Thursday, March 20, 2008

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

So apparently today is ''Sweater Day'' — a day to celebrate what would have been the 80th birthday of Fred Rogers, obviously known for his amazing cardigan sweater collection. In honor of this holiday EW.com decided to commemorate this man by picking their 20 favorite sweaters in entertainment — starting with MISTER ROGERS himself. (if i would have known about this earlier I totally would have worn a sweater...which i might have had to purchase special for the occasion since i don't wear sweaters...but for Mister Rogers...it would have been worth it...after all it's Sweater Day!)


Here are my top ten from that list. (i've included my own thoughts in italics)

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY

Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) didn't make a good impression on Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) when her mother tried to play matchmaker for the future couple. And the heinous — but hilarious and rather enduring — reindeer jumper he was wearing at the time didn't help matters much either....(one of favorite movies of all time, and that jumper was hilariously atrocious)

''UNDONE — THE SWEATER SONG''

Weezer's knit-tastic first single — can you believe it was released 14 years ago now? — extolled the angst of sweater-wearing hipsters with the now-classic lyrics: ''If you want to destroy my sweater / Hold this thread as I walk away.'' (still love love love this song)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

Even ''the perfect cheer!'' couldn't perk up the drab, but totally awesome, Spartan sweaters worn by the cheerleaders — Craig (Will Ferrell) and Arianna (Cheri Oteri) — in the series' recurring sketches. (kind of wish i had this sweater for the "perfect halloween outfit")

THE COSBY SHOW

To this day, the dapper Dr. Cliff Huxtable — and the comedian who played him, Bill Cosby — is best known for his myriad of crazy crocheted confections. (seriously...to this day when someone is wearing a crazy sweater I refer to it as a "cosby sweater")

FRIENDS

Viewers — and Joey, Monica, and Phoebe — found out who the father of Rachel's baby (it was Ross, but he didn't even know that at this point!) via a red sweater that he left in her apartment after the infamous one-night stand. When Ross casually announced that he'd been looking for the red knit ''for, like, a month,'' the in-studio audience realized what was going on and cheered heartily, and then — pause for 10 seconds — Joey finally put all the pieces together and gasped himself. (typical joey face! oh how i miss friends)

CHARLIE BROWN

Its got maybe the simplest — but possibly least-flattering — pattern ever, but the yellow sweater with the chunky zigzag can be spotted from a mile away and is Charlie's signature/only look. The celebrated style is so closely associated with cartoonist Charles Schultz's work that the biography of him, Schultz and Peanuts, that hit shelves last fall is naturally emblazoned with the same colors and pattern. (totally awesome sweater!)

NIRVANA: UNPLUGGED

Known for his tattered sweaters, the fallen rock idol Kurt Cobain famously layered a fuzzy green cardigan over a concert tee on MTV's music show and inspired a zillion other grunge fans to do the same. (this style really hit home with many of my fellow students at my seattle area high school....don't know why)

FREDDY KRUEGER

Sure, Nightmare on Elm Street's serial killer is known for his gnarly face, brown fedora, and metal-clawed leather glove, but he wouldn't be nearly as spooky without that jailbird-esque, red-and-green sweater. (maybe it's because these movies freaked me out, but this sweater will always be disturbing to me)

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION

Though we surely got a kick out of 'em (could this guy be any more pathetic?), even slapping on a couple of ''cheerful'' yuletide sweaters couldn't give Clark Griswold the Christmas he so desired. (although my favorite sweater of the movie was cousin eddie's cream/white sweater with the dark green dickie.....amazing)

GREASE

Just as Sandy showed up rocking her cigarette-smoking, bad-girl-in-black look, Danny tried going legit with a Rydell High sweater vest. He only wore it briefly, though, after Sandy's big hair managed to tease him back to the bad (or is it good?) side. (i got chills...they're multiplying...)

7 comments:

melanie said...

Haha, someone at the doctor's office the other day had on a 'Cosby sweater'. Love that title, I'm using it now. Have they really had them all these years or can the sweaters still be bought in stores?

Love the dickie on Cousin Eddy and love that movie.

dirty>south said...

Don't forget 3 Amigos:

El Quapo: I got......a sweater!

Angie said...

you are right jared!!

Samantha said...

I'd wear a sweater too in honor of mr. rogers if it wasn't 80 DEGREES WHERE I LIVE.

Piper said...

DANG!!! I love Mr. R!! I wish I would have known this!! Seriously, he was my first crush.. gay-wad, I know. I remember being so mad and spitting at the TV when he had his wife on an episode!!

Emily Katlyn West said...

Why don't we have a job where we can just come up with the top 10 lists of things like sweaters? Or wait let me rephrase that why don't you have a job where I can support you in that effort? I need there to be a job like that available asap!

Jill said...

There is totally a t-shirt on ebay that has the spartan duo on it. Not as good as having the sweater, but makes a statment. Just search spartan spirit and it comes up.