The Ugly Christmas Sweater - Your Joke, Someone Else's Favorite Outfit

As the holiday season rolls on, a few of my friends have gone to “Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties”... you know, those parties that require you to put on your holiday finest, shoulder pads and all. There you stand, winter cocktail in hand, sporting a wool blend died a vibrant red and green with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer smiling at fellow party goers who have also adorned themselves in pure holiday tackiness.

These parties always make for a good, festive laugh, but the more pictures I see of my friends wearing obnoxious, oversized Christmas sweaters (paired with equally obnoxious jingle bell accessories), I wonder what the people who SERIOUSLY wear those ugly Christmas sweaters think about the drunken mocking of their fashion sense, because to them, those sweaters aren’t ugly, they are pieces of holiday spirit embodied in the form of a turtle neck or cardigan, something to be cherished and not ridiculed.

I personally was once a proud owner of an infamous “ugly Christmas sweater” and at the time (circa 1995) I would have been considered a part of the “serious” Christmas sweater wearing population. My fashion ode to the holiday was a cardigan made of a heavy wool, died a kelly green, adorned with little bears wearing Santa hats throwing snowballs at one another, which were represented in high-tech 3D with little cotton balls glued onto the fabric. Those interactive snowballs really made the sweater - what a cutting edge look.

As I wore my Christmas sweater with pride that year, I don’t think I would have ever guessed that I would be digging for it over a decade later just to mock it. If I had grown up to be the type of person who found Christmas sweaters as an appropriate fashion statement, I think I would be down right offended by those who hosted parties poking fun at my decision to wear snowball-throwing bears in homage of the season. (Unfortunately, I recently remembered that I had willingly donated my festive sweater to charity a few years back, so although I won’t be a hit at any upcoming holiday gathering, at least I can take solace in knowing that I made someone a lot less fortunate, a lot more tacky.)

A friend of mine, who recently donned a tacky ensemble for an “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party”, showed her mom the obnoxious garb she was planning to wear and her mom’s response? “I don’t get it.” Her mom found the sweater to be “cute” and “seasonal”; however, my friend would be sporting this “cute”, “seasonal” sweater to a gathering of people intoxicated by large quantities of egg nog and peppermint Schnapps, which would only help fuel the jokes that serious ugly Christmas sweater wearers must endure behind their bright, gaudy, holiday infused backs.

I feel that those people who wear holiday sweaters are similar to those people who are keeping the mullet alive, but fortunately enough, ugly Christmas sweater wearers only fall victim to fashion during the holidays, while mullet models tend to display their allegiance to the “business in the front, party in the back” hairstyle 365 days a year. But who I am to judge?! I’m sure somewhere there is party being hosted right now by ugly Christmas sweater wearing/mullet sporting people who find my conservative tastes more bland than a wool holiday cardigan not wired with blinking lights.

So whatever you do, please wear your holiday sweaters responsibly this season and remember that what is your joke, may be someone’s favorite outfit. And to whoever is wearing my wool, snowball-throwing bear cardigan this holiday, please be as kind to it as it was to me.