Common Threads: The History of the Ugly Christmas Sweater

Whether at an office party or a family gathering, it’s hard to ignore what has now become fully part of the Christmas season: the “ugly Christmas sweater.” Together with Christmas lights and carols, nothing says holiday cheer more than a knitted woolen with a reindeer motif, preferably in 3D and with glitter.

These outrageous, quirky, and garish sweaters have become ubiquitous ;The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon even has an annual skit — 12 Days of Christmas Sweaters — where he gives audience members especially audacious ones.

12 Days of Christmas Sweaters 2023: Day 6 (Uploaded to YouTube by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon)

Although it seems like this tradition has been with us forever, the trend has become a staple of the holiday only recently.

The first Christmas sweaters appeared during the 1940s and the postwar era, when consumer culture entered American homes and everyday lives. Back then, they were marketed as “jingle bell sweaters,” embodying not only the holiday spirit but also its commercialization. Their design, however, was much more subdued and modest, trying to look more joyful than ugly.  For those who still enjoyed the craft of knitting, pattern companies capitalized of the rise of synthetic wools and new colorful dyes and offered knit designs with candy canes, Christmas trees, snowmen, and reindeer.

Although these sweaters did not enjoy commercial popularity, hand-knit woolens still had their charm, often functioning as a cherished Christmas gift from a family elder. In the 1960s and ’70s, as fashion changed, Christmas sweaters also changed their tone, embracing bolder colors and patterns. The rise of counterculture and the popularity of DIY projects also brought with it new appreciation for ugly sweaters, where young people thrifted them for pennies in Salvation Army stores.

By the 1980s, the ugly sweaters had entered popular culture, mainly through the beloved TV character of Cliff Huxtable played by Bill Cosby and his wardrobe choices on The Cosby Show. Comedian Chevy Chase also popularized the style as Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

A scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Uploaded to YouTube by Movieclips)

The trend really took off in the new millennium when the style became endearing, due in part to the blockbuster success of the 2001 film Bridget Jones’s Diary, which really put the ugly sweater on the map. In the film, the character of Mark Darcy played by Colin Firth (a clever reference to Firth’s role in a popular Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation) causes Bridget (Renée Zellweger) to recoil from the possibility of a romantic match when she sees him in a hideous reindeer sweater at a holiday party.

The ugly sweater scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary (Uploaded to YouTube by Binge Society)

According to an interview with the film’s director, Sharon Maguire, in USA Today, the exact design was hard to pinpoint. “The original sweater went through many designs because it had to be just right…And for some reason neither Santas nor X-mas trees nor snowmen worked as well as that red-nosed moose or reindeer we chose. It also had to look home-knit, something his mother knitted for him.” And indeed, the sweater, and Firth’s charming character, caused a sensation, as the film fans flocked to adopt the style.

Soon enough, ugly Christmas sweater parties where guests competed on who was wearing the most outlandish sweater popped on the scene. The first of those parties was held in Vancouver, Canada in 2002, when two friends, Chris Boyd and Jordan Birch, decided to throw “the cheesiest, most festive” house party. The party quickly gained momentum, eventually attracting a crowd of a thousand ugly sweater wearers to the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, channeling the cheerful nature of the season into their outfits.

Looking to extend the holiday cheer, Boyd and Birch also published a children’s book — The Ugly Christmas Sweater Rebellion — that tells the story of how this silly tradition can inspire kindness and connection between generations while building communities. Staying true to the holiday spirit, the friends did not monetize their fame but used it to raise money for charitable causes.

As ugly Christmas sweaters gained popularity, they also penetrated the runways. In her winter 2007 collection, Stella McCartney featured festive sweater designs, and in 2010 Dolce & Gabbana dedicated an entire collection. Soon after retailers like Nordstrom and Marshalls stocked their shelves with flashy, even gaudy, designs.

In recent years, social media has turned this quirky holiday tradition into a phenomenon, elevating not only the sweater’s status as a holiday staple but as a source of fun, creativity, and joy. We can now see “sexy” versions of the ugly sweater, where an exposed breast is transformed into a reindeer face. And the ugly sweaters are not limited to Christmas alone; you can now find Hannukah-themed ugly sweaters with dreidels and menorahs.

No matter how gaudy or ridiculous the ugly sweater is, the trend has captured the hearts of millions and even got a designated day on the third Friday in December. No matter what your attitude towards style is, this season it might be a good idea to join the crowds with some woolen cheer: the uglier, the better.