What Makes Italy So Stylish1?

Lindsay Baker

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意大利，一个时尚与浪漫的结合地，不仅诞生了诸多知名奢侈品牌，而且引领着整个欧洲甚至全世界的时尚潮流。意大利遍地是名牌，如阿玛尼、古驰、普拉达、范思哲、宝格丽等，米兰时装周崛起虽晚，但已聚集了时尚界顶尖人物以及来自世界各地的专业媒体和风格潮流。意大利的时尚魅力究竟缘何而来呢？

“The only word Liz knows in Italian is Bulgari,” joked Richard Burton about Elizabeth Taylor who, photographed in her showstopping jewels, encapsulated the global obsession with Italy.2. Richard Burton: 理查德·伯顿，英国影史上的巨星之一，曾七次提名奥斯卡最佳男主角；Elizabeth Taylor: 伊丽莎白·泰勒，好莱坞著名影星，与理查德·伯顿出共同出演经典电影《埃及艳后》；Bulgari: 宝格丽，于1884年在意大利建立的高级珠宝品牌，是继法国卡地亚和美国蒂芙尼之后的世界第三大珠宝品牌；show-stopping: 令人赞叹的；encapsulate: 概括，浓缩；obsession: 着迷。The 1950s and ‘60s gave birth to a stylish, seductive—and uniquely Italian—iconography: the dazzling Trevi Fountain scene in Fellini’sLa Dolce Vita,for instance, and Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn’s Vespa moment inRoman Holiday.3. 20世纪五六十年代造就了一种时尚且独具意大利魅力的形象：例如，费里尼的《甜蜜的生活》中令人赞叹的特莱维喷泉，以及《罗马假日》中格利高里·派克和奥黛丽·赫本共骑小黄蜂摩托车的片段。give birth to: 引起，产生；seductive: 有吸引力的，有诱惑力的；iconography: 传统形象，图腾；Trevi Fountain: 特莱维喷泉，罗马最大的巴洛克风格喷泉，高25.9米，宽19.8米；Fellini: 费德里科·费里尼，意大利著名编剧、导演，拍摄多部电影，其电影获得五次奥斯卡金奖；Vespa: 黄蜂牌小型摩托车（一种意大利制低座摩托车）。Italy and glamour have been synonymous4. synonymous: 同义的，等同的。ever since.

《埃及艳后》剧照

What does Italian glamour really mean, though,and is it anything more than a nostalgic5. nostalgic: 怀旧的，引起怀旧之情的。myth? A new exhibition opening lately at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London sets out to6. set out to: 开始，着手。answer these questions. The names of luxury Italian sports car manufacturers like Ferrari and Maserati certainly conjure a vision of uniquely con fident, showy sleekness, just as the names Valentino, Versace, Gucci,and Prada ooze luxury, sensuality and a distinct Italian swagger.7. 法拉利和玛莎拉蒂一类的豪华意大利跑车的名字当然会让人感受到别致、自信且炫目的时尚感，就像华伦天奴、范思哲、古驰、普拉达等品牌透出的奢华、魅惑和典型的意大利式的高调自负。conjure: 使（某物）突然出现；vision: 构想，念头；showy:显眼的，引人注目的；sleekness: 时髦阔气；ooze: 充分地表露或散发；sensuality:性感，魅惑；swagger: 趾高气扬，自大。In fashion, Milan is one of the ‘big four’ cities, and while Paris is famed for its perfect sense of chic, New York for sporty wearability and London for iconoclasm, Italian glamour has become Milan’s signature.8. chic: 高雅，雅致；wearability: 穿着性能，耐磨损性；iconoclasm: 破坏偶像主义；signature: 签名，识别标志。But can a sense of glamour be inherent in a whole nation’s DNA? Or is it just a cliché, a national stereotype?9. cliché: 陈词滥调；stereotype: 固定模式，刻板印象。

Stitches10. stitch: （缝纫或编织中的）一针。 in time

Certainly, the roots of Italian fashion go way back—to 14th-Century Florence. And as the cradle of the Renaissance, Italy can lay claim to some serious heritage.11. cradle: 发源地；the Renaissance: 文艺复兴；lay claim to: 宣称，声称……的权利；heritage: 遗产。In Florence, for elite families of the period—the Medici among them—appearance and display were intimately bound up with identity.12. 在当时的佛罗伦萨，对于贵族家族来说——包括梅第奇家族——外在形象和展示价值都与身份地位密切相关。elite: 精英，杰出人物；Medici:梅第奇，美第奇家族是意大利佛罗伦萨著名家族；bound up with: 与某事物关系密切。Af fluent Florentines were obsessed with fashion, investing huge proportions of their fortunes on clothing.13. af fluent: 富裕的；Florentine: 佛罗伦萨人；be obsessed with: 迷恋，沉迷于；fortune: 财富，财产。

《罗马假日》剧照

But it was not until the postwar years of the 20th Century that Italy’s international fashion industry came into its own. Largely responsible was aristocratic entrepreneur Giovanni Battista Giorgini,who gathered designs from the best tailors and dressmakers in the country, including Pucci, the Fontana sisters and Capucci. The first fashion shows were staged in the grand, chandeliered Sala Bianca at Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and the fact that the designs were around 30% cheaper than their Parisian counterparts meant they were snapped up by buyers—and soon spread rapidly to the department stores of the US.14. stage: 上演，演出；chandeliered: 枝形吊灯装饰的；Sala Bianca: 萨拉·比安卡T形台；Palazzo Pitti: 碧提宫，是一座规模宏大的文艺复兴时期佛罗伦萨的宫殿；snap up: 抢购。

It was the heady combination of celebrity and style that proved the truly irresistible combination,and ultimately it was Hollywood that fully propelled Italian style onto the global stage.15. heady: 令人兴奋的；irresistible: 不可抗拒的，极有诱惑力的；propel: 推动。The movie industry was drawn to the sunny climate and relatively low costs of filming, and Cinecittà studios in Rome became an international hub,the city itself acting as an open-air set.16. 意大利的明媚气候和相对较低的拍摄成本令电影业对此地青睐有加，罗马电影城成为国际电影拍摄中心，而美丽的罗马本身就是一个露天的拍摄布景。draw:吸引；Cinecittà: 罗马电影城；hub: 中心；set: 布景。Films likeRoman HolidayandCleopatraproved huge hits.17. Cleopatra:《埃及艳后》，好莱坞经典影片；hit: （演出等）成功。

The exuberant, opulent aesthetic of the movieshooting years spread quickly.18. exuberant: 热情洋溢的；opulent: 豪华的，奢侈的；aesthetic: 美感，审美观。Off set the stars were photographed by the paparazzi, then a new phenomenon (and a few years later itself fictionalised inLa Dolce Vita).19. 镜头之外的明星开始被狗仔队跟拍，这也成为一个新现象（几年之后还在《甜蜜的生活》中被搬上荧幕）。paparazzi: 狗仔队； fictionalise: 将（真实事情）编写成小说。Bogart and Bacall were snapped gliding elegantly in a gondala in Venice, Audrey Hepburn shopping for shoes at Ferregamo in Florence, Taylor and Burton in the boutiques of her beloved Bulgari, while other stars were shot holidaying on the scenic Amal ficoast.20. 鲍嘉和白考尔被拍到在威尼斯优雅地划着“贡多拉”小船畅游，奥黛丽·赫本在佛罗伦萨的菲拉格慕店购物，泰勒和伯顿流连于她钟爱的宝格丽精品店，而其他明星也被拍到在风景如画的阿尔玛菲海岸度假。Bogart: 亨弗莱·鲍嘉，好莱坞著名影星，代表作包括《卡萨布兰卡》、《非洲女王号》等；Bacall: 劳伦·白考尔，好莱坞著名女星，代表作包括《江湖佳侣》和《盖世枭雄》等；snap: 拍照；gondala: 贡多拉，是威尼斯特有的水上交通工具；boutique: 时装店，精品店；shoot: 拍摄。These images went around the world, portraying a beguilingly sybaritic and effortlessly stylish way of life.21. portray: 描述，描绘；beguilingly: 迷人地，吸引人地；sybaritic: 贪图享乐的，骄奢淫逸的。

It was a fashion moment on a global scale.“A whole generation bene fitted from the media glow,” says American-born Sonnet Stan fill, the curator of the V&A exhibition. “They were the go-go22. go-go: 活跃的，时髦的。years.”But according to the curator, Italian glamour amounts to much more than hype23. hype: 大肆宣传（或吹捧）。or a media moment: “Real Italians care passionately about their appearance,” she insists.

Stan fill points to the quintessentially Italian custom of the passeggiata that she observed when she lived in Florence.24. quintessentially: 典型地，标准地；passeggiata: 流行于意大利的一种露天表演。The daily ritual of the early-evening stroll or promenade is embedded in Italian society,and self con fidence is intrinsic.25. promenade: 散步，闲逛；embed: 扎根于；intrinsic: 内在固有的。“It’s a kind of street theatre, there is an element of posing,” she says. It’s a way to see and be seen, according to Stan fill, and its participants are always groomed, well dressed,completely pulled together to fare la bella figura, to make a good impression or cut a dash is fundamental to the Italian image.26. 斯坦菲尔认为这是一种观察别人和表现自我的方式，其参与者都精心打扮、穿着入时，齐心协力打造一场美形主义（bella figura）视觉盛宴；要给人留下好印象或在人前大出风头是意大利人形象的基本特征。groom: 使整洁，打扮；fare: 进行；cut a dash: 大出风头。

First craft

The nation’s trademark swagger goes hand in hand with its long tradition of craftsmanship27. craftsmanship: 技艺。. In the financial district of Milan, says Stan fill, the men are meticulously turned out in their bespoke, immaculately tailored, silk-lined suits, carefully coordinated softleather belts and shoes, silk pocket squares and ties.28. meticulously: 一丝不苟地，精心地；bespoke: 定做的；immaculately: 完美地；pocket square: 口袋方巾。And in Italian tailoring29. tailoring: 裁缝业，成衣业。there are many regional variations of detail. Italian tailoring has reached worldwide status over the past half century.

It’s certainly true that the Made in Italy label is still sought after worldwide, particularly in the past two decades. As Sicilian designer Fausto Puglisi tells BBC Culture: “Italian craftsmanship is totally unmatchable. And in Italy it is something that is extremely connected to society—people don’t just do it for the money,they do it because they love it.” Tuscany, for instance, is the region to go for leatherwork, he says. “It’s amazing: they treat leather like silk.”

So what does glamour mean today to Puglisi and to the everyday lives of Italians? “Glamour is something deeply attractive, something strong related to beauty, and I de finitely believe in beauty. For us Italians it must be something we grew with, it’s part of our taste and culture, in our approach to life. Look at art, sculpture and the architecture: from the Roman Empire to contemporary, they’re still part of our everyday life.” Reality or fabulous mythology?30. fabulous: 难以置信的，极好的；mythology: 神话。In the end, Italian glamour is probably a bit of both.And according to Puglisi, it’s ultimately about passion. As an Italian designer, he says: “fashion is your obsession, fashion is the only boyfriend or girlfriend you can have in life. There is nothing else.”