The Christmas Sweater

It just wouldn’t be the holiday season if we didn’t participate in dressing up for Christmas. Red is the new Black – UGLY is the new Christmas jumper (the US and Canada call it a sweater). The Christmas sweater tradition has been hanging around in our closets for many years – actually, since the time Grandma learnt to knit – and that is a very, very long time ago.

The UGLY Christmas sweater is any sweater in a Christmas theme, usually knitted, considered embarrassing, extravagant, sometimes inappropriate and damn right UGLY.

Movies like Dumb and Dumber and TV series’ such as The Cosby Show made the UGLY Christmas sweater popular. In more recent times Bridget Jones found love whilst glowing radiantly in a red Christmas sweater. The man of her dreams looking devilishly handsome in a forest green Rudolf sweater. He turns to scan the crowded room and their eyes meet. Could it be that the Christmas sweaters bought them together?

It seems the UGLIER the sweater the more attention it receives. Embarrassing or not the surge in popularity has seen businesses boom worldwide. On-line stores, charity organisations and extended fashion lines have the Google search engine firing at nearly 6 million results. Thus, the humble UGLY sweater has evolved from the cheesy to the cheeky, inappropriate to cute and matching to light up sweaters!

In our harsh Australian climate at Christmas time wearing a sweater is not practical. But don’t despair. The evolution of the humble sweater has seen shirts, dresses, socks and ties become available in a range of UGLY Christmas designs.

Whatever your fashion sense is this Christmas – Remember looking good is a state of mind but looking damn hot is UGLY!