My mornings tend to follow quite a strict routine. I wake up, eat my breakfast, get dressed and go into my jumper basement.
Oh yes – you heard right – I have a basement in my house dedicated to my enormous collection of knitwear.
I’ve been collecting and designing sweaters for over half a century and each one brings me a different feeling of joy and excitement whenever I put it on.
At the age of 23 in 1971, I founded the National Scrabble Championships and that’s when someone actually gave me a jumper that had a scrabble board on the front.
I ended up wearing this on TV and quickly realised that what I was wearing was going to get me much more attention than what I was saying. The love sort of snowballed from there. In fact, through the 70s and 80s, I wore more than 1,000 different jumpers on TV!
The latter decade is when designer George Hostler and I co-founded our knitwear brand, Gyles and George, which is a British unisex sweater brand (that was recently revived in 2020).
Ever since then, all my designs have a bit of my personality in them, and I try to make them as fun and unique as possible.
I have designed ones with flying pigs, wraparound snakes and even a knitted suit, which seems to be a crowd favourite! Even though some of these are over 40 years old, they have remained timeless.
I cherish all my creations, but there are some that have given me particularly fond memories – including the one I did for Princess Diana. In the 1980s, we sold our jumpers in a small shop in Kensington Church Street and Diana happened to pop in and bought a couple.
One of them was a beautiful cashmere knit with ‘I’m A Luxury’ on the front, and ‘Few Can Afford’ on the back. It was a very surreal moment when she approached me later at a party and told me how much she loved it: ‘Look! I’m wearing you!’
Not everyone is so complimentary about my designs though. My wife disapproves of many of my more outlandish options, including the one I created last year which says, ‘The amazingly, dashingly, handsome, elegant, debonair Gyles’.
I made it up to her by designing one with flowers on the front, so she can never claim I don’t bring her flowers!
Today, I now own 366 for each day of the year (and of course an extra one for when a leap year comes along). I’m very lucky I have so many to choose from.
Jumpers for every occasion are essential for me. I have hearts for Valentine’s Day, daffodils for St David’s Day, and Shakespeare for what would have been his birthday. And it doesn’t have to break the bank too – some of my best ones are £5 charity shop finds.
When I put one on, it has the power to change my whole mood.
If you’re feeling down on a cold December day, I can guarantee you one thing: if you put on a fabulous fun woolly sweater, you will feel better the moment it slips over your head. I personally love red and yellow; bright colours often cheer me up.
As an aficionado of this particular type of clothing, one of the biggest dates in my calendar is Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day, on Thursday 7 December this year. The work this charity does is close to my heart, as I am a proud grandparent myself.
Since launching over a decade ago, Christmas Jumper Day has raised over £35million to help transform the lives of children around the world. In more than 100 countries – including the UK – the charity funds maths packs or supermarket vouchers for kids in the UK, or even counselling for children in Gaza.
This year, I’ll be wearing a black design featuring a giant red heart, which conveys the joy of helping others. Any pullover can be Christmas-themed – it’s just about wearing something you love.
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If in doubt, I like to channel my inner Colin Firth and wear something silly with a big reindeer or snowman on it. Everybody looks good in a Christmas-themed knit – the joy is just in having fun. It’s a bit like dad dancing.
As for Christmas Day itself, I have several jumper changes – one for breakfast, one for lunch, one for watching the King’s Speech, another one at teatime and one for bedtime too. I might leave this until the last minute to decide!
People often ask me for tips on styling their looks, but there really are no rules. Sometimes I wear matching trousers, but often my wife asks if I’ve got dressed in the dark… how rude!
The best piece of advice I can give you is how to keep moths at bay over the years – the ideal way to do this is to find a drawer and put charcoal at the bottom with a layer of tissue paper over the top. I’ve only had three knits in my life eaten by moths!
I will never stop collecting different designs and spreading this joy to the nation – if I can put a smile on someone’s face every day because they walk past me in a silly jumper, then I consider that a legacy to be proud of.
To take part, get together with friends, family, colleagues or classmates, throw on your favourite second-hand sweater on Thursday 7th December and donate whatever you can to Save the Children. To find out more and sign-up visit: christmasjumperday.org
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk.
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