How the cardigan has come back into fashion thanks to Taylor Swift

To mark the release of her new album Folklore and first single Cardigan, Taylor Swift took the unusual step of selling an actual cardigan alongside more traditional merchandise, like hoodies and T-shirts.

replica of the one Swift wears in her Cardigan video – a thick cable knit V-neck sweater in cream with black stripe edging, that has three stars on each sleeve – has already sold out on the singer’s online store.

Famous fans including actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Kobe Bryant’s daughter Natalia have posted photos on Instagram wearing the cardigans they’d been gifted by the singer.

It’s surprising to see such a wintry garment gaining popularity in summer, but the cardigan has a way of popping back into fashion just when it seems to have gone for good.

From its earliest origins to the present day, here some of the faces who have helped make the cardigan famous…

- Advertisement -

7th Earl of Cardigan

The knitted sweater takes its name from the 7th Earl of Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell, a lieutenant general in the British Army. Lord Cardigan, famous for leading the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, was known for wearing a short, woollen sleeveless waistcoat to keep warm during the failed offensive in the 1800s. It is thought to have been trimmed in fur.

After the war, the practical knitwear item reportedly became rather popular outside the military, and cardigans began to be widely produced.

Coco Chanel

Credited with popularising cardigans for women in the 1920s, it’s said that French fashion designer Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel preferred a button-down sweater because she didn’t like the way traditional pullovers messed up her hair when she put them on.

Inspired by the legendary designer’s early work, cardigans and knitted jackets are still seen on the Chanel catwalk and in boutiques today.

Queen Elizabeth II