Chapter 27: Michael Simon's Maximalist Eccentric Sweater Masterpieces

Or, your light jacket substitute for spring.

If you’ve never encountered a Michael Simon sweater before, let me paint a brief picture for you. They are often overly embellished in chunky, extremely large plastic crystals or covered in a sea of sequins or illustrative figures. The range of references is wild: from visions of toreador refinery stoked by madness to Palm Beach aesthetic pink-haired Mona Lisas. Simon has been called the pioneer of Ugly Christmas Sweaters, but his pure, unadulterated joy for creating extremely over-the-top sweaters goes far beyond that. He uses beads, crochet and jewelry to decorate them. They are little known pop art (and culture) relics as seen on Fran Fine in The Nanny. And yes, it’s spring, but today as I was going through my closet, I noticed two of his maximalist eccentric masterpieces that I bring out every season.

Pure ‘80s wonders: An idyllic cardigan I wear in place of a light jacket and an amusing sweater vest/tank top.

I actually found this one in Palm Beach which makes it even better.