There was a period of time when Fair Isle was the de facto "pretentious #menswear in the know" sweater pattern. Publications everywhere struggled to keep up with the influx of the colorful pattern, which popped up on everything from outerwear to sweaters to socks to neckwear. They had even more trouble trying to come up with new ways to describe the history of the pattern, hate fucking their thesauruses frantically searching for different synonyms for "pop of color". As is the case with all trends that catch fire overnight, the Fair Isle movement quickly burned up, the resulting smoke carried via the coastal winds of the Isle itself to your local department stores, struggle blogs and menswear dogs.
These zip-up cardigans from Chamula transcend that tired aesthetic. Maybe it's the limited color palette, maybe it's the oversized pattern, maybe it's the fact that zip-up cardigans are fucking awesome, maybe it's Maybelline. Regardless, this is one of those rare instances that I'm comfortable using the phrase "re-interpreted classic". It's probably the timing. Now that we can all agree that Fair Isle is wack, it's time for it to be cool again.
