Bearing the sweater weather

When it comes to a man’s wardrobe, the sweater is one piece of clothing that suffers some kind of identity crisis.

Many of us are at a loss and cannot really place it in the imagined continuum of casual to formal look.

It is almost like garnishing used in plating, some may be edible, but they are mostly ornamental with no real value when it comes to digging in.

And so, the sweater is often flung onto the shoulder as you leave the office or house, if not thrown somewhere at the back of the car to serve its dutiful role when the clime becomes unbearably nippy.

Now that the sweater weather is here, we are being treated to a cyclic spectacle of bad tastes in knitwear that is spreading like a weed.

The tastelessness is evident in that one dark sweater we have, probably with faded stripes or angular patterns that we will wear to the last thread and only occasionally launder.

It defines us in the cold and rainy season to the point of absorbing the smell of our ‘personality.’

But a sweater’s purpose is more than just to ward off cold, it is an outer wear, or an important piece in a layered look.

It is not supposed to be a tummy-hugging slapdash afterthought of Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar at the Okoa Kenya campaigns at Jacaranda grounds, but rather the heedful fastidiousness of Bernard Ndong’s red sweater vest under a dark blazer.

No one underscores the courtliness of a sweater like Pep Guardiola, the snazzy former Barcelona player and coach, currently the Bayern Munich manager, who is credited with bringing Prada and Dior to the football pitch.

His well-tailored suits and V-neck sweaters set him apart from the habitual tie-and-suit or tracksuit look of most coaches.

PINK BALACLAVA

Perhaps it is our childhood conditioning that makes us slow on the uptake when it comes to sweaters, or what else are you to expect from someone who was swaddled in crudely hand-knitted set of pink balaclava, mittens, socks and a strictly functional oversized sweater, with artless, but well-meaning messages like ‘God’s gift’ at the front.

Or maybe we are still haunted by the horrid sweaters we get as Christmas gifts.

Even though the sweater has been glorified in some quarters as one of the most flattering garments a man can wear, heartthrobs like Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives think it is “really feminine,” and that no man should ever wear a knitted sweater with shirt.

Well, the ladies seem to get it, though, like Ambrose Bierce observed, the sweater still tend to be the garment children wear when their mothers feel cold! For their sense of style, women have stylishly exploited the versatility of the sweater as a sexy body-hugging top or oversized outerwear, which is now worn even as creatively designed dresses.

They have no choice in the matter it seems, as Hubert de Givenchy aptly put it, “All a woman needs to be chic is a raincoat, two suits, a pair of trousers, and a cashmere sweater.”

But still, men can strike a respectable pose with high quality turtlenecks, cardigans, V-necks, crew necks, polo sweaters or sweater vests that can be worn with ties if need be for a ‘warm seriousness’ that may not necessarily be achieved with the curtness of a suit.