I have officially decided that I am cardigan maxing this year. I have loved cardigans for a while. Back in high school I loved cardigans. I had a vintage navy Lacoste cardigan. It was from the 1980s. I loved that cardigan. I don't know what happened to it. Taking the sport coat off and putting on the cardigan is one of my favorite signs of a winter evening. You can keep your tie on, you can take it off. You can keep it on without anything looking strange, the cardigan functions the same way as the sport coat in terms of interaction with the other pieces in your outfit.
A cardigan with no tie is so relaxed, so comfortable. It is so very "hidden away inside while the wind blows outside." A cardigan with a tie is more formal of course, yet totally relaxed. The cardigan implies that there was once a sport coat worn that day. The cardigan is a sign of an intentional temporary relaxation in the outfit. There was a hipster trend of wearing a cardigan with ties years ago, but that isn't in our style and it implies something different. It isn't what I am talking about. Those shirts were always too tight, the tie too small, the cardigan too thin. It was an entirely different fast fashion trend. When I say cardigan, I mean a full fitting, warm, comfortable, can take wear over the years, cardigan. A roomy classic OCBD and a roomy cardigan. This is classic and beautiful.
I love a cardigan with good pockets. The cardigan pictured here has nicely sized pockets. I sometimes jokingly say that wearing a cardigan in the autumn and winter with a tie is Richard Burton maxing from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" It is a sad movie, but there are these psychotically sardonic and funny moments. He is wearing a cardigan and a tie throughout the movie, making drinks, going on these long soliloquies. This is Richard Burton maxing.
The cardigans I look for in the autumn and winter are 100% wool. I live in the arctic, so I need warmth. Another mark of a good cardigan for me is length. I want a nice length that is going to feel "covering". I want to feel more than just a light scarf-like cover up. I want a cardigan with some nice long drape. Not cloak-like of course, but with some substantial length. Some are put off by the dork-factor. They feel like it is like Mr. Rogers as well. I refuse to have beautiful items, pieces that are perfectly appropriate in our style and which are truly useful additions, relegated to the status of forbidden just because of some association or false-foolish perception.
Embrace the cardigan.