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Move over twinkling fir trees and wreaths, eggnog, stockings and the office secret Santa -- there's a new kid in town. Over the last decade the ugly Christmas sweater has firmly embedded itself in yuletide culture.
闪闪发光的圣诞树、圣诞花环、蛋酒、长袜和办公室里的秘密圣诞老人——如今又多了个新成员。过去十年来，圣诞丑毛衣已经深深根植于圣诞文化当中。
You know the one. It's a wooly pullover, usually in different shades of red, white and green, and with at least one Christmas-inspired motif on it -- a snowman, tinsel, a reindeer or candy canes. Extra points if it features 3D pom-pom or jingle bells.
你知道的，圣诞毛衣就是那种红白绿的毛绒绒的套头衫，毛衣上至少包含一种圣诞主题装饰图案：雪人、金属亮片、驯鹿或拐杖糖。如果毛衣上有立体绒球或铃铛还能加分。
The garment has quickly become an essential part of the holidays, ubiquitous as Christmas lights and wrapping paper. It's obnoxious and tacky, but also fuzzy and kind of wholesome.
这种毛衣很快就成为圣诞节的重要组成部分，和圣诞彩灯、包装纸一样无处不在。丑毛衣看起来讨厌又俗气，但是软绒绒的有益身心。
It took some time for the UCS to find its place in the pantheon of Christmas fundamentals, however.
不过圣诞丑毛衣是花了好些年才在圣诞节立住脚跟的。
Christmas-themed pullovers started making an appearance in the 1950s, a nod perhaps to the holiday's growing commercialization. Initially referred to as "Jingle Bell Sweaters," they weren't as garish as today's iterations, and found little popularity in the market.
圣诞主题套头毛衣是在20世纪50年代开始出现的，也许是圣诞节商业化日益浓重的产物。最初被叫作“铃铛毛衣”，花色没有现在的圣诞丑毛衣这般艳丽，在市场上也不受欢迎。
It wasn't until the 1980s that the item hit the mainstream. The shift came thanks to pop culture and comedies, with goofball dad characters like Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" turning the holiday sweater into an uncomely but endearing expression of cheer. Snowflake-emblazoned sweaters weren't considered cool, but they radiated yule, and were sported at office parties and on Christmas Day.
直到20世纪80年代，圣诞丑毛衣才成为市场主流。这要感谢流行文化和喜剧，《疯狂圣诞假期》中切维·切斯饰演的克拉克·格里斯沃尔德这样的傻瓜老爹角色将圣诞丑毛衣转变成了丑萌的欢乐源泉。用雪花装饰的毛衣虽然不酷，但是充满圣诞气氛，办公室派对和圣诞节都有人穿。
The resurgence didn't last long. In the 1990s the Christmas sweater faded in popularity; it was something only your unfashionable older relatives would ever think of wearing or gifting. By the turn of the new millennium, the item was widely considered an eyebrow-raising sartorial mishap.
这一复兴潮流没持续多久。20世纪90年代圣诞毛衣热度退去，只有落伍的老年亲戚才会想穿这种毛衣或当礼物送人。到2000年左右，圣诞丑毛衣被普遍视为一种令人侧目的没品衣着。
Think of 2001's "Bridget Jones's Diary," in which Colin Firth's Mark Darcy turns to greet Bridget (Renée Zellweger) at a family party wearing an unattractive knitted garment featuring a giant red-nosed reindeer. Bridget is horrified. So were you, probably, if you watched it in the cinema. But you probably also smiled. Such is the heartwarming power of the UCS.
想想2001年的《BJ单身日记》，影片中科林·费尔斯饰演的马克·达西在家庭聚会中穿着一件绣着红鼻子大驯鹿的丑毛衣和布丽吉特（蕾妮·齐薇格饰演）打招呼。布丽吉特大为惊骇。你很可能也是这个反应，如果你在电影院看这部电影的话。不过你可能还笑了。这就是圣诞丑毛衣的暖心魅力。
The early 2000s also saw new life breathed into this now holiday staple. According to the "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book: The Definitive Guide to Getting Your Ugly On," Christmas sweater parties started kicking off just around the time Bridget was recoiling at Darcy's outfit.
本世纪初，圣诞丑毛衣又焕发了新生。根据《圣诞丑毛衣派对手册：穿上丑衣服的权威指南》，圣诞毛衣派对大约就是在布丽吉特因为达西的毛衣而退避三舍时开始流行起来的。
The first so themed get-together took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2002, said Brian Miller, one of the book's authors and founder of online shop UglyChristmasSweaterParty.com, in a phone interview. "It's hard to say what triggered the change in perspective, but I think that the moment someone wore the garment in a humorous way, people started seeing the comic side of it, and thinking 'this thing at the back of the closet could be fun, instead of something awful that nobody wants'," he said.
该书的作者之一、网店“圣诞丑毛衣派对”创始人布莱恩·米勒在一次电话访谈中称，第一个圣诞毛衣派对于2002年在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的温哥华举行。“很难说是什么引发了人们对丑毛衣看法的改变，但我认为在有人为了幽默而穿上圣诞丑毛衣的那一刻起，人们开始看到这种毛衣喜感的一面，并认为在衣柜深处放一件丑毛衣会是挺好玩的一件事，而不再把丑毛衣看成没人要的糟糕东西。”
The popularity of the ugly sweater snowballed from there.
从此以后，圣诞丑毛衣越来越流行。
Over the following decade, the festive knit evolved into "a new holiday tradition," as Miller described it. "It became our generation's mistletoe," he added. "Which is pretty remarkable, when you think about it."
根据米勒的描述，在接下来的十年内，圣诞丑毛衣演变成了“一种新的节日传统”。他补充道：“它成了我们这一代人的槲寄生，想到这里还是挺令人惊叹的。”
Fast-fashion giants like Topshop and high-end retailers like Nordstrom began filling their shelves and sites with gaudy designs each holiday season. Vintage stores and the Salvation Army capitalized on the trend by upping their stocks of fuzzy snowmen and dancing Santa pullovers. Even the fashion pack came around. In 2007, Stella McCartney released a polar bear-themed sweater. Givenchy followed in 2010.
Topshop等快时尚巨头和诺德斯特龙百货等高端零售商开始在每个圣诞季推出艳丽的设计。古董店和救世军利用这股潮流增加了毛绒雪人和跳舞圣诞老人的套头毛衣库存。就连主流时尚品牌也开始吹复古风。2007年，斯特拉·麦卡特尼发布了一款北极熊主题的毛衣。纪梵希也在2010年推出圣诞丑毛衣。
2012 was a turning point for the ugly sweater craze. UK charity Save the Children launched Christmas Jumper Day, a fundraising event encouraging people to don their most cringeworthy sweaters. British newspaper The Telegraph described the item as "this season's must-have," while the New York Times reported on ugly Christmas sweater-themed runs, pub crawls and specialized e-tailers booming across the States. Concurrently, the knits began showing more tinsel, bells and wacky details, reaching peak kitsch.
2012年是这股丑毛衣热潮的转折点。英国慈善机构“救救孩子”发起了“圣诞毛衣日”，这项筹款活动鼓励人们捐出自己最尴尬的毛衣。英国《每日电讯报》将圣诞丑毛衣描述为“本季必备”，《纽约时报》则对圣诞丑毛衣主题的跑步、串酒吧和美国遍地开花的定制电商进行了报道。与此同时，毛衣上的金属亮片、铃铛和古怪细节越来越多，达到了俗气的巅峰。
Celebrities, from Taylor Swift to Kanye West embraced the trend, too. Late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon even started running a regular segment called "12 Days of Christmas Sweaters," which still airs today.
从泰勒·斯威夫特到坎耶·维斯特等多位名人也投身这一潮流。深夜脱口秀主持人吉米·法伦甚至为节目增加了一个名为“圣诞毛衣12天”的固定环节，到今天还在播出。
If anything, the rise of social media has only heightened the 'It' status of the ugly sweater. Today, we compete to show off our Christmas-sweater love on Instagram, while anyone from mass retailer Target to fast food chain Red Lobster (whose UCS features a pocket to keep food warm), and more fashion houses offer their own versions of the garment.
在社交媒体的推波助澜下，丑毛衣进一步坐稳了圣诞时尚单品的位子。如今我们争相在Ins上秀出我们对圣诞毛衣的热爱，从零售业龙头Target到快餐零售商红龙虾（他们家的圣诞丑毛衣有一个能给食品保温的口袋），还有更多时尚品牌都推出了自己的丑毛衣。
"When I attended my first Ugly Sweater Party in the early 2000s, I would have never anticipated the garment would take off like this," Miller said. "Although it's easy to see why: ugly knits can be worn by anyone -- from my daughter at her school's ugly sweater contest to office workers at their end of year party. They're democratic. And they're a lot of fun. Christmas can be quite stressful -- wearing something ridiculous can help take the pressure off."
米勒说：“我在2000年初期参加第一个丑毛衣派对时，我怎么也想不到这种毛衣会火成这样。不过原因也是显而易见的：丑毛衣任何人都能穿——从穿着它参加学校丑毛衣比赛的我女儿，到参加年会的上班族。丑毛衣很大众。丑毛衣也很有趣。在倍感压力的圣诞季，穿可笑的衣服有助于减轻压力。”
