The Icons - Cardigan

Thank you, Taylor Swift for the namesake “Cardigan” song.  The humble cardy is the unlikely cool accoutrement to pop (and rock, but more on that later) avatars, and, yes, for me. A trophy cardigan is my wardrobe essential whatever the weather or season. I am writing this in my “thinking cardigan”, a relaxed Khaite cashmere that’s been a style stalwart for the past five years (since Cate Holstein’s debut as a designer, and my realization that New York winters were going to take multi-ply to endure).

Now, back on UK soil, it’s long, knuckle-grazing sleeves have a hole, and cosy ribbed trim is looking less than perky, but in truth, it’s lived-in look now brings me closer to the seminal knitwear inspiration of my youth: Kurt Cobain's oversized, mossy cardigan. The late singer wore it for his MTV Unplugged session – I searched endlessly for an homage from charity shops to the high street. That same cardigan was sold at auction in 2015 for an impressive $137,500 (roughly £93,000), a steal when you consider its reverberating cultural relevance. I’ve avidly followed and shopped the reduxes; Saint Laurent under both Hedi Slimane and Anthony Vaccarello tenures have probably played closest. Yes, sometimes it feels that there is nothing new under the fashion sun, but we can surely derive the energy and inspiration from the past. And for me, it smells like teen spirit.

Grunge-igans aside, the cardigan is only as humble as its context. Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel is credited with popularising cardigans for women in the 1920s, allegedly preferring a button-through to a sweater because she didn’t like the way traditional pullovers messed up her hair when she put them on. Functional yes; and fabulous more so. In lockdown I purchased my first polished cardigan – an elegant cable knit Erdem – when asked to host a zoom interview with the designer himself for Vogue (US). The pearl-embellished collar triumphed in the halo light, and for all the comfort factor, I still felt ‘dressed’ (the faded jeans safely out of view below the desk). No less professional, yet far less corporate than a tailored jacket, there is something to be said for the neat, soft-power semiotics of a cardigan like this – just ask Michelle Obama. Now the world is back (and legs visible), I’ve switched in cigarette pants and paired with evening skirts – investment justified.

Over the years my cardigans have become my trophies. On crisp winter days, it’s The Row sunglasses teamed with a bulky Loewe Cowichan knit, layered over slimmer knits (think the Big Lebowski’s anti-hero Dude). My shawl-collared, colorful jacquard Alanui, has taken me through numerous fashion months (often paired with a white polo-neck), to the beaches of Shelter Island (on top of my swimwear when it gets breezy at sunset), and was also my chosen item to exit hospital in when my son was born. What’s great about such a technicolor dream-cardigan? The right style will become the perfect travel companion, getting better as experiences grow. For day, I love to mix it with my basics, like washed denim, a white T-shirt, for night, shrugged over slip dresses or silk pajama suits.

Behind the normality of the cardigans’ silhouette, there’s everyone from punks to royalty in its DNA; smart and scruffy, classic and street style, which ensures its forever status. Or icon status, like JW Anderson’s patchwork cardigan that was seen on Harry Styles, inspired a TikTok tidal wave of amateur knitters and now resides in the Victoria & Albert Museum permanent collection. Next on my list? A slim V-neck cardigan to wear with an equally skinny belt, nodding to Prada’s cult spring 2000 show (Lips! Bowling bags! Pleats!), that Miuccia called at the time the “ABC of fashion”. Surely the “C” standing for Cardigan.