justice for the 1950s Christmas sweater
.......how did we fall so far from grace?
Full disclosure…..I fully intended to talk about the history of the ‘ugly Christmas sweater’ in this post. But imagine my surprise when I realized that Christmas sweaters used to be in fact, not ugly, and somehow took a turn for the worse around the 1980s? I know right? That was my reaction too.
So….what happened? Well, before we get there let’s talk briefly about the chic origins. Apparently Christmas started to become mainstream and more consumer driven in the U.S. around the 1950s, when these ‘Christmas jumpers’ started to be produced en masse. There were sweaters/jumpers around as early as the 1930s by some accounts, but these were pretty niche and more or less inspired by Nordic ski sweaters. Very chic if I may say so and the aesthetic is more or less the precursor to what folks in the fashion industry today would simply refer to as ‘apres ski’. Think: Bogner, Moncler and Fair Isle-esque knits.
By the time the 1950s rolled around, knits were being marketed as ‘Jingle Bell Sweaters’ and had some traction but hardly enough to be a viable category. There were sweater cameos on a number of TV variety shows from the 50s up to the 70s with on-air hosts getting into the spirit but, there was no expectation of the average man to have one in their closet.
And then the 80s happened. All sources I consulted cite that this was the decade that saw the first iterations of the ‘ugly’ Christmas sweater as we now know it. So whose to blame? Probably Hollywood (shocker). The highly popular Cosby Show saw Bill Cosby (then America’s beloved black sitcom dad before his victims came forward) in a litany of comical outfits with ugly sweaters being the star of the show. That gave center stage to ugly sweaters being perceived in an endearing way for millions of Americans watching at home. There was also the popular film ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’, with Chevy Chase playing the goofball dad all while donning a hideous sweater. In the 1980s, mainstream media hit different. We didn’t have all these small microcommunities that we have now- when something took off culturally, it had far-reaching effects. So 2 big pieces of American media being responsible for ushering in a new wave of clothing is believable.
Beyond that, the Canadians reserve some of this blame too because the first documented ‘ugly Christmas sweater party’ happened on their watch in Vancouver in 2002. The hosts of the original shindig just wanted to create a festive vibe but little did they know that they would create a multinational phenomenon that would become the bane of every office worker’s existence. (That’s a joke y’all.) Now, comically ugly holiday sweaters are the norm and are a regularly expected part of the holidays. It’s kind of impressive that in just a couple of decades a new tradition has been weaved into a pretty ‘by the book’ holiday. Personally, I think I will be looking for vintage Jingle Bell sweaters at the next estate sale. That’s more my speed. But I appreciate anything that gets the average person out of their athleisure gear.
TL:DR- The origin of the ‘ugly’ Christmas sweater is surprisingly chic. The 80s still holds the crown for the tackiest era of America.
-xoxo Jenn
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