Do I Really Have to Wear an Ugly Christmas Sweater?

I used to be invited to an unsightly Christmas sweater get together, however the sweaters at all times struck me as waste of cash and unhealthy for the surroundings. And I don’t personal one. Am I allowed to take a seat this gown code out, or does that make me a Grinch? — Tom, Kansas Metropolis, Mo.

It might be time to redefine the Ugly Christmas Sweater, or U.C.S. (Let’s simply go along with the abbreviation.) In spite of everything, the kinds we now take into account typical for such clothes — artificial creations within the worst variations of pink and inexperienced bedecked in vacation clichés — are successfully the equal of wardrobe tchotchkes. However they didn’t begin out that approach!

The “jingle bell sweater” first appeared on cabinets within the Nineteen Forties and Nineteen Fifties, and was largely a honest try so as to add some (OK, kinda tacky) snowflake- or reindeer-adjacent themed cheer right into a knit. The ironic variations we now know actually started to take off within the Nineteen Eighties, due to Cliff Huxtable’s signature unhealthy sweaters in “The Cosby Present” and to the 1989 film “Nationwide Lampoon’s Christmas Trip.”

In 2001 got here “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and Colin Firth’s unforgettable entrance as Mark Darcy in a crew neck that includes a life-size reindeer face on the entrance. A 12 months later, in line with the “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book: The Definitive Guide to Getting Your Ugly On,” the Ugly Christmas Sweater Get together (U.C.S.P.) was born.

At this stage, nonetheless, it’s all beginning to appear rather less enjoyable — and humorous. Ugly sweaters have develop into one of many worst examples of disposable fashion: made, basically, to be nearly by no means worn, and most certainly discarded, whereas on the similar time being typically not recyclable (all that acrylic). But, this time of 12 months, it typically appears that even customers who wouldn’t often interact with quick vogue are welcoming its wares and beginning to suppose, The cheaper, the higher. Maybe, due to that, the U.C.S., in addition to its associated events, persist.

On condition that one of many guidelines of events is that, out of respect for the hosts, you need to equally respect the gown code, what to do?

Contemplate the guideline of the U.C.S.P. If the thought is to unfold cheer by lessening the burden of dressing up for the vacations and poking a bit enjoyable at custom, and one’s self, in a approach everybody can do for granted for age or gender (all good issues), then in concept, you possibly can gown for a U.C.S.P. with out truly carrying a classically U.C.S.

For instance, I not too long ago went to a U.C.S.P. the place, among the many revelers, there was one man who merely chosen the loudest sweater in his closet (it was a striped quantity). One other went with a sweater that had been a meal for moths, calling it his “holey” sweater. Personally, I wore a fuzzy silver knit and informed everybody I used to be tinsel.

That brings me to the D.I.Y. U.C.S., a brief model that entails pinning Christmas ornaments onto a plain cotton sweater or sweatshirt, which could lead on you in all kinds of enjoyable, artful instructions. Or you possibly can maintain a U.C.S.P. pregame swap during which, moderately than shopping for new ugly sweaters, you commerce an outdated U.C.S. for another person’s, a cashless type of purchasing that prioritizes present ugly sweaters over new ones. (Extending the life cycle of garments is among the simplest issues that every one of us can do to fight vogue’s position in local weather change.) One particular person’s U.C.S. might be one other particular person’s excellent vacation present.

The purpose is: Preserve the spirit alive, however replace the substance. It’s one approach to have your fruitcake and eat it too.

Your Model Questions, Answered

Each week on Open Thread, Vanessa will reply a reader’s fashion-related query, which you’ll be able to ship to her anytime through email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed.