肥胖遭時尚界的排擠史 In Fashion Fat Is Still a Taboo

Rosy-cheeked and curvy, Madame de St.-Maurice smiles complacently on visitors to the 80WSE Gallery at New York University. The subject of a late-18th-century portrait by Joseph Siffred Duplessis, she flaunts multiple chins, her fleshy arms and bosom becomingly veiled in a demi-sheer frock.

面色紅潤、體態豐滿的聖-莫里斯夫人(Madame de St.-Maurice)對着紐約大學(New York University)80WSE畫廊(80WSE Gallery)的觀衆們得意地微笑。她是18世紀末約瑟夫·西弗爾·迪普萊西(Joseph Siffred Duplessis)描繪的對象，她炫耀着自己的雙下巴以及巧妙隱藏在半透明連衣裙下的豐腴胳膊和胸部。

When the original canvas was exhibited, “it was praised for its truthfulness,” said Tracy Jenkins, the curatorial director of “Beyond Measure: Fashion and the Plus-Size Woman,” the new student exhibition showcasing the work. Sure the sitter was chubby. So what?

這幅原版油畫在最近學生策劃的展覽“超越尺寸：時尚與特大號女人”(Beyond Measure: Fashion and the Plus-Size Woman)上展出。策展負責人特蕾西·詹金斯(Tracy Jenkins)說，“它的真實性得到了讚揚”。沒錯，畫中的這個女人很胖。那又如何？

Flash-forward a couple of centuries, and Madame would as likely have been skewered, her frame regarded as an aesthetic, and perhaps even a Moral, affront to polite society.

要是放到幾個世紀之後，聖-莫里斯夫人很可能會遭到譏諷，她的體型會被認爲是對上流社會審美觀念乃至道德層面的冒犯。

That assumption is at the heart of this small but affecting exhibition, one that encompasses photographs, mannequins, video and advertising imagery. Organized by graduate students in the costume studies program at N.Y.U.’s Steinhardt School, the show, which runs though Feb. 3, goes some way toward demonstrating that fat shaming, with roots burrowing deep into the 19th century, was, and remains, a freighted issue.

這一假想是這場頗有感染力的小型展覽的核心，它包括照片、人體模型、視頻和廣告圖片。它是紐約大學斯坦哈特學院(Steinhardt School)服裝研究專業的研究生們組織的，將持續到2月3日。這場展覽在很大程度上表明，肥胖羞恥感曾是——如今依然是——一個沉重的話題，它的根源可以追溯到19世紀。

Portrayed in the popular postcards and ads of the late 19th and early 20th century as grotesque, unseemly and out of control, women of size are represented in the gallery by Nettie the Fat Girl, a sideshow attraction shown in an early-20th-century photograph as a bulbous, childlike creature, her tutu and inflated thighs all but bearing her aloft.

在19世紀末、20世紀初的熱門明信片和廣告中，胖女人被描繪成怪異、不得體、失控的女人。在這場展覽中，那一時期胖女人的代表是馬戲團的演員“胖姑娘妮蒂”(Nettie the Fat Girl)。在20世紀初的一張照片中，我們看到她像嬰兒一樣肥胖臃腫，她的芭蕾舞短裙和膨脹的大腿幾乎能讓她飄起來。

Today that image wouldn’t fly, supplanted, in the popular media at least, by “full figured” role models, among them the defiantly outsize performers Beth Ditto and Melissa McCarthy, Adele and the aggressively curvy Tess Holliday, touted on the cover of People last spring as the first size-22 supermodel.

如今，那樣的形象飛不起來，而是至少在大衆媒體上，被“豐滿的”楷模所取代。比如體形龐大的藝人貝絲·迪託(Beth Ditto)、梅莉莎·麥卡錫(Melissa McCarthy)和阿黛爾(Adele)，以及非常豐滿的特絲·霍利迪(Tess Holliday)。去年春天，霍利迪作爲第一位衣服尺碼爲22號的超級模特招搖地登上《人物》雜誌(People)的封面。

A tentative acceptance of full-figured models that dates from the early 1990s is highlighted in the exhibition by the emergence of Stella Ellis, known as the first large-size model, a divalike figure who strode Jean Paul Gaultier’s runway in 1992 and was featured in his ad campaign, billowy bosom exposed, hair piled high like an opera star’s.

這場展覽還重點展示了20世紀90年代初人們對豐滿模特的短暫接受。那一時期的代表人物是斯特拉·埃利斯(Stella Ellis)，她被稱爲首位大號模特。她是一個天后般的人物。1992年，她在讓·保羅·高緹耶(Jean Paul Gaultier)的秀臺上款款而行，併成爲他的廣告代言人——她顯露出洶涌的胸部，頭髮像歌劇明星那樣高高盤起。

There is, as well, the flowery frock worn in the 1930s by the actress Marie Dressler, and a recent video clip of the lavender-coiffed, unabashedly round Ashley Nell Tipton, the first “Project Runway” designer to win with a plus-size collection.

還有20世紀30年代穿着華麗長袍的女演員瑪麗·德雷斯勒(Marie Dressler)，以及染着紫發、非常豐滿的阿什莉·內爾·蒂普頓(Ashley Nell Tipton)前不久的視頻片段。她是第一位憑藉大號系列在“天橋驕子”節目(Project Runway)中獲勝的設計師。

Still, progress has been halting.

不過，進步出現了停滯。

“Fat today is much less stigmatized, especially among younger people,” Ms. Jenkins allowed.

詹金斯承認，“如今，肥胖不再是那麼恥辱的事，尤其在年輕人中。”

Outside, that is, the world of style.

不過，那說的是時尚界之外的世界。

“Fashion’s job is to exclude,” Ms. Jenkins said, adding pointedly, “Fashion is not accepting fat.”

詹金斯說，“時尚的職責是排外。”她尖銳地補充道：“時尚不接受肥胖。”

The show’s omissions make the case: Apart from the dress form draped in Dressler’s effusively feminine garment, and a pair of others showcasing items made from children’s Chubbies Patterns in the 1950s, there are no mannequins of heft — and no fashion to clothe them.

這場展覽所沒有展示的東西恰恰說明了這一點：除了展示德雷斯勒熱情奔放、有女人味的裙子，以及20世紀50年代胖乎乎的兒童款式的東西之外，幾乎沒有肥胖的人體模型，也沒有給它們穿的衣服。

Those are simply too hard to come by, as Ya’ara Keydar, a graduate student and an organizer of the show, explained. Ms. Keydar recalled that during a recent visit to an exhibition of historic evening dresses at the Sigal Museum in Easton, Pa., there was only one plus-size dress on display.

研究生雅拉·基達(Ya’ara Keydar)是這場展覽的組織者之一。她解釋道，那是因爲很難弄到肥胖的人體模型。基達回憶說，前不久，她去賓夕法尼亞州伊斯頓的西加爾博物館(Sigal Museum)觀看一場關於歷史上著名的晚禮服的展覽，發現只有一件特大號晚裝在展出。

“Those garments don’t get shown unless you’re someone famous, like Queen Victoria,” Ms. Jenkins said. Even in museums with dedicated costume wings, there is a bias, she said.

詹金斯說，“特大號服裝除非被某個名人穿過，比如維多利亞女王，否則，沒有展示的機會。”她說，就連那些有專門用於展示服裝的側館的博物館，也存在偏見。

On conventional runways and in print, a show of fat can still raise eyebrows, the show’s organizers argue, as a tacit breach of etiquette and, less commonly, as a transgressive gesture. It remains more of a taboo than race, age or class, Ms. Jenkins maintained. That is because, regardless of race, age or social standing, “a fashionable outline is still achievable,” Ms. Keydar said. “With a larger body, it is not.”

這場展覽的組織者們說，在傳統秀臺和出版物上，展示肥胖仍會令人驚訝，被默認爲是對禮儀的違背，甚至是某些情況下的侵犯行爲。詹金斯認爲，與種族、年齡或階層相比，肥胖更是禁忌。基達說，那是因爲，不同種族、年齡或社會地位的人，“都可能擁有時尚的外形”，但一個人“要是體形碩大，就不可能時尚了”。

There are notably few references to the F-word, “fat,” replaced in the show, as it is in the industry, by the euphemistic “plus size.”

很明顯，展覽中極少用到“胖”這個詞，而是被委婉的說法“特大號”所替代，這也是時尚業的常規做法。

“‘Fat’ remains too charged a word,” Ms. Jenkins said. “Fashion has yet to come to terms with it” — or for that matter, with nonstandard sizing.

詹金斯說：“‘肥胖’這個詞依然容易引起激烈反應。時尚界還沒有接受它”——要做到這一點，就不能設定標準尺寸。

Images of plus-size runway models, in a slideshow first seen on the website Refinery29, reinforce her point: Models parade in their underwear, their random bumps and curves strategically covered and smoothed by padding.

一組特大號秀臺模特的照片佐證了她的觀點。那些照片首次出現是在Refinery29網站的一組幻燈裏。照片中的模特們穿着內衣走秀，她們隨意隆起的贅肉被巧妙地用襯料遮蓋或掩飾。

The message? Ideal beauties they may be, “but even these women need improvements,” Ms. Keydar said.

這樣做是要傳達什麼意思？基達說，意思就是，她們可能是完美的美女，“但是就算這些女人也需要改進“。

Among plus-size models, too, stringent standards apply. Smaller heads are preferred. “You don’t want to see a double chin,” Ms. Jenkins said. Banished as well: stretch marks, bat wings or what the British like to call those wobbly bits.

嚴格的標準也適用於特大號模特。頭偏小的特大號模特更受歡迎。詹金斯說：“你不想看見雙下巴。”同樣遭到排斥的包括妊娠紋、蝴蝶肉或英國人所說的晃動的肉。

“There is just as much smoke and mirrors in plus-size fashion as in anything else,” Ms. Jenkins said.

詹金斯說：“特大號時尚也同樣需要霧裏看花。”