Sweaters have come a long way since Grandma set out to do battle with Boreas armed only with two knitting needles and a skein of scratchy yarn.

The first indication that sweaters were potentially a point of fashion rather than an itching necessity was the period when college men adopted the turtle-neck style. This was much admired by all and would have revolutionized the sweater industry then and there except for a curious setback: tough guys and hoodlums became stubbornly attached to the same attractive neckline, and overnight the movies were full of it. The tough yegg who kayoed our hero in the first reel was bound to be characterized by a wool cap and turtle-neck sweater (through one or the other of which he was destined to be shot by the end of the picture) . This constituted a blow which staggered the cap people until quite recently, and it was pure death to any fashionable associations one might have gathered in regard to sweaters while admiring the Yale team.

In fact, it wasn't until the late Thirties and the forty-hour week that sweaters really came into their own. Out of the extra day's leisure, the week-end sportsman was born, and the wrinkle proof resilience of knitwear suited his moments of relaxation as well as it aided his active
comfort.

Cable knits, argyles, stripes and a great variety of styles made fashion history on tennis courts and icy slopes alike and, by the time sweaters started doubling for waistcoats as well, their purely utilitarian connotation was a thing of the past.

Today, the fashion ideas deriving from all over the globe, some new and striking patterns are transforming and refining sweaters into colorful apparel for almost any occasion. We found the model in the photograph above in Paris, where an ingenious array of spaced patterns are being knitted into all kinds of fabrics.

This one is a magnificent paisley - the design arriving in Paris from India, via the British Isles; and while it may be easy enough to create on silk or wool, there is a miracle of craftsmanship involved in knitting such a complex and multicolored pattern. The deep armholes and extra-low V-neck show the extent to which American sports design has influenced Parisian stylists.

Playing the role of sweaters for resort and leisure is a new group of sturdy cottons, such as the crisp version of sweater treatment in cotton cord, below, also from Paris.

Here, the only knitting occurs in sleeve trim ad waistband; the rest is fabric printed with a stylized version of paisley design -single-tone blue or gray on white. Wonderful for resort wear from Cuba to Capri.