Fred Perry

Among the earlier cardigans I bought was an original Fred Perry, this will have been in the early eighties.

A little history to begin, Fred Perry was an English tennis player in the thirties, did well at Wimbledon (may have won, I don't know, I never get the sport questions right) and then pissed off the tennis establishment by turning professional. He ended up in America reasonably wealthy having in the course of his career sold his name to a clothing label.

The Fred Perry cardigan was an acrylic creation with plastic faux leather buttons, six in number, made to look like footballs. They were available in plain finish or an argyle pattern. They had the trademark laurels on the left chest and to my eyes owed something to the style of American letter cardigans I discussed a while back. They were very popular at the time and I certainly thought they looked well sexy. They now command preposterously high prices on EBay. I have one of the plain ones, in a rather sorry state; it's been through the washing machine too many times. I am more than happy to be boastful and indiscreet and say that it is my, how to put this delicately, most "gigged" cardigan, if you get my meaning.

The label continues to this day and seems to have moved upmarket in price and now occupies a designer niche. The football style buttons are long gone and more upmarket fabrics are now the norm; fings certainly ain't wot they used to be. Times may have changed but the fond memories will, however, remain with me as detailed and vibrant as the day they were acquired (the rash cleared up after a few days, fortunately).

Here’s a nicely photographed one that sold on EBay some time ago.

The Y cardigan

Here's one from fable and legend, the Y cardigan. Popular in the early eighties and all but extinct by about 1987. I had one, I remember it well, I cut the sleeves off it (don't ask) and eventually gave it away to someone whose need for it I perceived to be greater than mine.

Let me describe the legendary Y cardigan. Made from a soft open weave acrylic, some were made in a waffle texture, they came in various colours. I had one in black, I seem to recall they had contrasting colour piping to the edges but this may be my cardigan clairvoyance misleading me. They had four plastic leather football-looking buttons and a large Y in a contrasting colour on the left hand side. This was not a patch but a pattern incorporated in the weave. Their kinship with American letter cardigans was apparent and the Y I think may have referred to Yale, though I think this was lost on us back then.

Their stylistic nod in the direction of the then Popular Fred Perry cardigans was obvious in their letter cardigan heritage and the football style buttons. What they had going for them over the Fred Perry is they were cheaper.

The fable and legend I refer to come from the fact that you don't see them anywhere now, not EBay, not retro fashion outlets, nowhere. This is very surprising considering their ubiquity at a time from which much other fashion survives, including some fine vintage cardigans. And here may lie the explanation; that word fine. Y cardigans were never expensive and were the sort of garment one might find on a market stall or at a discount clothing outlet. I think nobody hung on to them because nobody valued them.

Sadly, I can find no pictures of them, though there are several fond reminiscences of them on nostalgia message boards here and there on the web. Do get in touch if you find one, or even a picture of one. If you had the good fortune to have sex in one, please present yourself in person.