Cardigans
11 November 2017
A cardigan is a knitted sweater with a buttoned or zipped front, with a V or round neck, with or without a collar. The story of the cardigan sweater begins as far back as the mid 1800's during the Crimean War. James Thomas Brudenell, a British military commander, was the 7th Earl of Cardigan who served in this war and thus began the wearing of the cardigan sweater in popular culture. (and he's who the sweater was named after).
Once made with materials like wool, this sweater generally had buttons or other fastening pieces in the front. These buttons are closed at the front of the sweater either from the bottom to the top or in the middle of the torso. Some cardigans will also have zippers instead of buttons.
The original ‘cardigan’ was a sleeveless vest or waistcoat, but by 1864 the modern sleeved version had emerged, usually referred to as a ‘cardigan jacket’. Cardigan jackets were still specified in 1900, but by the 1910s cardigans vests were less common than the sleeved version.
While originally a men’s garment, cardigans moved into the sphere of women’s wear during the late 1880s, and were widely sold from the 1890s onwards. Early women’s cardigans followed the shape of women’s fashions, with full sleeves and nipped waists.
Early cardigans were hand-knitted, and are quite rare, and were worn almost exclusively for bicycling, golf, tennis, and other athletics. As women began to live more active lives, and to participate in more sports, these knit garments were seen in more spheres, and became acceptable wear for a wider variety of wear.
The cardigan, along with other knitwear, became wardrobe basics in the years following WWI. Photographic and written evidence suggest that knitwear was already well on the rise in the years before the war, and the war simply made the knitwear even more popular.
Cardigan looks were so popular in the 1920s that the term came to describe any loose jacket in the style: not just a knit garment. In the late 1920s and early 1930s ‘cardigan’ was also frequently used for loose fabric jackets in the same style as knitted cardigans.
Here is how I style cardigans:
Once made with materials like wool, this sweater generally had buttons or other fastening pieces in the front. These buttons are closed at the front of the sweater either from the bottom to the top or in the middle of the torso. Some cardigans will also have zippers instead of buttons.
The original ‘cardigan’ was a sleeveless vest or waistcoat, but by 1864 the modern sleeved version had emerged, usually referred to as a ‘cardigan jacket’. Cardigan jackets were still specified in 1900, but by the 1910s cardigans vests were less common than the sleeved version.
While originally a men’s garment, cardigans moved into the sphere of women’s wear during the late 1880s, and were widely sold from the 1890s onwards. Early women’s cardigans followed the shape of women’s fashions, with full sleeves and nipped waists.
Early cardigans were hand-knitted, and are quite rare, and were worn almost exclusively for bicycling, golf, tennis, and other athletics. As women began to live more active lives, and to participate in more sports, these knit garments were seen in more spheres, and became acceptable wear for a wider variety of wear.
The cardigan, along with other knitwear, became wardrobe basics in the years following WWI. Photographic and written evidence suggest that knitwear was already well on the rise in the years before the war, and the war simply made the knitwear even more popular.
Cardigan looks were so popular in the 1920s that the term came to describe any loose jacket in the style: not just a knit garment. In the late 1920s and early 1930s ‘cardigan’ was also frequently used for loose fabric jackets in the same style as knitted cardigans.
Here is how I style cardigans: