Your Holiday Sweater Is Ugly, And That's A Good Thing In New Jersey

NEW JERSEY — With more people working at home, no one really needs an incentive to dress unfashionably — but since people are still receiving gaudy sweaters as Christmas gifts, there might as well be a bright side. Friday was National Ugly Sweater Day, and restaurants, schools, and even a science museum in New Jersey are holding contests and events.

But when did it become cool to be gauche?

"Christmas-themed pullovers started making an appearance in the 1950s, a nod perhaps to
the holiday's growing commercialization," says CNN, in its history of the phenomenon.

They were called "Jingle Bell Sweaters" at first, and started appearing on TV shows.

In the 1980s, the network says, goofy dads in films like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" popularized the garish threads. As with many 1980s trends, what was once colorful became an object of derision by the grunge-filled 1990s.

"It was something only your unfashionable older relatives would ever think of wearing or gifting," CNN notes.

But unfashionable sweaters became a fun, low-cost theme for parties, and a trend was born.

This year, restaurants and schools across the country are hosting "Ugly Sweater" themed days.

In New Jersey, the relatively new Alternate Ending Beer Company restaurant in Aberdeen has been hosting "Ugly Sweater Mondays" in its biergarten.

And Liberty Science Center even scheduled an ugly sweater contest at its "LSC After Dark" event this week:

Hoboken-based writer Ed Daly, whose new book about Christmas includes a chapter on the phenomenon, opined, "In previous years, everything was so stiff and formal, which is kind of antithetical to Christmas ... Ugly sweater parties and events give people the license to be goofy and have fun."

So will you be running an ugly sweater event? You can post your events for free on Patch using these instructions.

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