Hollywood stylists have a great eye for picking out beautifully kitschy sweaters. We’re especially fond of versions that occupy that awkward space between dad clothes and hipster excess.

Here, we salute the best of these spectacularly daggy-cool fashion moments in film and on television, plus tell you where you can snap up replicas of each look.

1. The cardigan from Starsky and Hutch

Fancy yourself a bit of a cardigan-wearing but nonetheless streetwise and kind of intense Southern Californian detective type? Sounds like you need a Starsky sweater, stat!

The Mexican design was made famous in the hit 1970s television show Starsky and Hutch, when detective David Michael Starsky (aka American actor Paul Michael Glaser) donned the loud and proud cardigan.

The cardigan was actually Glaser’s very own sweater. Now it can be yours, too. Get it here.

2. The Dude from The Big Lebowski

The 1998 cult classic film The Big Lebowski features perhaps the most famous kitschy sweater ever: The Dude.

Worn by amiable unemployed slacker Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski (actor Jeff Bridges), the sweater was originally named the Westerley and developed by the Pendleton knitting company in the 1970s. It drew inspiration from the distinctively patterned designs of Cowichan sweaters hand-knitted by tribes from Vancouver Island, Canada.

A legend was born. Now, across the US, Lebowski Fests draw crowds of “Achievers”, troupes of dancing bowling pins, and character look-alikes. You can buy stuffed animals, action figures and, of course, Dude sweaters new and old.

Get your cozy replica of the famed Big Lebowski sweater here.

3. The Apollo from The Shining

If you’re a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s terrifying 1980 psychological horror film The Shining, or you just like freaking your friends out, the famous Apollo sweater is for you.

The distinctive blue sweater with its Apollo rocket design was worn (and torn!) by little Danny in the film, which Martin Scorsese ranked as one of the 11 scariest horror movies of all time.

Some conspiracy theorists have even claimed Danny’s Apollo sweater was a kind of apology by Kubrick for his supposed role in helping to fake the moon landing.

Though The Shining costume designer Leon Vitali says that’s just nonsense.

“That was knitted by a friend of (Italian costume designer) Milena Canonero,” Mr Vitali told The New York Times. “Stanley wanted something that looked handmade, and Milena arrived on the set one day and said, ‘How about this?’ It was just the sort of thing that a kid that age would have liked.”

Either way, you can grab a handmade Apollo sweater replica – in both adults and kids sizes – over here.

But whatever you do, do not go into room 237.

4. The reindeer sweater from The Santa Clause

In true Christmas style, actor Tim Allen got his crazy knit sweater on repeatedly throughout the comedy trilogy series, The Santa Clause.

But he saved the best for last, unveiling an adorable reindeer number in the final movie, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. It’s so good, we reckon it deserves iconic status.

Snap up a replica of this classic Christmas sweater here.

5. The Angler’s Pride from Murder, She Wrote

Angela Lansbury donned this warm and cozy (albeit super kitsch!) fish cardigan as Jessica Fletcher in an episode of Murder, She Wrote. Season one, episode two to be exact.

Lansbury is smart, snappily dressed, a prolific novelist and the “most prolific amateur sleuth”, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

So who wouldn’t want the chance to be a little more like her – even if she is only a fictional character?

Get your own piece of television history here.

Until next time,
Meredith