Santa Claus gets a makeover

He may have an uncanny knack for knowing who’s naughty or nice, mad package delivery skills and a fan base approaching Lady Gaga’s, but, sartorially speaking, Santa Claus is in a bit of a rut. It wasn’t always this way. Over the years the man also known as Kris Kringle, Saint Nick and Father Christmas has had nearly as many wardrobe changes as aliases, turning up wearing long, green, fur-lined robes in one incarnation, a bright red-and-white outfit topped with a bishop’s miter in another. But for at least the last half century, Claus’ clothes have been frozen in a kind of garish caricature of a costume: a bulky, red (presumably wool) suit with wide, woolly white cuffs; a thick, black patent leather belt and Mayflower-era belt buckle holding back a generous belly (you know, the one that “shakes like a bowl full of jelly”); sooty black boots on his feet and a red stocking cap upon his head.

What follows is a gallery of different items Santa could use to update his wardrobe. Read more about Santa’s makeover here.

--Adam Tschorn