凱特王妃的時髦孕婦裝突顯王室風範

Dress like Kate Middleton! Maternity Looks You Can Wear More than Once,” (Vogue); “Duchess Kate’s royally chic bump style” (People); “Four of the hottest maternity looks Kate is expected to favour during her pregnancy!” (Good Morning America); “The Ten Best-Dressed Pregnant Women” (Vanity Fair).

“就穿凱特王妃(Kate Middleton)那樣的衣服！孕婦裝看起來可以穿不止一次，”（《Vogue》雜誌）；“凱特王妃的時髦孕婦裝突顯王室風範”（《人物雜誌》(People)）；“凱特王妃懷孕期間有望穿的四款最潮孕婦裝！”（Good Morning America節目）；“10款最佳孕婦裝”（《名利場》雜誌(Vanity Fair)）。

There’s no question maternity fashion is making headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. With fashion darlings the Duchess of Cambridge, Fergie, Kim Kardashian and Margherita Missoni all becoming pregnant at about the same time, how to dress your bump has become the most popular style subject of the moment, with the mothers-to-be rising to the occasion.

毫無疑問，孕婦時裝如今成了歐美各大媒體爭相報道的焦點。隨着凱特王妃、黑眼豆豆(Black Eyed Peas)女主唱菲姬(Fergie)、金•卡戴珊(Kim Kardashian)、瑪格麗塔•米索尼(Margherita Missoni)等時尚寵兒幾乎在同一時刻懷孕，如何着裝成了當前最流行的時尚話題，以便讓準媽媽應付自如這個問題。

On her first visibly pregnant outing, in February, the Duchess, whose baby is due in July, wore a Max Mara grey wrap dress. More recently she has taken to covering up in coats, like the pale green tweed Mulberry number worn for an engagement at Windsor Castle. Kardashian, meanwhile, has been seen in Valentino, Salvatore Ferragamo, Lanvin and Saint Laurent, while Fergie sported a black tux to an event in Brazil, followed by a clinging rhinestone-bedecked mini with a long train earlier this month. Missoni has been wearing, well, Missoni.

今年二月，懷孕（預產期爲今年七月）後首次公開外出時，凱特王妃身穿一款灰色Max Mara裹裙。就在前一陣子，她喜歡上了全身上下穿外套，類似在溫莎城堡(Windsor Castle)訂婚時自己所穿的那款瑪百莉(Mulberry)淡綠色花呢裝；與此同時，卡戴珊身穿華倫天奴(Valentino)、菲拉格慕(Salvatore Ferragamo)、朗萬(Lanvin)以及聖洛朗(Saint Laurent)等時裝外出；而菲姬則身穿黑色禮服出席在巴西舉行的某個活動，隨後又在本月初身穿一件人造鑽石點綴、後面拖着長長裙襬的緊身迷你裙出現在公共場合。米索尼則一直穿着自己旗下的品牌（預料之中）。

All are following the lead of former French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who wore a Chanel haute couture white tweed dress and black jacket while pregnant, in adapting non-maternity wear to their new situation.

她們均在爭相效仿法國前第一夫人布呂尼(Carla Bruni-Sarkozy)，在懷孕期間身穿常規時裝。布呂尼懷孕期間，就穿着白色香奈兒(Chanel)高檔花呢連衣裙與黑色短上衣。

Indeed, this has become such a trend that you’d think it might give the fashion world ideas. According to the maternity wear line Séraphine, in the UK there are about 800,000 births a year and, on average, women spend £130 on maternity clothes (a total of £108m), while in the US, with just under 4m births a year, spending is around $800m (an average spend of $200). And yet maternity dressing is the last great unexplored frontier in style. High fashion brands have gone into children’s clothes, wedding gowns, lingerie, sportswear, even linens. Many pregnant women clearly don’t want to surrender style any more but, when the topic is raised, catwalk stalwarts respond with an awkward silence.

勿庸置疑，這已成蔚然成風，因此諸位或許覺得會給時尚界某些啓示。據孕裝品牌Séraphine統計，每年英國約有80萬嬰兒出生，平均每位孕婦花在孕裝上的費用爲130英鎊（全國總計1.08億英鎊）；而在美國，儘管每年的新生兒不到400萬人，但總花費約爲8億美元（每個孕婦平均花費200美元）。然而，孕婦裝卻是時裝界最後一座有待開發的“富礦”。高級時裝品牌早已涉足童裝、婚紗、女式貼身內衣、運動裝、甚至家庭日用紡織品領域。很顯然，許多孕婦不願輕易放棄時裝，但一旦提及孕婦裝的話題，時尚擁躉們卻以尷尬的沉默來回應。

Diane von Furstenberg (whose wrap dress many would argue is perfect for maternity), Jason Wu and Temperley London all politely declined to take part in this piece, for example. “It is not a story that we feel is the right fit for us. We don’t do any maternity wear, and our relationship with the Duchess of Cambridge is an important one we never comment on,” said Temperley London.

比方說，黛安•馮•芙絲汀寶（Diane von Furstenberg，許多人覺得其裹裙當孕裝穿再合適不過了）、吳季剛(Jason Wu)、Temperley London等品牌均委婉地拒絕踏足這個領域。“我們覺得這個領域不太適合我們，我們不開發任何孕婦裝，我們與凱特王妃的關係十分重要，對此從不作任何評論，”Temperley London說。

Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, believes pregnancy has an image problem. It lacks “the glamour and sleekness of the ideal female figure. Pregnancy involves a profound change in the female silhouette, and a change which superficially resembles obesity. That is something that is very difficult for designers.”

紐約時裝技術學院(the Fashion Institute of Technology)博物館館長瓦萊麗•斯蒂爾(Valerie Steele)認爲懷孕後會涉及形象問題，因爲它沒有了昔日“女性完美身材的魅力及柔滑。懷孕後，女性形體必然發生巨大變化，外表感覺猶如患了肥胖症。所以設計師感覺左支右絀。”

Steele recalls how during her own pregnancy, while searching for something stylish, she was mulling over Issey Miyake’s Plantation line, in particular a loose, cotton dress that was breezy and classic 1980s, when “someone in the store looked at me and asked, ‘Is it twins?’” – the implication being Steele looked fat. “I ran out of the store crying,” she says. Still, she adds, “It seems like a missed opportunity” for designers.

斯蒂爾回憶自己當初懷孕、四處找尋時裝時，曾對三宅一生(Issey Miyake)的Plantation系列服裝看個沒完，尤其是具有上世紀80年代風格的那件經典款歡快寬鬆的棉布裙。當時“店內員工看着我說，‘您懷的是雙胞胎嗎？’”——言下之意就是斯蒂爾看上去太胖了。“我當時是哭着衝出店門，”她說。儘管如此，她補充道，“感覺設計師錯失了良機”。

Susan Lazar, a New York designer for 20 years, who now creates the popular Egg Baby line and does occasional maternity wear (simple jersey dresses and accessories) says she believes designers avoid maternity because it has such a short lifespan. “No woman wants to wear their maternity clothes after the baby arrives,” she says. “You want to burn them.”

蘇珊•拉扎爾(Susan Lazar)是紐約時裝設計師，從業已有20年，如今創立了自己的知名品牌——寶貝蛋(Egg Baby)，自己偶爾也會設計孕婦裝（簡約型針織連衣裙及相應配飾）。她說自己覺得設計師不願設計孕婦裝的原因是它實際穿的時間太短。“生完孩子後，就沒有女人再想穿孕婦裝，”她說。“就想把它付之一炬。”

There’s also the practical issue of patterns. “Maternity patterns are different from regular clothes because the belly picks up the front and, of course, you need larger waistbands,” Lazar says. She points out that launching a maternity line would require real investment, which might not be worth it as long T-shirts, leggings and layering remain popular as pregnancy wear. In fact, she says, many women can almost get away with buying entirely non-maternity basics until the last trimester. “It’s not really necessary to buy a maternity wardrobe, so designers don’t bother making one,” she says.

此外還有式樣的實際問題。“孕婦裝式樣與平常衣服不一樣，原因是懷孕後肚子會變大變突，必然要系更長的腰帶，”拉扎爾說。她指出推出孕婦裝需要很大投入，當長款T恤、裹腿、疊層裝依然也能象孕裝一樣受人歡迎時，投資孕婦裝就很不划算。她說，事實上，許多女性幾乎一直穿着常規服裝，直至最後三個月才換上孕裝。“實在沒必要去大量添置孕婦裝，所以設計師不願爲此勞神費心，”她說。

Los Angeles stylist Nicole Chavez worked with then-pregnant Kristen Bell for this year’s Golden Globes and put the actress in a loose-fitting (non-maternity) Jenny Packham dress for the event. As a rule, she emphasises non-maternity wear for her clients, including Jessica Simpson, whom Chavez has dressed throughout both her pregnancies partly in Dolce & Gabbana (it has a lot of stretch in the fabric, she notes).

洛杉磯時裝設計師妮可•查韋斯(Nicole Chavez)與當時身懷六甲的影星克里斯騰•貝爾(Kristen Bell)合作，爲她設計了參加今年金球獎(Golden Globes)的禮服，讓對方穿寬鬆款珍妮•帕克漢(Jenny Packham)時裝（並非孕婦裝）參加了頒獎典禮。她通常會強調自己的客戶必須穿非孕婦裝，其中就包括珍妮•帕克漢本人自己。在珍妮本人兩次懷孕期間，查韋斯還時不時讓她穿杜嘉班納(Dolce & Gabbana)時裝（她指出該品牌的面料伸縮性非常好）。

“She is a curvy girl and quite petite, so it was important to show her bump,” says Chavez. Issa is also a favourite non-maternity line for maternity wear, because the signature V-neck is flattering on an ample bust and the pleating at the waist flattering to a baby bump.

“珍妮•帕克漢曲線迷人、身材嬌小，所以顯出其隆起的腹部非常關鍵，”查韋斯說。把常規裙裝當孕裝穿，埃薩(Issa)也是理想的選擇，因爲標誌性的V字領讓本已豐滿的胸部顯得更爲傲人，裙服在腰部打褶，讓身懷六甲者的腹部顯得更加楚楚動人。

Still, given the marketing boost the current crop of pregnant style-setters can bring, it would be good to see a brand respond. It could, after all, give birth to a whole new creative niche.

儘管如此，鑑於當前這一大波身懷六甲的引領時尚者所引發的市場營銷效應，時尚品牌對此有所迴應自然再好不過。畢竟，它能催生時裝界一個全新的細分創意行業。