From the US to the UK and even Germany — it's time again to dig out and actually wear that ugly Christmas sweater. Yes, the gaudy one with Santa, elves and real jingle bells. Here are some of our favorites.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/V. Jones
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'Tis the season for the ugly Christmas sweater
From the US to the UK and even Germany — it's time to dig out and don that tacky Christmas sweater. The gaudier, the better. A look at some, err, winners.
Image: Rachel Murray/Madame Tussauds/Getty Images
Dress code: Ugly
Snowmen, Santas, elves, reindeer, lots of red and green, felt and pompoms ... there is no dearth of ideas for making a Christmas sweater tacky — and ugly. The more embarrassing and obnoxious, the better. In 2011, ugly Christmas sweater lovers in the US designated the third Friday of December as National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day. The day has since grown in popularity and is celebrated worldwide.
Image: picture alliance / Zoonar
Off the rack
The sweaters are surprisingly popular. In the United States, even high-end shops offer rack after rack of garish, holiday-themed sweaters. But the promoters of Ugly Sweater Day also recommend making your own ugly sweater by adding extravagant decorations onto sweaters you already have at home.
Image: Victoria Jones/picture alliance/empics
Celebrity designs
Sporting an ugly Christmas sweater has become somewhat of a tradition in the US, with sweater-themed parties, runs for charities and even ugly Christmas sweater songs about these "eyesores." US actor Whoopi Goldberg even designed an exclusive limited-edition holiday sweater collection in 2016 for the Lord & Taylor department store in New York City. She's seen here modeling one of her designs.
Image: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Lord & Taylor
Too cool for school?
No, these four celebs aren't looking stiff because they'd been forced into Christmas sweaters. They are wax figures of (from left) Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Snoop Dogg at Madame Tussauds wax museum in Hollywood, who were dressed in their ugliest best for a good cause one December, back in 2016, for the "Save the Children" Christmas Jumper Day campaign.
Image: Rachel Murray/Madame Tussauds/Getty Images
The royals rollicked too...
At the London Madame Tussauds museum, Britain's royal family wasn't spared the questionable garb that same year for the "Save the Children" campaign, which urges people to wear tacky Christmas sweaters — jumpers in British lingo — and donate to the charity. Years later, deaths, marriages, family feuds and tell-all biographies have somewhat marred this seemingly merry family picture.
Image: Alastair Grant/AP/picture alliance
Germany joins in the fun
Germany's Bundesliga soccer clubs also sell colored knit sweaters for the Christmas season. For example, Schalke 04, the soccer club of the western city of Gelsenkirchen, sold this one for the 2022 holiday season. The cartoon figure on the sweater lets us guess what he wants for Christmas ... true fans will know.
Image: picture alliance/Neundorf/Kirchner-Media
Sweating it out in sweaters
In 2019, a runners' association in the German city of Leverkusen started the tradition of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Run. But it's not about speed and winning. It's just about being kitted out in your gaudiest sweaters with the promise of either a cold beer or a warm mulled wine at the finish line. With lots of cheer on the way, of course.
Image: Ying Tang/NurPhoto/picture alliance
Dashing — despite the sweater
In the now iconic scene from 2001's "Bridget Jones' Diary," Colin Firth's Mark Darcy wears a cringeworthy Christmas jumper, a gift from his mother, putting a damper on making a good first impression on the titular Bridget. Fans of the English actor, already charmed by his earlier avatar as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 UK TV series "Pride and Prejudice," didn't quite mind though.
Image: Imago/EntertainmentPictures
Cat's meow?
Pets have also not been spared the ignominy of the ugly Christmas sweater, as seen on this kitty. Perhaps that's why she's eyeing the Christmas tree and plotting her revenge? While dogs by nature are more amiable to their humans' vagaries and may submit to being kitted out as snowmen or Santa, cats generally are a whole other kettle of fish.
Image: Catie Savage /AP Photo/picture alliance
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Pinpointing a true ugly Christmas sweater is no easy task. Is it your grandma's hand-knit jumper with the goofy reindeer? Or is that just adorable?
Ugly, certainly, is defined in the eye of the beholder and is a matter of taste, but the ugly Christmas sweater trend has spawned shelves of garish (red and green seem to be favorite colors), loud, flamboyant woolens that most people would hesitate to pull on — until that time of year comes around again.
Click through the gallery above for some of our favorite ugly Christmas sweaters and a look at their popularity around the world.
