When you hear the phrase “holiday sweaters,” of course your mind goes to the bad kind. We’re familiar with them too: cheap yarn, deliberately ugly, functionally disposable, and often emblazoned with dumb catchphrases, seasonal mascots and, every so often, an inexplicable electronic device.
This is a real shame, because it distracts from the fact that there really are a ton of good festive sweaters out there—great ones, even. Ones that you’ll be thrilled to rediscover every year, that still exude holiday spirit, but don’t beat you over the head with it or make a mockery of the pursuit. We’re talking about wild-style Fair Isles and patchwork cardigans and jacquard masterpieces, all of them destined to shine in any holiday environment and then long into the winter that follows, whether or not that one groundhog decides he can handle his own shadow.
I might sound like the Norman Rockwell “Freedom of Speech” meme guy right now, rising to declare “Holiday sweaters are good, actually,” but I’m OK with that, because holiday sweaters are good, actually. As long as they’re the right ones. After all, the fastest way to emit some holiday cheer is by letting your fit do it for you.
