There are few festive traditions more timeless than the Christmas jumper, and yet, for fashion-lovers around the world, it’s one that’s guaranteed to induce a tired groan.

For year after year, these itchy knits are wheeled out under the guise of celebrating festivities when, in actual fact, the only thing they’re doing is testing our patience and threatening to ruin our sartorial credit.

It’s not just stylistically that Christmas jumpers fall short either; the naff knits are also problematic for the environment. According to recent research, two out of five Christmas jumpers are only worn once over the festive period, and one in three adults under 35 buys a new Christmas jumper every year. 

The solution to the biggest of annual festive fashion faux pas? A Christmas cardi, which eschews all of the chintz and detachable reindeer noses in favour of, well, an actually decidedly chic sparkly cardigan.  

It’s unsurprising, then, that in the last week, searches for sparkly cardigans have spiked by 25%, according to global fashion platform Lyst. The most in-demand styles are those in the sequin-detailed, lurex and crystal-embellished domain, heralding what we could only hope is a new dawn for festive knits.

Ganni’s is pink, Cefinn’s is forest green and River Island’s is lilac and covered in an appropriate constellation of sequins. They’ve got all of the required glitz necessary for this time of year, without the naff novelty knits that we’ve begrudgingly worn in bygone years. This line-up of twinkly cardigans is proof that it really is possible to dress like a piece of tinsel, while still looking stylish (who’d have thought?). These are a few of our favourite sparkly cardigans.

THE BEST SPARKLY CARDIGANS

Images: courtesy of brands.