Is the cardigan the new jacket? Last I week I heard two award-winning up-and-coming creatives, an architect and a web designer, present their work at a design industry event. For the auspicious occasion both men (who were meeting for the first time) came dressed practically identically, in white dress shirts, dark cuffed jeans, beautifully crafted shoe-boots, and fanciful sweaters. One wore a striped V-neck cardigan and the other a color-blocked pullover with a shawl color. Both of them seemed fresh energetic, and serious. The look wasn’t casual at all, but supremely polished.
This new type of sweater is worn more purposefully than the way Mister Rogers wore his cardigan to kick around at home. And it’s worn with less ostentation than the way Bill Cosby wore his crazily-patterned Missoni pullovers. Sweaters like the ones these two young men were wearing aren’t to be thrown on thoughtlessly: they’re to be coordinated carefully with (potentially contrasting) trousers and dress shirts, and to be fitted as meticulously as a suit jacket. The trend owes a great deal to Thom Browne, who has raised the level of detail and fit in mens knits. He’s made the sweater formidable.