奧巴馬夫人穿花裙子有錯(cuò)嗎?

For Michelle Obama, Girlie Clothes That Lean In

奧巴馬夫人穿花裙子有錯(cuò)嗎?

I admit: I was startled last week when I saw the first photos of Michelle Obama debarking in Japan at the beginning of her five-day Asian tour to promote the “Let Girls Learn” education campaign.

上周，米歇爾·奧巴馬(Michelle Obama)到達(dá)日本，開始為期五天的亞洲之行，推廣“讓女孩學(xué)習(xí)”(Let Girls Learn)教育計(jì)劃。我承認(rèn)：看到她到日本的第一波照片時(shí)，我驚呆了。

Not because I don’t think it’s a terrific initiative; I do. I have two daughters, and think the more that can be done to make girls feel empowered by their academic experiences, the better.

不是因?yàn)槲矣X得這個(gè)計(jì)劃不好，我覺得它好極了。我有兩個(gè)女兒，在讓女孩通過學(xué)習(xí)獲得力量方面，我認(rèn)為做得越多越好。

And not because I don’t think the first lady should be emphasizing the partnership with Japan and Cambodia. The visits are laudable.

也不是因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)為第一夫人不應(yīng)該加強(qiáng)與日本和柬埔寨的合作。我認(rèn)為她的訪問值得稱贊。

But because of her dress: a citrine-colored, small-waisted, full-skirted print Kenzo. The dress, on first glance, telegraphed a very 1950s femininity. It seemed like such a nonpower choice in which to deliver a message about empowerment that it took me aback — even on vacation, surfing the news in a desultory fashion.

是因?yàn)樗娜棺樱焊咛镔t三(Kenzo)的檸檬黃收腰寬擺印花連衣裙。乍看上去，這條裙子傳達(dá)出濃重的20世紀(jì)50年代女性氣質(zhì)。她選擇這樣一條沒有力量的裙子去傳遞關(guān)于獲取權(quán)力的信息，盡管當(dāng)時(shí)我正在度假，只是隨便看看新聞而已，這張圖片還是讓我驚呆了。

Especially because the Kenzo dress was followed by a bright orange-red Altuzarra blazer and skirt, bedecked in blooms; which was followed by a stylized leaf print Dries Van Noten coat over a striped T-shirt and black pants; which was followed by a carnation-print Carolina Herrera frock; which was followed by an even brighter geometric Alice & Olivia shell and matching skirt; which was followed by a v-neck, silky, swirling-skirted, color block Roksanda Ilincic dress — the last image of Mrs O. before she boarded her plane home.

更有甚者，在高田賢三連衣裙之后，她又穿了鮮艷的橙紅色奧圖扎拉(Altuzarra)上衣和半身裙，上面印著盛開鮮花的圖案;之后是德賴斯·范諾頓(Dries Van Noten)的藝術(shù)化葉子圖案印花外衣，里面是條紋T恤和黑褲子;之后是卡羅琳娜·海萊娜(Carolina Herrera)康乃馨印花連衣裙;之后是更為鮮艷的愛麗絲&奧利維亞(Alice & Olivia)幾何圖案套裙;她登機(jī)回國(guó)前的最后一個(gè)造型是羅克桑達(dá)·伊林契奇(Roksanda Ilincic)V領(lǐng)絲質(zhì)寬擺色塊連衣裙。

However much you may want to dismiss sartorial stereotype, it’s inarguable that such styles spark an almost Pavlovian response in the lizard brain: They bring to mind the decades when gender roles were codified and distinct, when women’s sphere was the home, and their game plan didn’t necessarily included higher education.

不管你多不愿理會(huì)服裝款式給人留下的刻板印象，無(wú)庸?fàn)庌q，她這些造型就算在蜥蜴的頭腦中也會(huì)喚起條件反射般的反應(yīng)。它們讓人想起性別角色嚴(yán)格鮮明的年代，女人的活動(dòng)空間就在家里，她們的人生計(jì)劃中不一定包括高等教育。

As a woman, and one who spends a lot of time thinking about the messages women’s clothes send about their identity, I found the apparent clothes/context disjunction to be jarring. Even for a first lady who is known for her affection for a print and a dress, even in countries where color and nature are celebrated.

我是一個(gè)女人，同時(shí)也花很多時(shí)間思考女性著裝所傳達(dá)的身份信息，我覺得奧巴馬夫人的服裝與環(huán)境的不協(xié)調(diào)非常刺眼——即便第一夫人以偏愛印花和連衣裙聞名，即便是在那些熱愛色彩和自然的國(guó)家。

Shouldn’t she have worn a sharp-shouldered suit to talk about achievement? What about a red sheath dress, as often favored by Sheryl (“Lean In”) Sandberg? As long as we are embracing fashion clichés, wouldn’t those be more appropriate?

她難道不應(yīng)該穿著肩部筆挺的西服去討論如何達(dá)成目標(biāo)嗎?或者穿上《向前一步》(Lean In)的作者，謝莉爾·桑德伯格(Sheryl Sandberg)常穿的紅色緊身連衣裙?既然我們都理解時(shí)裝中的那些陳規(guī)，那么那些衣服難道不是更合適嗎?

Which was when I began to wonder if there wasn’t, perhaps, something else going on. And I don’t mean the “she wears what she wants” piffle.

這時(shí)，我開始想，也許還有其他原因。我指的不是“她只是穿她想穿的衣服”這樣的廢話。

After all, given that pretty much every image disseminated during the five days of the Asia visit was captioned “Mrs. Obama on her ‘Let Girls Learn’ trip” (or some variation thereon), the association between what the first lady was wearing and what she was there to discuss was unavoidable. Especially because she was the first sitting first lady to visit Cambodia; especially because there was no other through line; no other linking factor between the garments.

畢竟，在這五天的亞洲訪問中，幾乎每張照片都配以“奧巴馬夫人的‘讓女孩學(xué)習(xí)’之行”之類的圖注，所以人們難免會(huì)討論第一夫人的著裝與她的議題之間的聯(lián)系。尤其是，她是首位訪問柬埔寨的在任美國(guó)第一夫人;這些服裝沒有其他貫徹始終的主題;它們之間沒有其他聯(lián)系。

They were not all by female designers, for example, as may have been expected on a trip conceived to promote female achievement and the places sticking with school can get you.

例如，它們并非都出自女設(shè)計(jì)師之手。要知道，她的亞洲之行意在倡導(dǎo)女性成就，提倡接受教育能讓女人得到更多東西，所以人們難免會(huì)有這樣的期望。

They were not all by American designers, as has been traditional for American first ladies before Mrs. Obama, who saw their role as promoting local industry.

它們并非都出自美國(guó)設(shè)計(jì)師之手，這是奧巴馬夫人之前的美國(guó)第一夫人的傳統(tǒng)做法，她們把推廣美國(guó)本地品牌視為己任。

And they were not by Asian designers, an occasional form of sartorial diplomacy employed by traveling politicians trying to make nice with the countries they visit. Nor were they all already seen, shopped-her-closet numbers. What they were (full skirts, belts, neat tops and all) was mostly — well, girlie.

它們也并非都出自亞洲設(shè)計(jì)師之手。政治家們想與訪問國(guó)交好時(shí)，偶爾會(huì)采取這種服裝外交策略。它們也不是奧巴馬夫人之前穿過的衣服。這些寬擺裙、腰帶、小巧精致的上衣大都是，呃，都是少女風(fēng)格。

Very. Almost “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” girlie. You know, the Tina Fey-produced Netflix series that is having a fashion moment because of its unironic embrace of bright colors and … well, girlie clothes.

強(qiáng)烈的少女風(fēng)格。幾乎是《我本堅(jiān)強(qiáng)》(Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)里的那種少女風(fēng)格?！段冶緢?jiān)強(qiáng)》是蒂娜·菲(Tina Fey)制作的Netflix電視劇，因其對(duì)鮮艷色彩和少女風(fēng)格服裝不帶諷刺的鐘愛，如今已成為一股時(shí)尚潮流。

Which may actually have been the point.

這可能是真正的原因所在。

We live in the era of the Merkelization of female political dress, which has seen women like Ms. Merkel, the German chancellor, and Hillary Rodham Clinton adopt what is effectively the male uniform in softer, brighter colors to remove the topic from the conversation. (It’s a pantsuit. It’s a beige/orange/teal pantsuit. Enough said.) Another way to explain the strategy is “bore them into talking about the issues.”

我們生活在一個(gè)女性政治服裝默克爾化的時(shí)代。德國(guó)總理默克爾(Merkel)和希拉里·羅德姆·克林頓(Hillary Rodham Clinton)等女人選擇穿著顏色更柔和、鮮艷的男性化服裝，避免讓服裝成為一個(gè)話題(她穿的是褲套裝。米黃色/橙色/藍(lán)綠色褲套裝。不用多說了)。這種策略的另一個(gè)用意在于“讓他們覺得無(wú)趣，所以只能談?wù)?rdquo;。

There’s nothing wrong with it (men do it, too), and it prevents a situation like the one that arose a few years ago when the French housing minister Cécile Duflot wore a floral dress to speak in Parliament, and was met by catcalls and whistles, which then spawned a whole debate about her dress and the reaction to her dress, and entirely overshadowed whatever it was they had been debating at the time. But what does it say about the visual identity of role models?

這樣做沒什么錯(cuò)(男人們也這么做)，它能避免下面這種情況：幾年前，法國(guó)住房部長(zhǎng)塞茜爾·迪弗洛(Cécile Duflot)身穿印花連衣裙在議會(huì)上講話，觀眾以噓聲和口哨回應(yīng)，隨后出現(xiàn)了關(guān)于她的連衣裙以及對(duì)她連衣裙反應(yīng)的大討論，完全蓋過了當(dāng)時(shí)他們辯論的任何議題。但是關(guān)于榜樣人物的視覺形象，人們是怎么說的來(lái)著?

In choosing to meet young women in clothes that, perhaps, make her look like them — or how they may want to look if they didn’t have to wear school uniforms — Mrs. Obama was implying: You can dress like a girl and dream about getting a Ph.D. (or a law degree, if we are being picayune), too.

奧巴馬夫人在與年輕女孩見面時(shí)，選擇身穿跟她們相似的服裝——或者她們不用穿校服時(shí)可能想穿的服裝——這樣或許是為了表明：你可以穿得像個(gè)女孩，同時(shí)夢(mèng)想獲得博士學(xué)位(或者狹隘地說，法律學(xué)位)。

As one San Francisco blog wrote about the “Kimmy Schmidt” fashions: “By putting Kimmy in florals and bright colors, the stylists for ‘Unbreakable’ prove that feminine outfits can represent strength as much as they represents whimsicality. Home girl may be wearing flowers but you know she can kick butt.”

就像舊金山的一個(gè)博客對(duì)《我本堅(jiān)強(qiáng)》的時(shí)裝風(fēng)格做出的評(píng)價(jià)：“《我本堅(jiān)強(qiáng)》的造型師們讓基米(Kimmy)穿上印花服裝或者色彩鮮艷的服裝，是想證明，女性化的服裝既能體現(xiàn)隨心所欲，也能體現(xiàn)力量。居家女孩也許穿著印花服裝，但是你知道她們也很強(qiáng)悍”。

How do you erase a stereotype? You confront it, and force others to confront their own preconceptions about it, and then you own it. And in doing so you denude it of its power.

如何擺脫刻板印象?辦法就是面對(duì)它，迫使其他人直面自己對(duì)此的看法，然后你就掌握了主動(dòng)權(quán)。這樣它就沒意義了。