the middle of February. Second: stick to fibers you actually like wearing. In other words, it should feel like your regular sweaters even if it doesn’t look like them. And finally, make sure it fits nicely—anything goes at an ugly sweater party but everyday wear is less forgiving. Other than that? Get weird.
I know that I probably sound like a guy posting the Norman Rockwell “Freedom of Speech” meme right now—“Holiday sweaters are good, actually”—but I’m OK with that, because holiday sweaters are good, actually. As long as they’re the right ones. After all, the fastest way to emit some holiday cheer is by letting your fit do it for you.
5 Festive Sweaters That Skew More Stylish Than Seasonal
