探祕設計師王薇薇的房間 藝術由紛歸簡

In the third in a video series about designers in their offices and studios, Vera Wang, who introduced her ready-to-wear line in 2004 and has won both the designer-of-the-year and lifetime-achievement awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, talks retreat and creation. (The conversation has been edited and condensed.)

王薇薇(Vera Wang)在2004年推出自己的成衣系列，曾獲得美國時裝設計師協會的年度最佳設計師獎和終身成就獎。在一部講述設計師辦公室和工作室生活的視頻系列裏，王薇薇在第三集中談起自己的靜居之處和創作過程（下面的對話經過剪輯和濃縮）。

Q. How long have you been out of the garment district?

問：你離開時裝區多久了？

A. I have been in this space coming up on three years. I moved here, to Madison Square Park, initially for light, air and a view. I’d been in the garment center for so long, and it was starting to feel very oppressive: the intensity of the streets, the amount of people, the amount of factories still, even now; the amount of showrooms, design studios, all so jammed into a three-to-four block area. I calculated once that just running from 39th Street, where I was, to Eighth Avenue probably had taken ... um, a fifth of my life over 20 years. When I calculated that, I thought maybe it’d be better to go to a less intense neighborhood. Then I found out they shoot movies here, so really, you can’t win any way you look at it.

答：我在這裏待了三年了。我最初搬來麥迪遜廣場公園是爲了這裏的光線、空氣和風景。我在服裝區待得太久了，慢慢覺得非常壓抑：密集的街道，擁擠的人流，即使到現在還有很多工廠；數不清的展廳和設計工作室都擠在那三四個街區裏。我曾算過，我在第39街到第八大道待了20多年，度過了我人生五分之一的時間。我這麼算過之後覺得也許搬到一個不那麼擁擠的地方更好。然後我發現他們拍電影在這裏取景，這裏真的是怎麼看怎麼喜歡。

How much work did you have to do around the space to make it your own?

問：你對這裏進行了多少整修才把它變成自己的空間？

We took the lease completely brute, meaning we put every single thing in. We used to have six floors in our old building, so everybody spent their time going up and down the elevator. Here we have it all on two, so it is infinitely more efficient for us, and also I feel that everybody in the company is more accessible to each other.

答：我們的租約還挺粗暴的，我的意思是我們把所有的細枝末節都寫進去了。這幢樓本來有六層，所以大家把時間都浪費在坐電梯上了。現在總共就兩層，極大地提高了效率，而且我感覺公司裏的人相互之間也更親近了。

How do you differentiate your office from the rest of the office?

問：你的辦公室和這座樓的其他地方有什麼不同？

This is my refuge — outside is my design studio/think tank/laboratory. I wanted a space where I could retire from the intensity of that room. I really wanted something that had a very Asian — not only contemporary — but Asian kind of feel. And in all fairness, in my heart of hearts I am — funny for me to say this — but in my own strange way I’m very minimalist. And this space reflects that. It makes me calm down and think more clearly, and it’s very, very soothing. I always come in here, although our real entrance is downstairs. Usually I’m on the phone until I get here, whether about business or my daughters or other parts of my life. Coming through this environment prepares me for the transition into the design space.

答：這裏是我的避難所——外面是我的設計工作室/智囊團/實驗室。我想要一個空間，能讓我從設計室的壓力中解脫出來。我真的想要很亞洲的東西——不只是當代的——而是那種亞洲的感覺。平心而論，在內心深處——我這麼說有點好笑——我是個強烈的極簡主義者，雖然我的方式有點古怪。這個空間反映了這一點。它能讓我平靜下來，更清晰地思考，它特別讓人放鬆。我總是從這裏進設計室，雖然我們真正的入口在樓下。通常，到這裏之前我都在打電話，不管是關於生意、女兒們還是我生活的其他方面。經過這個環境的洗滌，我才能做好準備過渡到設計室。

Two things about this office: no desk, no computer.

問：這個辦公室有兩個特點：沒有書桌，沒有電腦。

No desk on purpose. I sit at a table in the design studio. When I’m in here, I really like to be focused. I come here to make very difficult phone calls or engage in very complex negotiations, and I don’t need a desk to do that. I also do not work on a computer. I read on a computer a lot. And I carry my mini iPad everywhere.

答：我是故意不放書桌的。在設計室裏，我是坐在工作臺旁邊。在這裏我真的希望專心致志。我來這裏打非常棘手的電話或者進行非常複雜的談判，我做這些事不需要書桌。我也不用電腦工作。我用電腦讀很多東西。我到哪兒都帶着迷你iPad。

Who comes in here?

問：哪些人會來這裏？

No one. I only see it as space for me. When I’m here I feel calm, I feel safe, I feel relaxed, and I think I feel like there’s a private part to me that I really do treasure. The exception is sometimes I meet executives from my licensees in here. It’s ironic to see businessmen in suits sitting on a very low sofa but they get used to it.

答：沒人來。我把這裏看作我自己的空間。我在這裏感覺平靜、安全、放鬆，我覺得這裏是珍貴的私人空間。唯一的例外是有時我在這裏會見獲得特許授權的公司的主管。看着西裝革履的商人坐在很矮的沙發上有點讓人啼笑皆非，但是他們習慣了。

Is there a reason there’s nothing on the walls?

問：牆上沒有任何東西是有原因的嗎？

Nothing to distract me, everything to calm me. I have art in my apartment — I’m not a major collector but have some Richard Serra, John Chamberlain — and I have personal photos in my bedroom at home. But I don’t have any in the workplace. I want to be free when I’m working, and I need that kind of emptiness in a weird way.

答：我不要任何東西來分散我的注意力，一切都是爲了讓我平靜。我家裏有藝術品，我不是個大藏家，但是我有理查德·塞拉(Richard Serra)和約翰·張伯倫(John Chamberlain)的一些作品。我的臥室裏有私人照片。但是我工作的地方什麼都沒有。我想在工作時自由自在，我需要那種怪異的空曠感。

Why do you have barbells against the wall?

問：爲什麼牆邊有槓鈴？

I was told that I should be lifting weights to firm myself up, and I like the look of them — they’re black, rubber coated. I thought they were very chic. Actually, they could be sculpture for me. I do think it’d be nice to lift them once and a while, though I keep forgetting they’re there. I am a bit of a sports fanatic, though, which is why I have the TV over the barbells. My two sports are figure skating and tennis. When the U.S. Open is on, which is always right before the show, we tape it, and I’ll just come in and hopefully, if I’m lucky, I’ll hit Nadal and Djokovic or Federer.

答：有人對我說，舉重能讓我變得強壯。我喜歡它們的外形——黑色，裹着橡膠。我覺得它們很時尚。實際上對我來說它們像雕塑。我的確認爲偶爾舉一下槓鈴挺好的，但我經常把它們給忘了。不過我對體育運動還是有點狂熱的，所以槓鈴上方有臺電視機。我最喜歡的兩個項目是花樣滑冰和網球。美國網球公開賽期間——它總是在時裝秀前舉辦——我們把比賽錄下來，我來這裏時，如果幸運的話，能趕上納達爾(Nadal)、德約科維奇(Djokovic)或費德勒(Federer)的比賽。

So that’s in here; just outside are all the fabrics, the mood boards, the sample rooms. How does a collection start for you?

問：所以裏面是這樣的情形，而外面是各種面料、情緒板和樣品間。你的一個系列是怎麼開始的？

I’ll say at any given moment to my design assistants, “Well, maybe it’s Marie Antoinette if she lived today,” because there’s one piece of fabric this time that resonated for me, a brocade. And then I’ll say: “You know, it does look kind of Chinese, but I don’t want to go there. I’d like to see it as something that Marie Antoinette would have worn but executed in a whole different way.” And then, “Well, maybe that’s too dressy because how would I wear brocade if I were wearing it?” And then: “Who is this woman? She was so young, she wanted to be free. She wanted to experiment with how she looked.” It starts like that.

答：我隨時可能對我的設計助理們說，“呃，如果瑪麗·安託瓦內特(Marie Antoinette)活到現在的話，這也許就是她的造型，”因爲這次有一塊麪料引起了我的共鳴——一塊織錦。然後我會說：“你知道，它的確看起來有點中式，但我不想要中式。我更喜歡把它看作瑪麗·安託瓦內特會穿的衣服，不過是用完全不同的方式展現出來的。”然後我又說，“呃，也許那樣太考究了，因爲要是我穿織錦服裝的話，我會穿什麼樣式的呢？”然後又說，“這個女人是誰？她這麼年輕，她想要自由。她想嘗試各種造型。”開始就是這樣。

Of the materials you work with, how much of them actually end up in a shop versus how many do you say, “Oh, that was a mistake, forget it, I shouldn’t have done that”?

問：你用過的面料中，有多少最後真的到了店裏，又有多少最後你說，“哦，那是個錯誤，別管它了，我不該用它。”

I’ve had whole collections that were mistakes. I have thrown away a quarter of a million in fabric for the resort collection, just thrown it in a pile in the corner. Then my staff runs to gather it and says maybe we’ll use it in another season. That really happens. Really.

答：我曾做過一些完全錯誤的系列。我扔掉了那個度假系列的25萬美元的面料，就堆在角落裏。然後我的員工跑去把它收了起來，說也許在另一季還會用。後來我們真的用到了。

And what happens at the end of a season, what do you do with all the, the things that are on the boards, all the fabrics, everything, where does it go?

問：每一季結束時，你怎麼處理情緒板上的所有東西和所有的面料？這些東西都去了哪裏？

It all goes away, and we start all over again. We don’t archive. There are times — “Oh, I remember that great dress with the incredible embroidery in Barneys’ window, where is it?” — and it’s nowhere to be found. Sad, but true.

答：都扔掉了，我們重新開始。我們不存檔。有時我會說，“哦，我記得巴尼斯百貨公司櫥窗裏的那件很棒的連衣裙，上面有精彩的刺繡，它在哪裏？”——找不到了。很遺憾，但往往就是這樣。