Monday 5 December 2011
Style commentator Mansel Fletcher discovers why Christmas sweaters are back in style.
The Christmas jumper is one of the most distinctive garments in a man’s wardrobe. They are not, it must be admitted, the last word in chic, but they inspire such warm and fuzzy feelings in others that they transcend the usual rules that govern masculine style.
It is for this reason that the filmmakers behind Bridget Jones’s Diary could rely on the reindeer sweater that Colin Firth’s character Mark Darcy is wearing when he meets Bridget to convey to the audience the endearingly awkward nature of their first encounter. The image of Mark Darcy in his festive knit – counter-intuitively he wore a black roll-neck with a cartoonish red-nosed reindeer emblazoned on the front – reminds us why Christmas sweaters endure. Any man prepared to wear one seems unthreatening, in possession of a sense of humour and sufficiently confident to risk being made fun of. What woman could resist following Bridget’s example and falling in love?
All of which presumably explains why the Christmas sweater is back. Quite unexpectedly, they are on the style agenda this season, years after designers last decorated knitwear with images of reindeer. At this point it may be helpful to provide a little fashion context; patterns of all kinds are popular again, on everything from suits to sweaters. The real trend in knitwear this season is for Fair Isle patterns, which have been slathered over everything from socks to baseball jackets, but which remain best deployed in the traditional manner, on fuzzy Shetland sweaters. And it must be admitted that, unlike Christmas jumpers, which flower briefly once a year, Fair Isle works all year round.
However, Fair Isle does not enjoy a monopoly – abstract patterns are also popular, loosely based on Norwegian sweaters, Aran jumpers and Navaho-style patterns. This is a laudable trend, as fine examples of knitwear exist in all of these styles, but none will lift the mood as effectively as a festive jumper. They are a charming way to acknowledge the season, without going as far as donning reindeer antlers, but they are also usefully warm and loose-fitting, and so particularly appropriate at a time of year defined by excesses of both cold weather and hot food.
Despite these myriad virtues I suspect that most men would rather be wearing a velvet jacket over an open-necked shirt than a reindeer jumper when they meet the woman of their dreams. I don’t blame them, but remember – it worked for Mark Darcy.
Mansel Fletcher is features editor of Mr Porter.
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