The Guardian, on its front page, features an article titled "The 10 greatest cardigans." And "cardigans" isn't some special British word for something more important than a sweater that buttons down the front. This is actually an article identifying and ranking the great button-down sweaters in history. #7 is that thick, nubby thing Jeff Bridges wore in "The Big Lebowski." #4 is that even rattier thing Kurt Cobain wore in Nirvana's MTV "Unplugged" performance. #1 is the J. Crew "symbol of Michelle Obama’s mastery of soft-power semiotics" that FLOTUS wore on her first visit to London when she met the Prime Minister's wife. Michelle Obama also wore a cardigan to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen, but apparently the soft-power semiotics she deployed for the Prime Minister's wife had more greatness about it.
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We must not have exported Mister Rogers' Neighborhood to those wankers.
"Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868) was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. He led the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava.
Throughout his life in politics and his long military career he characterised the arrogant and extravagant aristocrat of the period. His progression through the Army was marked by many episodes of extraordinary incompetence...."
He appears in George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman at the Charge, available you-know-where.
So who does Fred Rogers have to blow to at least get an honorable mention?
So Guardian. The Guardian sued a web site that was called somuchguardian. They accused the site of making fakes. In fact the site consisted of nothing but Guardian screenshots, without commentary. Talk about the deployment of soft power semiotics.
Speaking of presidential semiotics, do they have a list of great blue dresses?
Three belonged on the list: Grease, Kurt Cobain, and Lebowski. The rest are totally forgettable, and of course it was absurd not to include Rogers. Anyone else get the feeling this list was cobbled together to suck up to Michelle and slam the Trump's? "Clearly, there is a gulf between this and the highly tailored, armour-like suits favoured by the current establishment." Not favored by the First Lady mind you, but by the "current establishment."
The best part is after some listicle fluff, we get The Guardian's money begging statement: "The Guardian will engage with the most critical issues of our time – from the escalating climate catastrophe to widespread inequality to the influence of big tech on our lives. At a time when factual information is a necessity, we believe that each of us, around the world, deserves access to accurate reporting with integrity at its heart."
And if that doesn't curl your toes, we'll screen grab crappy pictures of people in cardigans!
I have a wonderful cardigan. Oatmeal color, loose shaker knit. Lebowski light.
Anyone who thinks that Michell Obama’s cardigan is better than Marilyn Monroe’s cardigan has a screw loose.
In addition to the The Big Lebowski, I highly recommend The Light Brigade from the 60s which has a phenomenal performance of Lord Cardigan by Trevor Howard.
Since we were talking about British accents, the classism of British society shows through exquisitely during the film, although parts are not historically accurate (Mrs. Duberly and Cardigan).
It's funny, dramatic, and historically makes someone like me gasp that they actually really did fight wars like that. Highly recommend and available on Amazon I think.
Of course. Nothing says fashion like The Dude and Michelle Obama.
Trevor Howard as Lord Cardigan
Jeff Bridges is one of my all time faves!
Loved "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot"
But of course that has my main man in it - Clint
Marilyn Monroe wins the prize. Great photo.
I've read that the cardigan Bridges wore in The Big Lebowski was actually his own.
The Dude's cardigan really tied the character together.
I personally hate wearing cardigans, but I like the way other people look in them.
Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf wore great cardigans.
My father favored cardigans. But they usually make me think of Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers' sweater must have been disqualified because of the zipper.
At a time when factual information is a necessity, we believe that each of us, around the world, deserves access to accurate reporting with integrity at its heart.
Do they recommend a place to find those things?
The golf cardigans! Arnie’s were great, too.
symbol of Michelle Obama’s mastery of soft-power semiotics
We all want to milk that soft-power dividend.
T.J. Miller had some pretty good cardigan game on Silicon Valley.
"In addition to the The Big Lebowski, I highly recommend The Light Brigade from the 60s which has a phenomenal performance of Lord Cardigan by Trevor Howard."
Thanks for the reminder that Vanessa Redgrave was pretty easy on the eyes back in the day. Did an interesting turn recently in "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool." Also recommended.
Norwegian sweater or nothing.
So, this is why they have been spinning a ball of yarns.
Here's why there's no Mr. Rogers on that list.
He did not wear sweaters with buttons, i.e., cardigans.
He wore zip-up sweaters.
From "The Military Origins of the Cardigan/The popular sweater has a revolutionary history that includes Riot Grrrls and Coco Chanel. An Object Lesson" (The Atlantic 2016):
"To Chanel we mortals owe the modern woman’s cardigan. As Rhonda K. Garelick writes in Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History, at the time Chanel came up with the “sweater-shirt,” she was designing more and more menswear-inspired garments: sailor suits, fishermen sweaters, and pullovers that looked like riding outfits, all detailed with buttons, ribbons, or other feminine touches. Mademoiselle made the first cardigan prototype herself, and it was an instant success. “I cut an old sweater. … I sewed a ribbon [around the collar]. Everyone went crazy, [saying] ‘Where did you get that?’” Chanel later recalled. Chanel was inspired to take up her blade because she hated how tight-necked men’s sweaters messed up her hair when she pulled them over her head. As Garelick comments, “It was a perfect metaphor for her entire life: When Coco couldn’t squeeze herself into something one way, she simply found—or created—another way, even if she needed a sharp instrument to do it.” Just as she attacked her hair with scissors, cutting it shorter and shorter until it became her distinctive gamine bob, she insisted on controlling form when it came to her clothing."
was it that disastrous an engagement,
All the survivors of the Light Brigade were now behind the Russian guns in the valley, yet the turning point of the action was the realisation that Lucan and the Heavy Brigade was not following in support.[93] Russian officers, noticing how vastly superior their numbers were, managed to halt their retreat near the Chernaya, and edge forward their men. The Russian lancer regiments waiting on heights were now ordered down into the valley to form a line behind the British (the 13th, 17th, and 8th on the right of the valley, the 11th and 4th on the left) and block their route of escape. Those watching with Raglan thought the Light Brigade completely lost, but unexpectedly the two groups of survivors managed to break through the Russian trap. Still far from the British line, however, they once again came under fire from the guns and marksmen on the Causeway Heights. "The truth must be told," recorded Lieutenant Koribut Kubitovich, "that this fire hit us just as it did the enemy," but admitted that, "The English fought with astounding bravery, and when we approached their dismounted and wounded men, even these refused to surrender and continued to fight till the ground was soaked with their blood."[94]
Ann Althouse: Here's why there's no Mr. Rogers on that list.
He did not wear sweaters with buttons, i.e., cardigans.
He wore zip-up sweaters.
I don't believe that's correct. A cardigan is just an open-front sweater, as opposed to a pullover. Whether it zips, buttons, or doesn't close at all, it's still a cardigan.
I went through a cardigan period, late 80's through mid-90's. Then switched to 1/4 zip pullovers. Now favor a full zip cotton sweater with a half-collar (JCrew). Have a couple of pull over hoodies, one that says Red Sox and the other has the Patriots logo on it. The Big Lebowski cardigan always looked great - comfortable and warm - perhaps I'll switch back to that style.
@Narciso
Enfilade fire from high ground on both sides during an advance while undertaking a cavalry charge on artillery from the front. Suicidal and disastrous for soldiers with good discipline (British), an annihilation for anyone else. Contrary to all practice of war even now and it is the discipline and shock of the charge that saved what was left of the Regiment. It should be noted the 11th Hussars and 17th Lancers did not participate largely for the remainder of the war and were kept mostly to the rear their moral and strength were so depleted.
One more thing that Hollywood does us a supreme disfavor on: The Cavalry Charge. In movies it shows these horses running around at full speed all the time. It didn't look anything like that. Most cavalry movement was undertaken at what we now would call the trot, roughly anywhere between 8-10mph, this included up to and including actual impact with the enemy (you're on a horse...you only need to move faster than a man can sprint). Full gallop made using weapons from horseback, even melee weapons, virtually impossible, accept to use the horse as a weapon and simply run people over.
It should've never been done, although history suggests it was a targeting and navigational error...they just went down the wrong valley. Also, Crimea should've never been done either. The West just has this weird 'THE RUSSIANS' fetish...they're always ready to destroy decency and humanity as we know it.
Cardigan was an oaf, but an oath with some fashion sense I guess who's lasting contribution to mankind was a sweater and a legend of bad leadership.
if memory they were coming to the aid of French missionaries, Aberdeen didn't have a war cabinet, Palmerston straightened things out in the end,
tcrosse said...
"Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868) was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. He led the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava.
Throughout his life in politics and his long military career he characterised the arrogant and extravagant aristocrat of the period. His progression through the Army was marked by many episodes of extraordinary incompetence...."
He appears in George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman at the Charge, available you-know-where.
11/21/19, 12:46 PM
And by reference, not complimentary, in Michael Crichton's The Great Train Robbery.
Per the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Mister Rogers' Sweater:
This red knit cardigan was worn by Fred Rogers, creator and host of the children's program, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (PBS, 1968-2001). For more than thirty years, Rogers began each episode by changing into a sweater and tennis shoes and singing, "Won't you be my neighbor?"
I had skipped the cardigan article this morning, instead reading the one reporting (!) the mince pie ranking. The more important questions about mince pie-- is there meat in it? is there suet in it?-- were left unasked. It occurs to me that this really is the Guardian in a nutshell.
but you do make the point, of why the Russians aren't likely to give up crimea, we only fought two wars over texas, they fought six, off and on over that territory,
In movies it shows these horses running around at full speed all the time. It didn't look anything like that. Most cavalry movement was undertaken at what we now would call the trot, roughly anywhere between 8-10mph, <
Even by Waterloo, cavalry charges were pretty old fashioned. The infantry square defeated cavalry and so only artillery and cavalry had a chance if combined. The artillery forced the square to loosen up and that left them vulnerable to cavalry. At Waterloo, Napoleon's artllery was ineffective because of the rain, which softened the ground.
The British cavalry, the Scott's Greys, were useless. They charged and never came back.
Their history, of course, disagrees and says they won the battle.
But
Despite the Duke’s orders that none of the cavalry was to quit the ground it had been posted on without his express will, Uxbridge ordered his two brigades – the Household Brigade (1st and 2nd Life Guards, Royal Horse Guards and 1st (King’s) Dragoon Guards) and the Union Brigade, so-called for its English, Scots and Irish regiments (1st Royal Dragoons, 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, and the Scots Greys) – to charge in support of the hard-pressed infantry.
They vanished from the field. Uxbridge lost his leg and had a very good artificial one made. They had little effect on the battle.
just more bolderdash:
https://twitter.com/Shem_Infinite/status/1197594843951841281?s=20
Lord Raglan and Lord Cardigan were both present on that fated Crimean day. It is sobering to think that an errant shell could have set back the development of sleeves and sweaters by a full generation. Thank God things worked out all right, but ponder how war has many incalculable and unknown losses.
No Crimea. No Black Sea Fleet. No access to the Mediterranean. No warm water, ice-free year round port. All you're left with is Poliyarny/Murmansk and Vladivostok.
Yeah. For Russians it's worth fighting and killing over.
It's a shame that artifical legs aren't called uxbridges. That would ensure his lasting fame, but such is the fickleness of fate.
if you don't get that fundamental fact, you don't understand anything about Russian behavior, I left out world war 2, as one of those battlefronts, I think Catherine merridale pointed out the battle of kerch,
Depends on your time frame. For the foreseeable future, sure, everything’s going to be all right. The doomsayers are always wrong and society is best served ignoring them.
Longer term, it’s all going to hell and humanity is doomed. Along with everything else.
We wore cardigan golf sweaters in high school - 60/64 - usually over an Oxford cloth button down or madras shirt - Penny's Towncraft t-shirts were also acceptable. If your parents could afford it you wore Penguin brand sweaters - mine couldn't so JC Penny's had to do. And, if you were tres cool, as I, you only buttoned the top two buttons.
as Tim points out
Longer term, it’s all going to hell and humanity is doomed. Along with everything else.
as Keynes said: "In the long run we are all dead"
recall de Tocqueville saw the great clash with Russia, as far back as the 1830s, the Crimean war, was enough of a setback, not necessarily inkerman and balaclava, that alexander 2nd was forced to sell Alaska, of course an alt verse scenario might have been if alexander 3rd had survived another 20 years could they have averted the revolution or delayed it,
I think Althouse wins over Farmer and the Smithsonian here, because the Grauniad is British and the Brits are more restrictive in their cardigans
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cardigan
People were talking Candide. Today it is the Charge of the Light Brigade (kudos to tcrosse for raising Flashman)
I know I am younger than most here, being schooled in the 80s, and a higher % of my vintage might struggle with such references, more than those older, but damn, I would argue that these references didn't just ebb away slowly, they likely have fallen off the cliff.
Not 70-60-50% type thing with each succeeding generation. More 70-40-2%
I blame others.
Mhhm, mhm, yeah
Everybody's got a thing
But some don't know how to handle it
Always reachin' out in vain
Just takin' the things not worth having
But don't you worry 'bout a thing
Don't you worry 'bout a thing, mama
'Cause I'll be standin' on the side
When you check it out, oh
Also: ok ok, always with the Lebowski, but why not pay homage to against all odds, if you want to talk (the) iconic J Bridges character?
I like that sweater.
It’s hard to get a cardigan just right for the average woman, it tends to highlight the tummy. Michelle Obamas cardigan worn to meet the PM was very well done with maybe a bit too much glamour for Downing Street, but still very attractive. The one to meet the Queen was all wrong, very somber and a bit sloppy. That as the number one pick was used only to slam “the current establishment”.
“I think this is a sign that everything's going to be all right.” So the Left is still literally on theirs knees to both Obamas, and that’s a Good Sign? OK.
Lucid-Ideas said...
No Crimea. No Black Sea Fleet. No access to the Mediterranean. No warm water, ice-free year round port. All you're left with is Poliyarny/Murmansk and Vladivostok.
Yeah. For Russians it's worth fighting and killing over.
Bullshit. They just have to build out a new port at Novorossiysk or Sochi or Batumi or Poti or Sokhumi or somewhere else along the Russian part of the Black Sea Coast. They're just mean lazy cheap bloody-minded bastards.
Yeah I'm sure they've poured a lot of concrete at Sevastopol. Oh well. Son cosas de la vida. They probably regret all the industry and weapons they left behind in Ukraine too.
Not like they even need a Navy. Fat lot of good it's done them.
Bullshit... They're just mean lazy cheap bloody-minded bastards.
Overlapping and converging interests, certainly. Also, their intervention mitigated the progress of a refugee... humanitarian crisis forced by the coup in Kiev. Perhaps the residents will rename it "Crimovo."
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