紀梵希傳奇 | 紐約客

The Fashion Legacy of Hubert de Givenchy, 「Creator of Personality」

In April of 1952, at the age of twenty-five, Hubert de Givenchy arrived at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, in New York, with eight elaborate couture gowns. He was making his American début at the first annual April in Paris Ball, a high-society spectacle that was meant to strengthen Franco-American relations through the power of good old-fashioned beau-monde hedonism.

1952年4月，25歲的于貝爾·德·紀梵希來到紐約華爾道夫·阿斯托利亞飯店，展示八套精緻的定製禮服。他的美國首秀選擇了每年一度的「巴黎廳四月」，當年是第一屆。這一上流社會聚會旨在通過展現老式上流社會的享樂來加強法美關係。

The event featured, among other attractions, zoo animals rented from the Ringling Brothers circus; a living tableau in which Sir Laurence Olivier and Rex Harrison played Fran?ois I and Henry VIII; a gift of fine French perfume for the women and neckties made in Lyon for the men; and a cavernous ballroom transformed to resemble the gardens at Versailles. And yet the most memorable impression of the night was, perhaps, the one left behind by the six-foot-five wunderkind couturier.

活動精彩紛呈，從林林兄弟馬戲團租借來了圈養動物，勞倫斯·奧利弗和雷克斯·哈里森分別扮演弗朗索瓦一世和亨利八世進行現場表演，女士會得到高級法國香水，男士則得到里昂產領帶，還有巨大舞池改造而成的凡爾賽花園。那晚最讓人記憶深刻的可能是那位6英尺5英寸高的女裝設計新秀。

During the fashion-show portion of the evening, the crowd cooed over Givenchy』s meticulously embroidered boleros and a starched white peplum cape that looked like stiff meringue.

當晚時裝秀上，人們對紀梵希細心綉制的波萊羅女衫和像打發蛋白霜一樣筆挺的過漿白褶披肩讚不絕口。

Givenchy, who died on March 10th, at the age of ninety-one, was born in Beauvais, France, the grandson of a tapestry-maker, and blazed through teen-age apprenticeships at the houses of Jacques Fath, Robert Piguet, and Elsa Schiaparelli before striking out on his own, in February of 1952.

3月10日，紀梵希辭世，享年91歲。他生於法國博韋，祖父是織錦掛毯製造商。1952年2月自立門戶前，他在傑奎斯·菲斯、羅伯特·皮埃特和艾爾薩·夏帕瑞麗門下學徒。

His vision was clear from the beginning: he was determined to give women in the postwar era more plentiful options by designing 「separates」—couture tops and bottoms that could be mixed and matched at will. The idea for a two-piece ball gown was, at the time, quite the innovation. 「By giving her the opportunity to make changes in her costume,」 one fashion reporter for the Times gushed after meeting Givenchy, in 1952, 「the designer feels that he is offering his client the pleasure of feeling herself a bit of a creator of her own style.」

打一開始，他就目標鮮明，決心通過設計「單件裝」，給戰後女性更多選擇——高級上裝和下裝，可自行混搭。兩件套的舞會套裝，這一靈感在當時算得上大膽創新。「通過給她們服飾變化的選擇，」《時代》雜誌的時尚記者在1952年採訪紀梵希後稱讚道：「設計師覺得他正在給顧客一種愉悅的感覺：打造自我風格。」

Still, in the summer of 1953, when the woman who would become his most important client first walked into his atelier in Paris, neither was yet a household name. As the well-worn anecdote goes, when Givenchy heard that a movie actress with the surname Hepburn was due to pay him a visit, he assumed that he would be meeting Katharine, and was confused when a woman appeared at his door 「with doe eyes and short hair and wearing a pair of narrow pants, a little T-shirt, slippers, and a gondolier』s hat with a red ribbon that said Venezia.」

1953年夏天，一位女士頭一回走進他位於巴黎的工作室時，兩位都還默默無名，她將來要成為他最重要的客戶。正如老套的故事，紀梵希聽到一個叫做赫本的女演員要來拜訪時，他以為自己要見的是卡瑟琳·赫本，所以當這位赫本站在門口時，他大惑不解，「一雙小鹿般的眸子，短髮，瘦腿兒褲，小T恤，拖鞋，系著紅絲帶的威尼斯船夫帽，絲帶上寫著威尼斯。」

It was the twenty-four-year-old Audrey Hepburn, fresh off the filming of 「Roman Holiday.」 She had come to Paris, at the urging of the director Billy Wilder, to purchase authentic French clothing for 「Sabrina.」 Givenchy was charmed by her, but he was in the throes of preparations for his fall presentation, so he told her that he had absolutely no time to create anything new for her to wear.

這是24歲的奧黛麗·赫本，剛拍完《羅馬假日》。她來到巴黎，按導演比利·懷爾德的要求，為「薩布麗娜」選購地道的法式服裝。紀梵希被她深深傾倒，但他正忙於準備自己的秋季大秀，所以他告訴赫本，自己完全沒有時間為她設計全新的服飾。

Hepburn begged to try on the existing sample garments that were hanging around from a previous season, and, in a mid-century spin on 「Cinderella,」 every seam fit the slender actress perfectly. Givenchy was so delighted to see this giddy actress bouncing around in a black cocktail dress, his signature boxy neckline flattering her clavicle, that he dropped his work that evening to take her out to a bistro.

赫本就請求試穿那些架子上前幾季現成樣品。她像灰姑娘一樣轉了個圈，每一針每一線都完美合身。看著這為令人怦然心動的女演員穿著黑色雞尾酒舞會裙活潑踱步，紀梵希標誌性的四方領口托著她的鎖骨，紀梵希喜出望外，那晚他放下手頭的工作帶她去了一家小酒館。

For the next four decades, Hepburn wore Givenchy with near-religious devotion. Most famously, she wore a Givenchy gown as she stood idly munching on a pastry outside the Tiffany windows as Holly Golightly, a scene that stopped traffic on Fifth Avenue as it was being filmed.

此後四十年，赫本虔誠地穿著紀梵希的服飾。最著名的是她扮演郝利·戈萊特利時，穿著紀梵希的裙裝，慵懶地站在蒂凡尼櫥窗前嚼著麵包。拍攝這一場景時，第五大道的交通都停滯了。

Many designers have a muse, but the Hepburn-Givenchy relationship was something more entwined and symbiotic. The actress often called the designer just to talk, and she told reporters that he was a 「psychiatrist」 as well as a dressmaker.

很多設計師都有一位繆斯，但赫本和紀梵希的關係要算一種共生共棲。這位女演員經常叫上設計師去散步，她還告訴記者，他既是精神科醫生也是服裝設計師。

In Hepburn, Givenchy found an ideal emissary for his theory of separates; she became known as a jaunty pip in his clothes because she could move in them. Givenchy』s legacy is the notion of 「personal style,」 a concept we now take for granted, but one that was not baked into fashion in the same way before Hepburn and the little black dress that helped make her a star. 「He is far more than a couturier,」 Hepburn said of Givenchy. 「He is a creator of personality.」

紀梵希發現赫本是單件服裝理論的理想代言人。赫本穿著他設計的衣服，被比作快活的果仁，因為她活動自如。紀梵希的遺產就是「個人風格」，這種概念我們現在習以為常，但在赫本和小黑裙讓她成為明星前，這一理念還不算時尚。「他遠不只是一位服裝設計師。」赫本這麼評價紀梵希，「他是個性的塑造者。」

Givenchy was as avid a businessman as he was a designer. In witnessing Hepburn』s rise firsthand, he saw the limitless potential of brand recognition. In the seventies, he launched a menswear line, officially licensed his name, and became one of the first designers to put his brand on more than just clothing—Givenchy silverware, china, hotel draperies all eventually became available.

紀梵希既是熱情的設計師也是貪婪的商人。看著赫本步步高升，他也看到了品牌認知度的無限潛力。上世紀七十年代，他啟動了男裝流水線，正式以自己的名字為品牌命名，也成為首批以自己名字命名除服裝外其他商品的設計師。紀梵希銀器、瓷器、酒店織物等相繼問世。

The name 「Givenchy」 became shorthand for bubbly, au-courant French chic with a dash of Old World sophistication. After Givenchy』s retirement from designing, in 1995, the house (which he sold to LVMH, in 1988) became a breeding ground for young, avant-garde designers launching their careers—John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Julien Macdonald, and then, for twelve years, Riccardo Tisci, who rebranded the house with ornately gothic gowns in delicate oxblood and putty-colored gauze. (It is said that Tisci was the only person who did not mention Hepburn in his interview, and this radical omission clinched his job.)

「紀梵希」這個名字代表了活潑和與時俱進的法式時髦，又不乏一點舊世界的精緻。1995年，紀梵希從設計界退休後，這一時尚王國（1988年賣給了路易威登）成為年輕的先鋒設計師開啟事業的孵化器，如約翰·加里阿諾、亞歷山大·麥昆、朱利安·麥克唐納德。此後二十年中，里卡多·提西用精緻的深紅色哥特式華服和淺灰色薄紗重新定義了這個房間。（據說提西是唯一在採訪中不提赫本的人，這種激進的疏忽讓他牢牢抓住了職位。）

Tisci left Givenchy in 2017, and now the house has its first woman at the helm, Clare Waight Keller, a British whiz kid who, in the mold of the house』s namesake, had done stints at Calvin Klein, Gucci, Pringle of Scotland, and Chloé by the age of forty-one.

提西2017年離開紀梵希，現在這個時尚王國迎來了第一位女性掌舵者。克萊爾·維特·凱勒是英國後起之秀，41歲時就曾在卡文·克萊、古馳、普林格爾蘇格蘭和蔻依干過。

In October, Keller presented her first collection, after an hour-long meeting with the ninety-year-old Givenchy. She told the press that she had pored over his early sketches and found that he designed from the shoulder down, so she had done the same.

十月，凱勒在和90歲的紀梵希會面一小時後，展示了她的第一季服裝。她告訴記者，自己研究了紀梵希早期的草圖，發現他是從肩部以下開始設計的，所以她也這麼做了。

What emerged was a collection that returned to items with square, sleek silhouettes—many of them separates—in winking homage to Givenchy』s early work. Keller showed a navy double-breasted dress, a black-and-white evening gown paired with cowboy boots, and a fluttery cocktail dress the color of Red Hots with a neckline similar to the one Hepburn wore in 「Breakfast at Tiffany』s.」

她的設計回歸到有稜有角、造型優美的輪廓造型，很多都是單件，向紀梵希的早期作品致意。凱勒拿出了對襟海軍裙、黑白晚禮服搭配牛仔靴及蓬蓬的鮮紅色雞尾酒會禮服，領圈與赫本在《蒂凡尼早餐》的著裝相似。

This sleek but youthful collection débuted at the Palais de Justice, a grandiose building in the center of Paris, where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned while awaiting her execution. It had never been used for a fashion show before, but, as in the case of the April in Paris Ball, the house of Givenchy has never shied away from spectacle. The elder designer did not attend the show, but Keller said later that she felt she had his blessing.

這個系列造型優雅卻青春洋溢，在巴黎市中心宏偉的司法宮首次亮相，瑪麗·安托瓦內特（路易十六皇后）在等待處決前被囚禁於此。以前這裡從未用於舉辦時裝秀，但正如在「巴黎廳四月」一樣，紀梵希帝國從不畏大場面。雖然年邁的設計師紀梵希沒有出席，但凱勒後來說，她感覺自己得到了他的祝福。