really like). Nor was the beginning of the new millennium any less harsh towards this joyous item of clothing – with the prevailing opinion being that nobody with style would be seen dead wearing something like that. Testifying to this claim is a scene from the 2001 film Bridget Jones’s Diary. Colin Firth, in the role of the well-intentioned Mark Darcy, turns to Bridget (Renée Zellweger) at a fam- ily Christmas party, and she is in- stantly repulsed when she notices that he’s wearing a sweater featur- ing a red-nosed reindeer. Just like you probably were when you saw this film for the first time in the cinema. But your lips probably stretched to form a smile at the same time. Well, that's precisely the sentimental pow- er of the “ugly Xmas sweater”. The early 2000s also witnessed a renewed craze for these multi- coloured pullovers. According to the book Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book: The Definitive Guide to Get- ting Your Ugly On, Christmas sweat- ers gained prominence as an addition to the hipster outfit almost at the exact same time as Bridget was ap- palled by the one Darcy had donned. Furthermore, it was actually in 2002 that the first party of lovers of the cult of the Ugly Christmas Sweat- er was organised in Vancouver. And their popularity only grew from there. Giants of fast fashion, such as Top- shop and H&M, soon began includ- ing such patterns and motifs in their holiday collections, while in parallel the online second-hand market be- gan offering vintage models for those who prefer the “real thing”. Design houses even got involved in the hi- larity: Stella McCartney included a sweater with a polar bear in her Win- ter 2007 collection, while similar in- spiration gripped Givenchy in 2010 and Dolce & Gabbana a year later. Ce- lebrities took notes – soon the likes of Taylor Swift, David Beckham, Mi- la Kunis and Ryan Reynolds began pushing this ironic must-have. And, why not? Among all the sombre news and gloomy days, this sincere festive joy is seemingly made to measure – for each of us.
FASHION PHENOMENON It’s time for ugly festive sweaters Ugly Xmas sweaters are irrefutably viral, but what is it that has made them an inevitable hipster article? A longside decorated Christmas trees, poetic wreaths hung on doors, embroidered stockings for presents – the ico- nography of the festive season has re- served a special place in recent years for a detail of unprecedented kitsch. Yes, that ridiculous “Christmas sweat- er” has snuck its way among the sym- bols of the festive celebration. You know the kind of sweater we’re talking about – usually made of wool with a dubious composition and mostly in different shades of red, white and green. And always with at least one winter motif – be it a snowman, snowflakes or reindeer (and usually all of them together, plus bells and tassels). The tale of how a somewhat pro- saic item of clothing became an em-
blem of the holiday season is like the light genre of an afternoon film on a family cable channel - it has all the elements of a predictable lemon cor- dial, but also a ridiculous plot that brings a smile to your face. The first knitwear featuring such motifs appeared back in the 1950s, around the same time as the commer- cialisation of the holiday season. In- itially dubbed “Jingle Bell Sweaters”, they weren’t as colourful as the cur- rent iteration, but they quickly found their way to customers who saw them being worn by singers and presenters of American music TV shows, such as Val Doonican and Andy Williams. However, these deliberately kitschy sweaters didn’t enter the mainstream until the ‘80s. That hap- pened with the wholehearted assis- tance of pop culture and particular- ly comedies like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The character of the funny dad in every cinematic hit of that period would be unimag- inable without a red sweater featur- ing snowflakes, and ever more peo- ple began wearing them “in jest” to Christmas office parties. Admittedly, their popularity didn’t last. Two rival fashion camps of the ‘90s – greasy grunge and icy minimalism – viewed such eye- soar items with equal indignation, and Christmas sweaters were con- sidered a tasteless gift from distant relatives (who certainly don't know you well enough to know what you
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