I
’m accustomed to seeing hundreds of people wait in line for the latest Supreme drop. I’m no stranger to setting alarms to score highly-coveted sneakers in online releases. But, for the first time ever, I’m on a waitlist for a cardigan — and according to Who What Wear, this line is 10,000 people deep.
I have nothing against cardigans — especially this out-of-stock one from Sézane, which has adorable enamel buttons that remind me of M&Ms — but I imagine I’m not alone in thinking that cardigans aren’t typical waitlist fodder.
In fact, until recently, I thought of them as the antithesis of a hot-ticket item: basic, dependable and always there if I needed them (and frankly, I typically did not). I was more likely to associate them with grandmothers attending finger-sandwich luncheons than trend fodder.
But as with black lipstick and western dressing, cardigans have been subjected to a recent Instagram charm offensive, thus persuading me to begin chipping away at yet another self-constructed sartorial barrier. And all of a sudden, cardigans look pretty damn cool.
People have been layering chunky ones over dresses to carry them into fall…
And wearing thin ones as stand-alone tops…
And wearing form-fitting ones with vintage Levi’s…
And lazily buttoning them with a side serving of nonchalant energy to match…
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Despite how long cardigans have been around, I don’t find any of these looks dated or tired, which brings me to my eureka moment: Cardigans are only as boring as their context. These women offer convincing evidence that when it comes to personal style, how you wear your clothes, versus what you wear, can do all the heavy lifting.
Curious if I was capable of contributing some evidence of my own, I challenged myself to make cardigans feel “me.” When creating my outfits, the pieces — like pearl necklaces and pleated skirts — that I used to associate with cardigans didn’t even come to mind. In fact, I quickly gravitated to my tried-and-true favorites, and the results were thrilling. For example, I decided on my favorite pair of no-fuss Carhartt cargos, which naturally offset the innate preppiness of this Lacoste cardigan. For another look, an oversized cardigan presented the perfect opportunity to make good on my itch to put athletic leggings in a real outfit ever since I saw Eliz do it in this Office Apropo. Also, since I’ve been super into transforming my slip dresses into skirts by layering T-shirts and sweatshirts on top, I figured I should give a cardi a try as well.
Are you pro-cardigan? Tell me why or why not in the comments. And please cross your fingers that I score the Sézane sweater. I’m hoping for the baby blue so I can wear it with python printed pants and a pair of platform docs, not that I’ve thought about it or anything.
Photos by Louisiana Mei Gelpi.
