奧巴馬夫人穿花裙子有錯嗎？

For Michelle Obama, Girlie Clothes That Lean In

I admit: I was startled last week when I saw the first photos of Michelle Obama debarking in Japan at the beginning of her five-day Asian tour to promote the 「Let Girls Learn」 education campaign.

上周，米歇爾·奧巴馬(Michelle Obama)到達日本，開始為期五天的亞洲之行，推廣「讓女孩學習」(Let Girls Learn)教育計劃。我承認：看到她到日本的第一波照片時，我驚呆了。

Not because I don』t think it』s a terrific initiative; I do. I have two daughters, and think the more that can be done to make girls feel empowered by their academic experiences, the better.

不是因為我覺得這個計劃不好，我覺得它好極了。我有兩個女兒，在讓女孩通過學習獲得力量方面，我認為做得越多越好。

And not because I don』t think the first lady should be emphasizing the partnership with Japan and Cambodia. The visits are laudable.

也不是因為我認為第一夫人不應該加強與日本和柬埔寨的合作。我認為她的訪問值得稱讚。

But because of her dress: a citrine-colored, small-waisted, full-skirted print Kenzo. The dress, on first glance, telegraphed a very 1950s femininity. It seemed like such a nonpower choice in which to deliver a message about empowerment that it took me aback — even on vacation, surfing the news in a desultory fashion.

是因為她的裙子：高田賢三(Kenzo)的檸檬黃收腰寬擺印花連衣裙。乍看上去，這條裙子傳達出濃重的20世紀50年代女性氣質。她選擇這樣一條沒有力量的裙子去傳遞關於獲取權力的信息，儘管當時我正在度假，只是隨便看看新聞而已，這張圖片還是讓我驚呆了。

Especially because the Kenzo dress was followed by a bright orange-red Altuzarra blazer and skirt, bedecked in blooms; which was followed by a stylized leaf print Dries Van Noten coat over a striped T-shirt and black pants; which was followed by a carnation-print Carolina Herrera frock; which was followed by an even brighter geometric Alice & Olivia shell and matching skirt; which was followed by a v-neck, silky, swirling-skirted, color block Roksanda Ilincic dress — the last image of Mrs O. before she boarded her plane home.

更有甚者，在高田賢三連衣裙之後，她又穿了鮮艷的橙紅色奧圖扎拉(Altuzarra)上衣和半身裙，上面印著盛開鮮花的圖案；之後是德賴斯·范諾頓(Dries Van Noten)的藝術化葉子圖案印花外衣，裡面是條紋T恤和黑褲子；之後是卡羅琳娜·海萊娜(Carolina Herrera)康乃馨印花連衣裙；之後是更為鮮艷的愛麗絲&奧利維亞(Alice & Olivia)幾何圖案套裙；她登機回國前的最後一個造型是羅克桑達·伊林契奇(Roksanda Ilincic)V領絲質寬擺色塊連衣裙。

However much you may want to dismiss sartorial stereotype, it』s inarguable that such styles spark an almost Pavlovian response in the lizard brain: They bring to mind the decades when gender roles were codified and distinct, when women』s sphere was the home, and their game plan didn』t necessarily included higher education.

不管你多不願理會服裝款式給人留下的刻板印象，無庸爭辯，她這些造型就算在蜥蜴的頭腦中也會喚起條件反射般的反應。它們讓人想起性別角色嚴格鮮明的年代，女人的活動空間就在家裡，她們的人生計劃中不一定包括高等教育。

As a woman, and one who spends a lot of time thinking about the messages women』s clothes send about their identity, I found the apparent clothes/context disjunction to be jarring. Even for a first lady who is known for her affection for a print and a dress, even in countries where color and nature are celebrated.

我是一個女人，同時也花很多時間思考女性著裝所傳達的身份信息，我覺得奧巴馬夫人的服裝與環境的不協調非常刺眼——即便第一夫人以偏愛印花和連衣裙聞名，即便是在那些熱愛色彩和自然的國家。

Shouldn』t she have worn a sharp-shouldered suit to talk about achievement? What about a red sheath dress, as often favored by Sheryl (「Lean In」) Sandberg? As long as we are embracing fashion clichés, wouldn』t those be more appropriate?

她難道不應該穿著肩部筆挺的西服去討論如何達成目標嗎？或者穿上《向前一步》(Lean In)的作者，謝莉爾·桑德伯格(Sheryl Sandberg)常穿的紅色緊身連衣裙？既然我們都理解時裝中的那些陳規，那麼那些衣服難道不是更合適嗎？

Which was when I began to wonder if there wasn』t, perhaps, something else going on. And I don』t mean the 「she wears what she wants」 piffle.

這時，我開始想，也許還有其他原因。我指的不是「她只是穿她想穿的衣服」這樣的廢話。

After all, given that pretty much every image disseminated during the five days of the Asia visit was captioned 「Mrs. Obama on her 『Let Girls Learn』 trip」 (or some variation thereon), the association between what the first lady was wearing and what she was there to discuss was unavoidable. Especially because she was the first sitting first lady to visit Cambodia; especially because there was no other through line; no other linking factor between the garments.

畢竟，在這五天的亞洲訪問中，幾乎每張照片都配以「奧巴馬夫人的『讓女孩學習』之行」之類的圖注，所以人們難免會討論第一夫人的著裝與她的議題之間的聯繫。尤其是，她是首位訪問柬埔寨的在任美國第一夫人；這些服裝沒有其他貫徹始終的主題；它們之間沒有其他聯繫。

They were not all by female designers, for example, as may have been expected on a trip conceived to promote female achievement and the places sticking with school can get you.

例如，它們並非都出自女設計師之手。要知道，她的亞洲之行意在倡導女性成就，提倡接受教育能讓女人得到更多東西，所以人們難免會有這樣的期望。

They were not all by American designers, as has been traditional for American first ladies before Mrs. Obama, who saw their role as promoting local industry.

它們並非都出自美國設計師之手，這是奧巴馬夫人之前的美國第一夫人的傳統做法，她們把推廣美國本地品牌視為己任。

And they were not by Asian designers, an occasional form of sartorial diplomacy employed by traveling politicians trying to make nice with the countries they visit. Nor were they all already seen, shopped-her-closet numbers. What they were (full skirts, belts, neat tops and all) was mostly — well, girlie.

它們也並非都出自亞洲設計師之手。政治家們想與訪問國交好時，偶爾會採取這種服裝外交策略。它們也不是奧巴馬夫人之前穿過的衣服。這些寬擺裙、腰帶、小巧精緻的上衣大都是，呃，都是少女風格。

Very. Almost 「Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt」 girlie. You know, the Tina Fey-produced Netflix series that is having a fashion moment because of its unironic embrace of bright colors and … well, girlie clothes.

強烈的少女風格。幾乎是《我本堅強》(Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)里的那種少女風格。《我本堅強》是蒂娜·菲(Tina Fey)製作的Netflix電視劇，因其對鮮艷色彩和少女風格服裝不帶諷刺的鐘愛，如今已成為一股時尚潮流。

Which may actually have been the point.

這可能是真正的原因所在。

We live in the era of the Merkelization of female political dress, which has seen women like Ms. Merkel, the German chancellor, and Hillary Rodham Clinton adopt what is effectively the male uniform in softer, brighter colors to remove the topic from the conversation. (It』s a pantsuit. It』s a beige/orange/teal pantsuit. Enough said.) Another way to explain the strategy is 「bore them into talking about the issues.」

我們生活在一個女性政治服裝默克爾化的時代。德國總理默克爾(Merkel)和希拉里·羅德姆·柯林頓(Hillary Rodham Clinton)等女人選擇穿著顏色更柔和、鮮艷的男性化服裝，避免讓服裝成為一個話題（她穿的是褲套裝。米黃色/橙色/藍綠色褲套裝。不用多說了）。這種策略的另一個用意在於「讓他們覺得無趣，所以只能談正事」。

There』s nothing wrong with it (men do it, too), and it prevents a situation like the one that arose a few years ago when the French housing minister Cécile Duflot wore a floral dress to speak in Parliament, and was met by catcalls and whistles, which then spawned a whole debate about her dress and the reaction to her dress, and entirely overshadowed whatever it was they had been debating at the time. But what does it say about the visual identity of role models?

這樣做沒什麼錯（男人們也這麼做），它能避免下面這種情況：幾年前，法國住房部長塞茜爾·迪弗洛(Cécile Duflot)身穿印花連衣裙在議會上講話，觀眾以噓聲和口哨回應，隨後出現了關於她的連衣裙以及對她連衣裙反應的大討論，完全蓋過了當時他們辯論的任何議題。但是關於榜樣人物的視覺形象，人們是怎麼說的來著？

In choosing to meet young women in clothes that, perhaps, make her look like them — or how they may want to look if they didn』t have to wear school uniforms — Mrs. Obama was implying: You can dress like a girl and dream about getting a Ph.D. (or a law degree, if we are being picayune), too.

奧巴馬夫人在與年輕女孩見面時，選擇身穿跟她們相似的服裝——或者她們不用穿校服時可能想穿的服裝——這樣或許是為了表明：你可以穿得像個女孩，同時夢想獲得博士學位（或者狹隘地說，法律學位）。

As one San Francisco blog wrote about the 「Kimmy Schmidt」 fashions: 「By putting Kimmy in florals and bright colors, the stylists for 『Unbreakable』 prove that feminine outfits can represent strength as much as they represents whimsicality. Home girl may be wearing flowers but you know she can kick butt.」

就像舊金山的一個博客對《我本堅強》的時裝風格做出的評價：「《我本堅強》的造型師們讓基米(Kimmy)穿上印花服裝或者色彩鮮艷的服裝，是想證明，女性化的服裝既能體現隨心所欲，也能體現力量。居家女孩也許穿著印花服裝，但是你知道她們也很強悍」。

How do you erase a stereotype? You confront it, and force others to confront their own preconceptions about it, and then you own it. And in doing so you denude it of its power.

如何擺脫刻板印象？辦法就是面對它，迫使其他人直面自己對此的看法，然後你就掌握了主動權。這樣它就沒意義了。

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