AWESOMELY AWFUL RUSSIAN IMPORT WINS
INSTUDIO'S UGLY SWEATER CONTEST
The best bad sweater in INSTUDIO's second annual Ugly Sweater Contest was
spotted in a second-hand market in Russia by a friend of Christopher Farstad
familiar with his fondness for weird and wonderful sweaters.
Farstad drove to INSTUDIO in downtown Stillwater from Minneapolis as soon as
he read about the contest. "I was pretty confident," he said, "because
honestly it's the ugliest sweater I've ever seen.
"It just grows more repulsive as time goes by," said one of the three
judges, rubbing her eyes after several viewings. "Those little caricatures
just turn me away," said another. "The color is horrid," said the third.
"It's dull, it's boring. But he does wear it well," she added.
Winning its owner a $500 photo package at INSTUDIO, Farstad's sweater
perfectly fit the judge's criteria of not just awful, but awesome.
"Our Ugly Sweater Contest is a great outlet for INSTUDIO's focus on
photography and fun," said Jody Nyenhuis, owner of INSTUDIO. "There's
something about putting on an unlovely (but often well-loved!) sweater and
stepping into our unique photo booth that brings out the color and craziness
of the sweaters and the personalities of the people who wear them."
It's never too early to start shopping for (or saving) that special sweater
for next year's contest, she added.
Something of an expert on the subject, Farstad has been collecting strange
sweaters since high school, and wearing them just for fun and the reaction
they get. "They're something to wear to make the day more interesting," said
Farstad, an art history major at Grinnell College in Iowa.
This year's judges were Liesl Benson, owner/manager of Stella, a designer
clothing store in downtown Stillwater; artist/illustrator Karin Rush and
Erik Sudheimer of graphic design firm Happy Monday. Upcoming instudio Contests
Current instudio Contests
Past instudio Contests This year's contestants!
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