December 15#: National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

Wear your most garish knitwear with pride and add some tacky accessories!
Yes, I’m sure.
Lurking in the murky depths of your wardrobe is a colorful, brash and, in most cases, highly embarrassing novelty Christmas sweater which, were it not for National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, celebrated on December’s second Friday, would probably never see the light of day!

But who knew that something so ugly could also be so beloved?
Ridiculous little animals with smushed faces? Fine!
Hideous, but oh-so-comfortable shoes? Of course!
And of course, also ugly Christmas sweaters!
The English language doesn’t have a special word for something that’s both ugly and pretty, but other languages do, including Japanese, “busakawa”, or French, “jolie laide”.
National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is all about honoring those things that are so ugly that everyone loves them…including Christmas Sweaters!
Ugly sweaters have been around for as long as people created a concept of fashion.
Ok, they weren’t always made purposefully, maybe someone made a mistake in their knitting, or tried a new design that didn’t turn out as cool as they thought it would. However, it wasn’t long before grandmas everywhere were knowingly knitting their grandchildren ugly Christmas sweaters complete with baubles and “I love Grandma” lettering.
And they knew what they were doing.

In the 1950s the “Jingle Bell Sweater” trend began, and it was one of the ways that the Christmas and winter holiday season started becoming commercialized in the US and other Western countries.
Complete with fancy designs, the ugly sweater was often worn during these days by television personalities, but they quickly disappeared again.
It took a few decades until the sweaters made another surge and, in the 1980s, the ugly sweater became a bit of an iconic statement when worn by television and film fictional characters.
For example, popular character Bill Huxtable on The Cosby Show constantly made fashionistas gasp when he’d come into scene in a gaudy, ugly, yet slightly endearing sweater that he knew was completely different than others. In 1989, Chevy Chase added his own twist to the theme as Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie.
Fading back into obscurity again in the 1990s, it wasn’t until 2001 when Bridget Jones’ Diary was released that things got even more interesting for ugly sweaters.
Mark Darcy, the character played by Colin Firth in the film, sported a ridiculous reindeer ugly sweater, called a “jumper” in this British movie, and that just may have been responsible for reviving the trend in the early 2000s.
Whatever the reason, ugly sweaters came back around and have been more popular than ever and Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is meant to celebrate them all!

This day was the brainchild of a couple of guys from Vancouver, Canada, who decided to use the idea of ugly sweaters as an opportunity to raise money for the cancer treatment that a friend needed.
Since that time, the idea of ugly sweater parties and Ugly Christmas Sweater Day has been embraced in a variety of contexts and has created many donations for many different charitable causes.
Officially proclaimed in 2012 by the Mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson, this annual celebration is not simply an excuse to parade humiliatingly-unfashionable seasonal knitwear featuring Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman, but it can also be a light-hearted and enjoyable fundraising event!
In fact, today, ugly sweater parties and competitions are one of the highlights of the season, with everyone trying to one-up each other in searching for the most appalling outerwear they can find.

So, for those who want to celebrate National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, dig into that wardrobe!
Of course, the business of the day is all about wearing the ugliest possible sweater or jumper possible on this day.