Peace on earth, goodwill toward men, and of course …Christmas sweaters? While most of the free world celebrates the holidays in a lot of traditional ways, there are those trailblazers who, for whatever reason, have veered a little off the yuletide course. What do I mean by this? Have you noticed all the crazy Christmas sweater parties going on across the globe? When did this phenomenon start? Who had the first party? Well, I thought I might just sit down and see if I could find some answers on the World Wide Web, and then add my own two cents. According to an article I found on TIME magazine’s website from December of 2011, the eye-popping patterns and colors emblematic of the knit party starters most likely stemmed from the poor taste in fashion that was evident during the 1980s. I do seem to remember a lot of stores began selling these novelty sweaters when the popularity of shows like “Dynasty,” and of course the iconic wardrobe of “The Cosby Show” could make almost anything fly off the shelves in a hurry! That popularity was fickle, however, and seemed to fade as the 90s ushered in a more austere look that eschewed the bold tones in favor of a monochromatic black, and the grunge aesthetic. Then, around 15 years ago, with the rise of a little thing called the internet, articles began to feature ironic swipes at the “beauty” of these garments. This must have given birth to the idea that the ungainly could be celebrated with some amount of merriment. From there a cottage industry of sorts was spawned for those who began trolling thrift stores across the country in search of the most outrageous examples of holiday overkill in existence. All you have to do is search Ebay or Amazon for Christmas sweaters and you’ll soon see that even the homeliest knitwear featuring iconic holiday themes, like candy canes, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, presents, wreaths (and the list goes on and on) can fetch a pretty penny for the seller!
