How generations of A-listers have kept the cardigan current

South China Morning Post

22-02-2025

Taylor Swift has always been a cardigan fan, while Kendall Jenner and Anne Curtis are just two more in the latest generation of A-listers to give the homely button-up look some love. Of all wardrobe staples, from the chic leather biker jacket to the trusty flannel shirt , perhaps no single item has been quite as overlooked as the cardigan, despite its many revivals over the years.
First invented in the late 1800s by its namesake – the stylish, wealthy and arrogant British Army officer James Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan, also infamous for the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade – some stories have it that the original, makeshift version was created by complete accident after the tails of the earl's knitted waistcoat caught fire and burned off. Anne Curtis showed us how to rock a cute and sexy cardie look in October 2021. Photo: @annecurtissmith/Instagram In the decades since, you could say the cardigan's consistent comeback has been a matter of accident too – its ability to keep up with the times subject to changing societal attitudes and consequently drastic transformations. The humble cardie eventually evolved from a military status symbol , and morphed into its more casual modern-day iteration.
By the 1940s, university women were wearing baggy button-up jumpers – which were even denigrated as 'sloppy joes' – in protest at the restrictive women's styles and social order of decades past. But how did these cosy knits, once relegated to the back of a 'sloppy' woman's wardrobe, become the star of the show? Jacquemus La Maille Pralù cropped cardigan. Photo: Handout As with so many other foundational trends in fashion, it was Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel who predicted the cardigan craze that would eventually take over the world. The designer reportedly created the modern prototype of a woman's cardigan in the 1920s after remarking that putting on regular pullovers would mess up her hair, and the history of the garment has been intertwined with that of the French maison ever since, with different variations on the button-up featuring in many of its collections to this day. A simple innovation born out of inconvenience spawned a movement which, by the 1950s, made the 'sweater girl' the pin-up model of the moment, with Hollywood actresses like Lana Turner and Jayne Mansfield sporting the simple cover-up, slung around the shoulders with their form-fitting outfits peeking out from underneath. Fast-forward to the 1990s and another blonde bombshell, Cameron Diaz , would make the cardie chic again by buttoning hers once down the middle to expose her camisole in the hit film There's Something About Mary . Kendall Jenner in barely-there Jacquemus, in August 2021. Photo: @kendalljenner/Instagram In the early 2010s, Taylor Swift championed cardigan use for a preppy chic look, seen in the heyday of American retailers like J.Crew and Vineyard Vines. And then in 2020, there was Swift again with the coronavirus-era cottagecore trend, which helped inspire the album Folklore , its lead single 'Cardigan', and of course, titular merchandise made for fans self-isolating at home.
A century after Chanel first led the way, cardigans have been catapulted back into the public eye again thanks to a much younger independent French fashion brand. Slinkier and sexier than the jumpers of years past, La Maille cardigans from Jacquemus' autumn/winter 2021 show quickly became cult classics in various vibrant colours and even cropped varieties – a must-have for stylish celebrities and influencers everywhere. This version was designed to wear with nothing under it, a styling tip that perhaps hints at the cardigan's final form as a high fashion staple that can stand on its own in any season, bringing the heat in more ways than one.