Is the fashion industry finally waking up to the fact that humans come in all colours Two companies have launched new initiatives with the specific aim of representing a broader range of skin tones. New-York hosiery brand Sheer Chemistry last month released a range of five new tights colours aimed to suit “women of all shades of brown” in conjunction with the hotel W London.
时尚界是不是最终幡然认识到以下事实——人类生来是多肤色的？两家时尚公司已推出定位明确的全新款式：代表更多肤色调人群。纽约针织内衣品牌Sheer Chemistry上月携手W London酒店，推出了五款专门针对“各种棕色皮肤女性”的新色系紧身内衣。According to the company’s founder Tahlia Gray, the hosiery will serve those who have been “confined to a cycle of disappointment and exclusion from the fashion and beauty industry”.
公司创始人塔莉亚格雷(Tahlia Gray)说，紧身内衣的服务对象是那些“长期苦闷失落、一直被排斥在时尚与美容圈外的一小撮人”。This month, London-based hosiery brand Heist Studios launched The Nude Project as part of a broader study on diversity, for which it is asking people to send in photographs of themselves to better understand the full spectrum of skin tones. The submissions will inform a “much larger range of nude tights” that will go on sale next year and the company will share its findings with the industry in the hope it will encourage brands “to open their product ranges and cater to a more ethnically diverse population”.
伦敦内衣品牌Heist Studios不久前则推出了The Nude Project系列，这是深入研究后的一大举措：为此要求客户上传自己的照片，以便全面了解各种肌肤颜色。客户提交的信息表明来年“更多款裸色紧身内衣”将面世，公司会与业界共享相关研究结果，希望以此鼓励业界同行“扩大品类供给、以满足各种肌肤族群体之需求”。
“Despite the fact that the hosiery industry is projected to be worth $25.9bn by 2018, there is no fabric-ready nude palette that body-wear brands like Heist can use to develop inclusive product ranges,” explains Heist founder Edzard van der Wyck. “Hosiery is woefully under-representative. General retailers sell roughly one-third of all tights purchased in the UK and they only offer, on average, four shades of nude. This gives us some indication of how poorly the 13 per cent of the UK population that are not ‘white British’, are currently catered for.”
“尽管到2018年，内衣业销售额预计将达259亿美元，但市场上并无现成裸色调面料供Heist等内衣品牌直接用来打造品类齐全的产品。”Heist创始人范德怀克(Edzard van der Wyck)这样解释道。“内衣在时装界并不受待见。在英国，一般零售店只卖市面上所售全部紧身内衣的三分之一，而且通常只卖4种裸色款。这表明：占英国总人口13%的有色种群的内衣需求差强人意。”Why anyone would require flesh-coloured tights in 2017 is another matter entirely; I had naively assumed the only woman still obligated to wear a garment that gives one’s legs the eerily smooth artificiality of a prosthetic limb was the Duchess of Cambridge. But it transpires a great many people are excited by the prospect of skin-matched hosiery — especially those lawyers and women who work in the finance sector who remain self-conscious about baring their legs at work. Twelve thousand people had signed up to The Nude Project within three hours of its launch, on July 11, and tens of thousands have engaged with it on social media.
2017年为何所有人都青睐肉色紧身内衣则完全是另外一码事；我过去曾天真地以为：唯一仍执拗于腿上穿出那种出奇光滑质感（人造假肢）紧身裤的唯一女性是凯特王妃(Duchess of Cambridge)。但事实表明：无数女性沉醉于与肤色相搭的内衣——尤其是那些律师界以及金融界的俏佳人，她们仍念念不忘于裸露酥腿。7月11日，The Nude Project 推出不到3个小时，就有1.2万人注册成为其会员，还有成千上万的女性已在社交媒体上与其接洽。Like Sheer Chemistry, the people at Heist have identified a blind-spot in the industry (or should that be greige spot). While the Heist researchers generously suggest there typically exist about four to seven skin tones in “garments worn next to the skin”, a cursory examination of nudes on the high street reflects a more limited palette. Try and find a flesh-coloured knicker, for example.
与Sheer Chemistry一样，Heist的设计人员也找到了内衣界的一大盲区（抑或说那是米灰色区域）。尽管Heist设计人员信心满满地暗示市面上通常有4至7种裸色调 “贴身内衣”发售，但对商业街区店铺所售裸色款式粗粗了解后，发现裸色调内衣寥寥无几。比方说，找一款肉色女裤就费尽周折。Marks and Spencer’s nude underwear extends only to white, black and a beige, which might otherwise be described as “pan stick”. Topshop’s versions come in a very peachy shade of rose which, while they might suit most skin types, would only really match an unprotected white skin after a few too many hours in the sun. Hanro, the Swiss lingerie brand beloved for its contour fit and cashmere comfort, does offer a selection of six shades — from “powder” through “mocha” to “mahogany” — but many may balk at the prospect of paying about ￡15 for a single pair of undercrackers. In most instances, the choices are scant: no wonder niche lingerie lines such as the London-based Nubian Skin, launched in 2014 by Ade Hassan “to provide the essential underwear needs of women of colour”, are cleaning up.
玛莎百货(Marks and Spencer)所售裸色内衣只有白色、黑色以及米黄色（也可昵称为“粉底棒”）。Topshop推出的则是粉红色调中的桃红色款式，尽管它能满足多数肤色消费者需要，但桃红色内衣在烈日下穿上几小时后，实际上只适合无保护的白色肌肤。瑞士贴身内衣品牌Hanro因异常合体与舒适而深受女性消费者青睐，它也推出了六种色调的内衣——从“粉末色”到“摩卡咖啡色”再到“赤褐色”——但很多人想到，买件小小的短裤就得花15英镑可能会打退堂鼓。多数情况下，消费者的选择余地很小：难怪，旨在“满足有色种群女性内衣需求”的小众内衣品牌（如艾德哈桑(Ade Hassan)2014年在伦敦推出的Nubian Skin）都赚翻了。But why wouldn’t brands want to serve more people with its products The imperative of diversity aside, it simply makes good business sense. (I am reminded of a recent article in the Financial Times, in which Ozohu Adoh, founder of the Epara skincare line for women of colour, was forced to point out to her financiers, sceptical of the “minority market” she intended to serve, that “Nigerian women spend more money in Harrods than women of any other country — one out of every three pounds in 2015”. The beauty industry is way ahead on diversity (Bobbi Brown offers 31 shades of foundation while MAC foundations come in 46 variations), but even fashion brands must now realise that colour blindness is as economically backward as it is bigoted.
但是，为何各大品牌不愿推出满足更多肤色人群的产品？先不提必要性，产品多样化还能让公司赚大钱。（这不由让我想起《金融时报》近日一篇文章，有色人种女性专用护肤品牌Epara创始人Ozohu Adoh不得不向出资方解释“尼日利亚女性消费者在伦敦哈罗德百货店(Harrods)出手阔绰、冠绝全球——2015年占到了哈罗德百货公司三分之一的营业额”，因为出资方对Ozohu Adoh专门的销售对象——“少数有色人种女性群体”的购买力心存疑虑。美容行业在产品多样化方面则已遥遥领先（Bobbi Brown推出了13种色调的粉底，而MAC推出的粉底颜色多达46种），但即便时尚品牌如今也必须明白：对多色调产品前景置若罔闻既与时代格格不入，而且会在销售上大大落伍。Niche brands serving the needs of men and women of colour are now fast emerging. But it’s especially cheering when a global fashion brand decides to offer a broader product range as part of its main line. When Christian Louboutin first introduced his Nudes Collection of classic shoes in 2013, he offered them in five shades, which he increased to seven last year. So successful has it been, that this year he introduced two new styles: the ballet-inspired Christeriva and the chunkier Cherrysandal.
满足有色人种需求的各种小众品牌如今层出不穷。但国际时尚品牌下决心在主系列中推出（满足有色人种）的多样化产品则尤为振奋人心。法国设计师克里斯蒂安娄伯丁(Christian Louboutin)2013年首次推出经典款式的裸色鞋时，总共推了五种色调，去年他将色调增至七种。由于推出后大受市场追捧，今年他又推出了两种新款式高跟凉鞋：设计灵感源于芭蕾的Christeriva以及更为厚实的Cherrysandal。
“Nude is not a colour, it’s a concept,” says the French designer. He has been quicker than most to recognise that not all fashion clients are fair-skinned aristocrats. And all power to him.
“裸色并不仅仅是颜色，而是一种全新理念。”克里斯蒂安娄伯丁说。相比多数设计师，他总是稍胜一筹，能敏锐意识到并非所有时尚拥趸都是肤色白皙的大腕。 好好干，克里斯蒂安娄伯丁！Having shared an image of my phizog with The Nude Project, I eagerly await the spectrum of colours that will more accurately reflect my own skin colour when I shop for sheers next spring. I just hope that among all the coppers, mochas, Kardashians and cappuccinos they’ll be some consideration for us poor specimens better suited to shades such as ashen, pallid or “a little bit blue looking”.
把自己一张脸蛋照上传至The Nude Project后，我就焦急地等待适合自己的几款色调：精准反映自己的肌肤，以便明年开春买进理想的裸色装。我只是希望：在所有红棕色、摩卡咖啡色、卡戴珊姐妹心仪的色调以及深褐色调中，能有我们这群人适合的灰白、苍白或是“淡淡的忧郁”之类的色调。