Off the Page: Fashion in Literature

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Want inspiration for what to wear? Read a good novel.想要獲得穿衣打扮的靈感？那就找本好的小說讀讀吧。

According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is always “better to wear a becoming dress three times straight than to alternate it with two frights”. This is a good piece of sartorial advice from the great American novelist, but then some of my favourite style icons have appeared on the pages of a novel. Think of Jay Gatsby1《了不起的蓋茨比》中的主角蓋茨比年輕時(shí)的名字。, standing outside his darkening mansion in that “gorgeous pink rag of a suit”; Anna Karenina2俄國著名作家托爾斯泰的作品《安娜·卡列尼娜》中的主角。at a ball, elegant in velvet, Venetian lace and a garland of pansies; Holly Golightly3美國作家杜魯門·卡波特1958年出版的小說《蒂凡尼的早餐》中的主要人物，后改編成電影，由奧黛麗·赫本主演。, effortlessly chic in dark glasses, “a slim cool black dress, black sandals, a pearl choker4choker一種又細(xì)又短的頸鏈。”.

F.司各特·菲茨杰拉德曾經(jīng)說過, “丑衣兩套不如靚衣一件”。美國這位偉大小說家就服裝之事如此忠告。我喜歡的時(shí)尚偶像也總是小說中的人物。想想杰伊·蓋茨比吧，站在他那漆黑的別墅外面，穿著那件“極其漂亮的粉色外套”；舞會(huì)上的安娜·卡列尼娜，身穿帶有威尼斯蕾絲的絲絨舞裙，頭戴紫羅蘭花環(huán)；想想戴著墨鏡的霍莉·戈萊特利，她“身穿一條瘦長、酷炫的黑裙，腳穿黑拖鞋，脖子系一條細(xì)細(xì)的珍珠頸鏈”，不費(fèi)吹灰之力即成時(shí)尚潮人。

[2] As a book-obsessed suburban adolescent, I read Jack Kerouac5美國作家，“垮掉的一代”的代表人物。他的主要作品有自傳體小說《在路上》《達(dá)摩流浪者》《孤獨(dú)旅者》等。, HenryMiller6美國作家，著有《北回歸線》《南回歸線》等作品。and the fantastical neogothic fi ction of Angela Carter7英國著名女作家。其作品風(fēng)格獨(dú)樹一幟，混合魔幻現(xiàn)實(shí)主義、女性主義、哥特式及黑暗系童話。代表作品有《愛》《霍夫曼博士的魔鬼欲望機(jī)器》等。, and attempted to cultivate the dress and persona of a woman who drank her coffee black and her scotch straight. I wanted to hang out with artists and go to wild, all-night parties where everyone listened to jazz,smoked cigarettes and understood poetry. There didn’t seem to be much of that at my sixth-form8sixth-form第六學(xué)級，即英國中等學(xué)校的最后兩年，學(xué)生年齡在16至18歲之間，準(zhǔn)備參加高級證書考試（A-level）?！猼hough I did acquire a boyfriend who was taking art A-level and had readNaked Lunch9美國作家威廉·巴勒斯（1914—1997）的作品。威廉?巴勒斯與艾倫·金斯堡、杰克·凱魯亞克同為“垮掉的一代”文學(xué)運(yùn)動(dòng)的創(chuàng)始者。被譽(yù)為“垮掉的一代”的精神教父和美國后現(xiàn)代主義創(chuàng)作的先驅(qū)之一。主要作品有《裸體午餐》《癮君子》《紅夜之城》《酷兒》等?！猙ut I was determined at least to look the part.Apparently channelling one of Miller’s Parisian lowlifes crossed with a Carter character circa 1977, for some time I wore a lot of black eyeliner and dressed only in a short, crimson petticoat, brown T-bar platforms and a long, strangely smelling sheepskin coat from Camden market10倫敦一處以出售服裝服飾、工藝品和世界各地古董古玩而聞名的市場。. (The coat was the closest I could get to the fur my fantasy outf i t demanded, which doesn’t really excuse it.)

[3] Eventually the boyfriend dropped out of college and went to farm bananas on a kibbutz11kibbutz基布茲，以色列的一種集體合作農(nóng)場。, the nightdress phase passed, the sheepskin was condemned.

[2]作為一個(gè)在郊區(qū)長大的少女，我迷戀讀書，讀杰克·凱魯亞克，讀亨利·米勒，也讀安吉拉·卡特迷幻的新哥特式小說。我試圖模仿喝咖啡不加糖、飲威士忌不摻水的那種女人的衣著和外形來打扮自己。曾經(jīng)我想和藝術(shù)家們結(jié)伴游玩，參加那些徹夜狂歡的派對，在那里人人聽爵士，個(gè)個(gè)抽香煙，大家都懂詩歌。在我讀第六學(xué)級的時(shí)候，似乎沒有遇到過太多那樣的人——雖然當(dāng)時(shí)確實(shí)結(jié)識(shí)了一個(gè)男友，他正在考藝術(shù)高級證書，也讀過《裸體午餐》——但我決意至少看起來要有點(diǎn)像那樣的人。有段時(shí)間，我顯然是想模仿米勒筆下巴黎的某個(gè)下層階級人士，但又混搭了大約1977年卡特作品中某個(gè)人物的風(fēng)格，那時(shí)候，我總是涂著又黑又厚的眼線，只穿短短的暗紅色襯裙、褐色帶有丁字襻的厚底鞋，還披著從卡姆登市場淘來的散發(fā)著怪味的羊皮長外套。（這可是我能買到的、最接近我夢想的皮草外套，這么說可真不是托辭。）The habit of reading, and the habit of dressing up, remained. The novelist Elizabeth Bowen12英國小說家。主要作品有《最后的九月》《夢中情人》等。once wrote that“dressing up is the one art the unqualified must practise”, and literature, I began to realise, was full of advice about how to do that. From Evelyn Waugh13英國小說家，著有《衰落與瓦解》《故地重游》等作品。I learned that a “suggestion of the haphazard” raises a girl’s outfit“high above the chic of the mannequin” (Vile Bodies); from Stella Gibbons14英國女作家，詩人、記者。因《寒冷的舒適農(nóng)莊》成名，擅長描寫英國郊區(qū)中產(chǎn)階級的生活。that I should “avoid orange linen jumpers” (Cold Comfort Farm); from Martin Amis15英國當(dāng)代小說家，著有《金錢》《時(shí)間之箭》等作品。that “tight bright white underwear” is the way to a man’s heart(London Fields); from Claire Messud16美國當(dāng)代小說家，在包括耶魯大學(xué)在內(nèi)的美國多所大學(xué)教授文學(xué)與創(chuàng)作課程。that a slightly unstylish suit, worn with conf i dence, makes a person attractively“careless rather than modish, above fashion” (The Emperor’s Children).

[3]后來，男友從大學(xué)輟學(xué)，到一家集體農(nóng)場種香蕉去了。我喜歡穿晚禮服的熱潮過去了，也不再喜歡羊皮衣服了?？勺x書的習(xí)慣、穿衣打扮的習(xí)慣卻一如既往。小說家伊麗莎白·鮑恩曾寫到“打扮是不會(huì)打扮的人必須練習(xí)的一門藝術(shù)”。我也開始意識(shí)到，文學(xué)作品里有不少有關(guān)穿衣打扮的建議。從伊夫林·沃的作品中，我學(xué)到了“偶然的建議”可以將一個(gè)少女的衣品提升，“比時(shí)裝模特還要時(shí)尚”（《邪惡的身體》）；從斯黛拉·吉本斯那里，我知道應(yīng)該“避免穿橘色的麻織套頭衫”（《寒冷的舒適農(nóng)莊》）；從馬丁·艾米斯的書中，我了解到“緊身的白色內(nèi)衣”能使男人墜入愛河（《倫敦場》）；從克萊爾·梅蘇德的書中，我知道一個(gè)人只要足夠自信，即使穿著不夠時(shí)髦，也會(huì)顯出一種令人著迷的“漫不經(jīng)心，比時(shí)尚還更有品”（《皇帝的兒子》）。

[4] Later, reading the French novelist Colette, I found out that “artistic jewellery wrecks a woman’s reputation”(Gigi), and though still a little hazy as to what makes jewellery “artistic”, I think I’ve avoided it thus far. In any case,I’m certainly confident that I’ve never attempted to bleach a blood-drenched Soprani17世界名牌。該公司創(chuàng)建于1863年，距今已有150年的歷史。jacket—a useful tip gleaned from Bret Easton Ellis’s18當(dāng)代美國編劇、作家，擅長以冷酷、諷刺的風(fēng)格描寫極端事件。主要作品有《零下的激情》《美國精神病人》等。American Psycho. From the same publication, I also learned that the pattern of a man’s vest (waistcoat) should never match his socks and tie, and that while it’s acceptable to wear black tasselled loafers with a business suit, brown should always be avoided. Elsewhere, the narrator of Julie Orringer’s19美國當(dāng)代女作家，主要作品有短篇小說集《如何在水下呼吸》、長篇小說《隱形之橋》。beautifully observed short storyNote to Sixth-Grade Selfhas advice on choosing that perfect dress for the big school dance—“midnight blue with a velvet spaghetti-strap bodice…the colour of Eric Cassio’s eyes”—and details the heartache of a fi rst crush and the joy of discovering retail therapy.Best of all, though, are the words of the ever-stylish Holly inBreakfast At Tiffany’s: “Diamonds, yes. But it’s tacky to wear diamonds before you’re 40,and even that’s risky. They only look right on the really old girls… wrinkles and bones; white hair and diamonds:I can’t wait.” It’s always good to have something to look forward to, and how pleasing to encounter a piece of fashion wisdom that fi nds in favour of the older woman.

[4]后來，在法國小說家科萊特的書中，我讀到“藝術(shù)首飾有損女人的名譽(yù)”這樣的話（《吉吉》），雖然我對何為“藝術(shù)”首飾還有些懵懵懂懂，但我想目前為止我成功避開了這種首飾。無論如何，我相信自己，即使我的索布拉尼牌夾克浸透鮮血，我也不會(huì)將其漂白——這點(diǎn)有用的小提示是從布雷特·伊斯頓·艾利斯的小說《美國精神病人》中收集到的。從同一本書中，我也了解到男人穿背心（西裝馬甲）的搭配方式是不要和襪子、領(lǐng)帶用同樣的花紋；商務(wù)正裝可以和帶流蘇的黑色平底鞋搭配，但不得搭配棕色平底鞋。在其他作品，如茱莉·奧瑞格的小說《寫給六年級的自己》里，小說的敘述者就參加盛大的學(xué)校舞會(huì)該如何挑選最美的裙子所提的建議是——“午夜幽藍(lán)的絲絨緊身裙，配上細(xì)細(xì)肩帶……如埃里克·凱西奧眼睛的藍(lán)色”——還有那些描寫第一次喜歡異性的心痛和發(fā)現(xiàn)花錢購物能讓自己開心的欣喜。然而，最好的還是一直時(shí)尚的霍莉在《蒂凡尼的早餐》中說的話：“鉆石，挺好。但在四十歲之前戴鉆石有點(diǎn)兒俗氣，甚至四十歲也有點(diǎn)兒懸。只有年紀(jì)大的婦女才適合。皺紋、骨骼、白發(fā)、鉆石：我簡直等不及了。”人有期待總是一件好事，遇到對上了年歲的婦女有用的時(shí)尚建議，真是讓人愉悅。

[5] InThe Road to Wigan Pier,George Orwell20英國著名小說家，寫有《動(dòng)物莊園》《1984》等作品。writes that “you may have three halfpence in your pocket and not a prospect in the world… but in your new clothes you can stand on a street corner, indulging in a private daydream of yourself as Clark Gable or Greta Garbo21好萊塢的著名男、女影星。代表作分別有《亂世佳人》和《安娜·卡列尼娜》。.” I know what he means:a lot of dressing up takes place inside the head and not in front of the mirror;choosing a new out fi t is about the associations it provokes as well as the way it looks. One winter I bought a thick pleated skirt because, matched with a butterfl y-collar blouse and a wide leather belt,it reminded me of Claudine, the witty,headstrong and extremely mischievous French schoolgirl from Colette’sClaudine at School22法國女小說家科萊特的自傳性小說克羅汀娜四部曲之一。. Then there’s the plaid shirt that could have been modelled by Kerouac’s Sal Paradise23美國“垮掉的一代”代表作家凱魯亞克的作品《在路上》一書中的人物，也是小說的敘述者。此人物的原型就是作者自己。somewhere out in the dust of Route 66, and the jeans worn tucked into short black boots with

[5]在《通往威根碼頭之路》一書中，喬治·奧維爾寫道：“即使你口袋里只有三枚半便士的銅幣，在世上也前途渺?！闳舸┥闲乱?，站在街頭，依然可以像克拉克·蓋博或是葛麗泰·嘉寶一樣，沉浸在自己的白日夢想中?！蔽蚁胨囊馑际牵汉芏啻┮麓虬缍际窃谀X中而非鏡前；選一件新外套，不僅是看穿上是否漂亮，也是看打扮所引起的聯(lián)想。有一年冬天，我買了一條厚厚的百褶裙，因?yàn)閷⒅c蝴蝶形領(lǐng)子的襯衫和寬皮帶相配，會(huì)使我想起克羅汀娜——科萊特的《 克羅汀娜上學(xué)去》a tweed jacket and a bright scarf like a New Yorker from Mary Gaitskill’sBad Behaviour. Or the elegantly cut black dress with small pearl buttons found on a vintage clothes stall at Spitalfields24斯皮塔佛德市場是流行服飾和工藝品、家居用品以及懷舊服飾的集散地。market in London: I fondly imagine it’s just the sort of thing a Somerset Maugham25英國著名作家，著有《月亮和六便士》《人性的枷鎖》等。or Evelyn Waugh heroine would wear when taking afternoon tea in the drawing room. And while I know a pencil skirt26pencil skirt像鉛筆一樣上寬下緊的中長裙。and red lipstick won’t turn me into a Raymond Chandler femme fatale exactly, dressed in that costume I can’t help walking into my local bar in Hackney like a woman who just might have a pearl-handle gun in her handbag and some fedora-wearing dupe waiting outside.一書中那個(gè)機(jī)智、任性、特別淘氣的法國女學(xué)生。還有那件方格襯衫，凱魯亞克小說中的薩爾·帕拉迪斯穿上這件襯衫行走在66號(hào)公路的揚(yáng)塵中，將牛仔褲扎進(jìn)黑色的短靴中，穿著呢子外套，系一條色彩明快的圍巾，就像瑪麗·蓋茨克爾《壞行為》中頑強(qiáng)生存在紐約街頭的浪子一樣。或是在倫敦斯皮塔佛德市場的老式服裝攤位上，發(fā)現(xiàn)一件剪裁優(yōu)雅、綴有小小珍珠紐扣的裙子時(shí)，我會(huì)天真地想，也許這就是薩默塞特·毛姆或伊夫林·沃筆下的女主角坐在客廳喝下午茶時(shí)穿的衣服。雖然我知道即使穿上鉛筆裙、涂上紅唇，我也變不成雷蒙德·錢德勒筆下的美女，但穿上那樣的衣服，我就會(huì)情不自禁地走進(jìn)哈克尼當(dāng)?shù)氐木瓢?，那模樣就像手袋里放著一把飾有珍珠的手槍、外面還有頭戴軟呢帽的騙子等著的女人。

[6] “Clothes,” Virginia Woolf27著名英國女作家、文學(xué)批評家和文學(xué)理論家，意識(shí)流文學(xué)代表人物。著有《到燈塔去》《達(dá)洛維夫人》《海浪》等作品。tells us inOrlando, have “more important offices than merely to keep us warm;they change our view of the world and the world’s view of us”. They are our social shells; projections of our inner selves; indicators of wealth and status.From an early age literature teaches us how to “read” an outf i t, beginning with the children’s fairy stories where we learn to recognise the wicked witch by her black robes. In a novel, a beautifully described outf i t can be used to enhance characterisation, turn a narrative or create a powerful visual snapshot of a scene. A pair of trousers, a dress, a hat may carry any number of political, social and aesthetic meanings.

[6]弗吉尼亞·伍爾夫在《奧蘭多》里告訴我們：“服飾有比保暖更重要的功能：它能改變我們對世界的看法，也能改變世界對我們的看法?！狈検俏覀冊谏鐣?huì)中的外殼；是內(nèi)心自我的投射；也是財(cái)富和地位的反映。從小，文學(xué)作品就教我們怎樣“閱讀”服飾的含義。在童話故事中，文學(xué)就開始教我們通過黑袍辨認(rèn)邪惡的女巫。在小說中，對服裝外套的精彩描寫可以用來更好地塑造人物，打開一種敘事或逼真地勾畫一個(gè)場景。一條褲子、一條裙子、一頂帽子都可能承載許多政治、社會(huì)和審美的意義。

[7] This is particularly true of the clothing of female characters, whose identity has typically been more closely linked to their outer appearance than that of their male counterparts. When Jane Eyre28英國女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特創(chuàng)作的長篇小說《簡·愛》的女主角。refuses Mr Rochester’ s29英國女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特創(chuàng)作的長篇小說《簡·愛》的男主角。gowns of pink satin and rich silk, insisting on the greys and blacks of a sober governess, we understand that she is asserting her independence; her right to be treated as her future husband’s equal and not his plaything. When Ruth, the narrator of Marilynne Robinson’s30美國著名女作家，1980年發(fā)表處女作《管家》令她一舉成名。wonderfulHousekeeping, vacillates between respectable small-town life in Idaho and a future with her free-spirited misfit aunt, her choices are reflected in the sensible brown oxfords of her classmates and the lovely but eminently impractical blue velveteen ballet slippers that Aunt Sylvie buys her to wear to school. When secular and Islamic forces clash in Turkey in Orhan Pamuk’s31土耳其當(dāng)代最著名的小說家，2006年諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)獲得者。著有《我的名字叫紅》《伊斯坦布爾——一座城市的記憶》等作品。Snow, the religious headscarves of the young women in a remote city near the Armenian border become the site of ideological conflict.

[7]對女性角色的服飾描寫尤其如此。與男性角色相比，女性的身份與她們的外在形象聯(lián)系更緊密。當(dāng)簡·愛拒絕羅切斯特先生送的華麗粉色絲緞睡袍，而堅(jiān)持穿那件適合沉靜的女家庭教師的黑灰睡袍時(shí)，我們知道她是在堅(jiān)持自己的獨(dú)立；堅(jiān)持自己不是玩物，而應(yīng)作為與未來丈夫平等的另一半來對待?，旣惿彙ち_賓遜的小說《管家》的敘述者露絲為兩種生活方式的選擇搖擺不定：是在愛達(dá)荷過受人尊敬的小鎮(zhèn)生活還是與精神自由、行為怪異的姨媽一起生活？她的抉擇就通過同學(xué)們穿的實(shí)用的棕色牛津鞋和姨媽塞爾維買給她上學(xué)穿的、可愛但明顯不實(shí)用的藍(lán)色絲絨芭蕾舞鞋反映了出來。在奧爾罕·帕慕克的《雪》中，當(dāng)土耳其的世俗勢力與伊斯蘭教勢力較量時(shí)，在靠近亞美利亞邊境的一個(gè)邊遠(yuǎn)小城里，年輕女教徒頭上的頭巾就成了意識(shí)形態(tài)斗爭的陣地。

[8] Fashion, even when peripheral to plot and meaning, does tend to date a novel by fixing it within a certain historical moment. Style, which some have argued is the opposite of fashion, has the timeless quality evident in Fitzgerald and Waugh’s musings on dress. My favourite literary frock moment occurs near the beginning of Anna Karenina.Kitty, the 18-year-old daughter of Prince Oblonsky, is attending a ball and the preparations have “given her much trouble and thought”. She wears a dress of white net over a pink slip, with a pair of long, white gloves and slender,pink shoes. A rose in her hair and a strip of soft, black velvet around her neck diff i cult look to carry off around town.More important than the specifics of the costume, though—and this is the timeless part—Kitty enters the ballroom “as if these bows and laces and all the details of her toilet had not cost her or her people a moment’s attention,as if she had been born in this net and lace”. Which, whether in 19th-century Moscow or 21st-century London, has always seemed to me a perfect description of stylishness. ■completes the ensemble. Part of me is in love with this outf i t just because it’s the sort of thing my inner six-year-old lusts after, but it would probably be a

[8]服飾，即使對作品的情節(jié)和意義作用不大，它也確實(shí)能夠通過將服飾風(fēng)格固定于某個(gè)歷史時(shí)刻來表達(dá)故事發(fā)生的時(shí)間。有人爭辯說風(fēng)格與時(shí)尚對立，但在菲茨杰拉德和沃對服飾的考量中，我們可以明顯看到品位的不朽價(jià)值?！栋材取た心崮取芬粫拈_始，是我最喜歡的關(guān)于服飾的文學(xué)性描寫。奧布隆斯基王子18歲的女兒基蒂要參加一場舞會(huì)，為此所做的準(zhǔn)備頗為費(fèi)力費(fèi)神。她在白色漁網(wǎng)裙下面配了一條粉色襯裙，戴著一雙長長的白手套，穿了一雙細(xì)長的粉色鞋子。一朵玫瑰戴在秀發(fā)上，脖子上系著的柔軟的黑色絲絨使整個(gè)服裝相諧于一體。對此我有些怦然心動(dòng)，這是我內(nèi)心的小女孩渴望的衣服?？梢谴┲诔抢镒邅碜呷ィ瑓s不太合時(shí)宜。然而比服裝細(xì)節(jié)更重要的是——這也是經(jīng)典的部分——基蒂走進(jìn)舞場，“好像這些蝴蝶結(jié)和蕾絲以及所有化妝間的細(xì)節(jié)并沒有引起她和其他任何人絲毫的注意，好像她生來就與這條漁網(wǎng)裙和蕾絲在一起”。對我來說，不管是19世紀(jì)的莫斯科還是21世紀(jì)的倫敦，似乎這就是對時(shí)尚的完美描述。 □