Off the Page: Fashion in Literature

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Want inspiration for what to wear? Read a good novel.想要获得穿衣打扮的灵感？那就找本好的小说读读吧。

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《了不起的盖茨比》中的主角盖茨比年轻时的名字。, standing outside his darkening mansion in that “gorgeous pink rag of a suit”; Anna Karenina2俄国著名作家托尔斯泰的作品《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美国作家杜鲁门·卡波特1958年出版的小说《蒂凡尼的早餐》中的主要人物，后改编成电影，由奥黛丽·赫本主演。, effortlessly chic in dark glasses, “a slim cool black dress, black sandals, a pearl choker4choker一种又细又短的颈链。”.

F.司各特·菲茨杰拉德曾经说过, “丑衣两套不如靓衣一件”。美国这位伟大小说家就服装之事如此忠告。我喜欢的时尚偶像也总是小说中的人物。想想杰伊·盖茨比吧，站在他那漆黑的别墅外面，穿着那件“极其漂亮的粉色外套”；舞会上的安娜·卡列尼娜，身穿带有威尼斯蕾丝的丝绒舞裙，头戴紫罗兰花环；想想戴着墨镜的霍莉·戈莱特利，她“身穿一条瘦长、酷炫的黑裙，脚穿黑拖鞋，脖子系一条细细的珍珠颈链”，不费吹灰之力即成时尚潮人。

[2] As a book-obsessed suburban adolescent, I read Jack Kerouac5美国作家，“垮掉的一代”的代表人物。他的主要作品有自传体小说《在路上》《达摩流浪者》《孤独旅者》等。, HenryMiller6美国作家，著有《北回归线》《南回归线》等作品。and the fantastical neogothic fi ction of Angela Carter7英国著名女作家。其作品风格独树一帜，混合魔幻现实主义、女性主义、哥特式及黑暗系童话。代表作品有《爱》《霍夫曼博士的魔鬼欲望机器》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第六学级，即英国中等学校的最后两年，学生年龄在16至18岁之间，准备参加高级证书考试（A-level）。—though I did acquire a boyfriend who was taking art A-level and had readNaked Lunch9美国作家威廉·巴勒斯（1914—1997）的作品。威廉•巴勒斯与艾伦·金斯堡、杰克·凯鲁亚克同为“垮掉的一代”文学运动的创始者。被誉为“垮掉的一代”的精神教父和美国后现代主义创作的先驱之一。主要作品有《裸体午餐》《瘾君子》《红夜之城》《酷儿》等。—but 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伦敦一处以出售服装服饰、工艺品和世界各地古董古玩而闻名的市场。. (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基布兹，以色列的一种集体合作农场。, the nightdress phase passed, the sheepskin was condemned.

[2]作为一个在郊区长大的少女，我迷恋读书，读杰克·凯鲁亚克，读亨利·米勒，也读安吉拉·卡特迷幻的新哥特式小说。我试图模仿喝咖啡不加糖、饮威士忌不掺水的那种女人的衣着和外形来打扮自己。曾经我想和艺术家们结伴游玩，参加那些彻夜狂欢的派对，在那里人人听爵士，个个抽香烟，大家都懂诗歌。在我读第六学级的时候，似乎没有遇到过太多那样的人——虽然当时确实结识了一个男友，他正在考艺术高级证书，也读过《裸体午餐》——但我决意至少看起来要有点像那样的人。有段时间，我显然是想模仿米勒笔下巴黎的某个下层阶级人士，但又混搭了大约1977年卡特作品中某个人物的风格，那时候，我总是涂着又黑又厚的眼线，只穿短短的暗红色衬裙、褐色带有丁字襻的厚底鞋，还披着从卡姆登市场淘来的散发着怪味的羊皮长外套。（这可是我能买到的、最接近我梦想的皮草外套，这么说可真不是托辞。）The habit of reading, and the habit of dressing up, remained. The novelist Elizabeth Bowen12英国小说家。主要作品有《最后的九月》《梦中情人》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英国小说家，著有《衰落与瓦解》《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英国女作家，诗人、记者。因《寒冷的舒适农庄》成名，擅长描写英国郊区中产阶级的生活。that I should “avoid orange linen jumpers” (Cold Comfort Farm); from Martin Amis15英国当代小说家，著有《金钱》《时间之箭》等作品。that “tight bright white underwear” is the way to a man’s heart(London Fields); from Claire Messud16美国当代小说家，在包括耶鲁大学在内的美国多所大学教授文学与创作课程。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]后来，男友从大学辍学，到一家集体农场种香蕉去了。我喜欢穿晚礼服的热潮过去了，也不再喜欢羊皮衣服了。可读书的习惯、穿衣打扮的习惯却一如既往。小说家伊丽莎白·鲍恩曾写到“打扮是不会打扮的人必须练习的一门艺术”。我也开始意识到，文学作品里有不少有关穿衣打扮的建议。从伊夫林·沃的作品中，我学到了“偶然的建议”可以将一个少女的衣品提升，“比时装模特还要时尚”（《邪恶的身体》）；从斯黛拉·吉本斯那里，我知道应该“避免穿橘色的麻织套头衫”（《寒冷的舒适农庄》）；从马丁·艾米斯的书中，我了解到“紧身的白色内衣”能使男人坠入爱河（《伦敦场》）；从克莱尔·梅苏德的书中，我知道一个人只要足够自信，即使穿着不够时髦，也会显出一种令人着迷的“漫不经心，比时尚还更有品”（《皇帝的儿子》）。

[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。该公司创建于1863年，距今已有150年的历史。jacket—a useful tip gleaned from Bret Easton Ellis’s18当代美国编剧、作家，擅长以冷酷、讽刺的风格描写极端事件。主要作品有《零下的激情》《美国精神病人》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美国当代女作家，主要作品有短篇小说集《如何在水下呼吸》、长篇小说《隐形之桥》。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]后来，在法国小说家科莱特的书中，我读到“艺术首饰有损女人的名誉”这样的话（《吉吉》），虽然我对何为“艺术”首饰还有些懵懵懂懂，但我想目前为止我成功避开了这种首饰。无论如何，我相信自己，即使我的索布拉尼牌夹克浸透鲜血，我也不会将其漂白——这点有用的小提示是从布雷特·伊斯顿·艾利斯的小说《美国精神病人》中收集到的。从同一本书中，我也了解到男人穿背心（西装马甲）的搭配方式是不要和袜子、领带用同样的花纹；商务正装可以和带流苏的黑色平底鞋搭配，但不得搭配棕色平底鞋。在其他作品，如茱莉·奥瑞格的小说《写给六年级的自己》里，小说的叙述者就参加盛大的学校舞会该如何挑选最美的裙子所提的建议是——“午夜幽蓝的丝绒紧身裙，配上细细肩带……如埃里克·凯西奥眼睛的蓝色”——还有那些描写第一次喜欢异性的心痛和发现花钱购物能让自己开心的欣喜。然而，最好的还是一直时尚的霍莉在《蒂凡尼的早餐》中说的话：“钻石，挺好。但在四十岁之前戴钻石有点儿俗气，甚至四十岁也有点儿悬。只有年纪大的妇女才适合。皱纹、骨骼、白发、钻石：我简直等不及了。”人有期待总是一件好事，遇到对上了年岁的妇女有用的时尚建议，真是让人愉悦。

[5] InThe Road to Wigan Pier,George Orwell20英国著名小说家，写有《动物庄园》《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好莱坞的著名男、女影星。代表作分别有《乱世佳人》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法国女小说家科莱特的自传性小说克罗汀娜四部曲之一。. Then there’s the plaid shirt that could have been modelled by Kerouac’s Sal Paradise23美国“垮掉的一代”代表作家凯鲁亚克的作品《在路上》一书中的人物，也是小说的叙述者。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《通往威根码头之路》一书中，乔治·奥维尔写道：“即使你口袋里只有三枚半便士的铜币，在世上也前途渺茫……但你若穿上新衣，站在街头，依然可以像克拉克·盖博或是葛丽泰·嘉宝一样，沉浸在自己的白日梦想中。”我想他的意思是：很多穿衣打扮都是在脑中而非镜前；选一件新外套，不仅是看穿上是否漂亮，也是看打扮所引起的联想。有一年冬天，我买了一条厚厚的百褶裙，因为将之与蝴蝶形领子的衬衫和宽皮带相配，会使我想起克罗汀娜——科莱特的《 克罗汀娜上学去》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斯皮塔佛德市场是流行服饰和工艺品、家居用品以及怀旧服饰的集散地。market in London: I fondly imagine it’s just the sort of thing a Somerset Maugham25英国著名作家，著有《月亮和六便士》《人性的枷锁》等。or Evelyn Waugh heroine would wear when taking afternoon tea in the drawing room. And while I know a pencil skirt26pencil skirt像铅笔一样上宽下紧的中长裙。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.一书中那个机智、任性、特别淘气的法国女学生。还有那件方格衬衫，凯鲁亚克小说中的萨尔·帕拉迪斯穿上这件衬衫行走在66号公路的扬尘中，将牛仔裤扎进黑色的短靴中，穿着呢子外套，系一条色彩明快的围巾，就像玛丽·盖茨克尔《坏行为》中顽强生存在纽约街头的浪子一样。或是在伦敦斯皮塔佛德市场的老式服装摊位上，发现一件剪裁优雅、缀有小小珍珠纽扣的裙子时，我会天真地想，也许这就是萨默塞特·毛姆或伊夫林·沃笔下的女主角坐在客厅喝下午茶时穿的衣服。虽然我知道即使穿上铅笔裙、涂上红唇，我也变不成雷蒙德·钱德勒笔下的美女，但穿上那样的衣服，我就会情不自禁地走进哈克尼当地的酒吧，那模样就像手袋里放着一把饰有珍珠的手枪、外面还有头戴软呢帽的骗子等着的女人。

[6] “Clothes,” Virginia Woolf27著名英国女作家、文学批评家和文学理论家，意识流文学代表人物。著有《到灯塔去》《达洛维夫人》《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]弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫在《奥兰多》里告诉我们：“服饰有比保暖更重要的功能：它能改变我们对世界的看法，也能改变世界对我们的看法。”服饰是我们在社会中的外壳；是内心自我的投射；也是财富和地位的反映。从小，文学作品就教我们怎样“阅读”服饰的含义。在童话故事中，文学就开始教我们通过黑袍辨认邪恶的女巫。在小说中，对服装外套的精彩描写可以用来更好地塑造人物，打开一种叙事或逼真地勾画一个场景。一条裤子、一条裙子、一顶帽子都可能承载许多政治、社会和审美的意义。

[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英国女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特创作的长篇小说《简·爱》的女主角。refuses Mr Rochester’ s29英国女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特创作的长篇小说《简·爱》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美国著名女作家，1980年发表处女作《管家》令她一举成名。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土耳其当代最著名的小说家，2006年诺贝尔文学奖获得者。著有《我的名字叫红》《伊斯坦布尔——一座城市的记忆》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]对女性角色的服饰描写尤其如此。与男性角色相比，女性的身份与她们的外在形象联系更紧密。当简·爱拒绝罗切斯特先生送的华丽粉色丝缎睡袍，而坚持穿那件适合沉静的女家庭教师的黑灰睡袍时，我们知道她是在坚持自己的独立；坚持自己不是玩物，而应作为与未来丈夫平等的另一半来对待。玛丽莲·罗宾逊的小说《管家》的叙述者露丝为两种生活方式的选择摇摆不定：是在爱达荷过受人尊敬的小镇生活还是与精神自由、行为怪异的姨妈一起生活？她的抉择就通过同学们穿的实用的棕色牛津鞋和姨妈塞尔维买给她上学穿的、可爱但明显不实用的蓝色丝绒芭蕾舞鞋反映了出来。在奥尔罕·帕慕克的《雪》中，当土耳其的世俗势力与伊斯兰教势力较量时，在靠近亚美利亚边境的一个边远小城里，年轻女教徒头上的头巾就成了意识形态斗争的阵地。

[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]服饰，即使对作品的情节和意义作用不大，它也确实能够通过将服饰风格固定于某个历史时刻来表达故事发生的时间。有人争辩说风格与时尚对立，但在菲茨杰拉德和沃对服饰的考量中，我们可以明显看到品位的不朽价值。《安娜·卡列尼娜》一书的开始，是我最喜欢的关于服饰的文学性描写。奥布隆斯基王子18岁的女儿基蒂要参加一场舞会，为此所做的准备颇为费力费神。她在白色渔网裙下面配了一条粉色衬裙，戴着一双长长的白手套，穿了一双细长的粉色鞋子。一朵玫瑰戴在秀发上，脖子上系着的柔软的黑色丝绒使整个服装相谐于一体。对此我有些怦然心动，这是我内心的小女孩渴望的衣服。可要是穿着在城里走来走去，却不太合时宜。然而比服装细节更重要的是——这也是经典的部分——基蒂走进舞场，“好像这些蝴蝶结和蕾丝以及所有化妆间的细节并没有引起她和其他任何人丝毫的注意，好像她生来就与这条渔网裙和蕾丝在一起”。对我来说，不管是19世纪的莫斯科还是21世纪的伦敦，似乎这就是对时尚的完美描述。 □