What is a Cardigan?

A tutorial in pictures

A keen eye will notice the distinct lack of an opening down the front of this garment, and the sharp intellect will correctly interpret this as most definitely NOT a cardigan. What is a cardigan? This would seem a rhetorical, nay, somewhat superfluous question. For does not everyone (in the English-speaking world) know what is a cardigan? Apparently not.

Quite a while back I purchased a ‘cardigan’ on eBay. It was quite pretty, a lilac-coloured wool knit cut in a kimono style with silk butterfly sleeves. The photos were not the best quality, but I neglected to cross-question the seller as to whether this garment really was a cardigan, with buttons opening all the way down the front. When it duly arrived in the mail I discovered, in some astonishment, that it was not, in fact, a cardigan at all, but a top with decorative buttons down the front.

When I queried this discrepancy with the seller, she insisted that Witchery (an Australian high-street chain store) had described it thus. I think not. But the seller refused to give any ground, and I was quite annoyed.

Observe the opening down the front of the garment, punctuated regularly with buttons. This undoubtedly IS a cardigan.Dear old Wikipedia explicitly states that a cardigan is a type of knit shirt with an open front, differentiating itself from a pullover, which must be ‘pulled over’ the head to be worn.

Named after the 7th Earl of Cardigan who was a British officer during the Crimean War (1853–1856), the garment was modelled after the wool waistcoat officers wore at this time.

That’s pretty clear, huh? No more confusion. Go forth and cardi-up.

Look ma, no buttons! But it’s STILL undeniably and recognisably a cardigan.