My Favorite Fall Transition Piece

The history of the cardigan began in the 1800's with James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, a British Army Major General who led the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. It was named after him and originally modeled after the knitted wool waistcoat that British officers supposedly wore during that war. The legend of the event and the fame that Lord Cardigan achieved after the war led to the rise of the garment's popularity – supposedly, Brudenell invented the cardigan after noticing that the tails of his coat had accidentally been burnt off in a fireplace.

But it was the iconic Coco Chanel who in the 1920's restyled the cardigan for women because she found men's cardigans to be too heavy and long. The story goes that she was inspired to restyle this garment because  she hated mussing up her hair as she pulled on a tight-necked men’s pullover. The cardigan only grew in popularity through the decades of the 20th with Lana Turner and her "sweater girl" style all the way to Mr. Rogers who proudly wore the cardigans his beloved mother knitted for him all throughout the airing of his show, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (1968-2001).