美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Reigning Men' Traces 300 Years Of Men's Fashion At LACMA

'Reigning¹ Men' Traces 300 Years Of Men's Fashion At LACMA

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Most museum exhibits about the history of fashion featured gowns and other women's attire², but the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has an exhibit that turns the runway lights on men's fashion - 300 years of britches, trousers and waistcoats. It's called Reigning Men. Yes, R-E-I-G-N-I-N-G. Matt Guilhem of member station KVCR went to check it out.

MATT GUILHEM, BYLINE³: Right by the entrance to the exhibition stands a mannequin wearing a suit by Ozwald Boateng. He's a Londoner born to Ghanaian parents and the first high-profile black tailor on London's Savile Row, the small street famed for centuries for its made-to-measure clothing.

OZWALD BOATENG: It's great when you can seamlessly combine two historical cultures together without basically interfering⁴ with either culture. That's what I find really, really interesting.

GUILHEM: Boateng's suit reflects his cross-cultural heritage, but only if you look really closely. There's an intricate circular pattern woven throughout the purple tweed of the coat and dark slacks.

BOATENG: The design that I've used on the cuff⁵ - there's a fabrication in Ghana particularly across West Africa where we do these prints, and these women wear these amazing colored fabrication prints. And I basically have taken the two worlds and combined them.

GUILHEM: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA, as it's known, commissioned the suit specifically for this exhibition.

CLARISSA ESGUERRA: It's subtle. I think it really speaks to the original use of the term dandyism to have a restrained, refined elegance⁶, but yet making a statement of bringing these two worlds together in a very global world.

GUILHEM: Clarissa Esguerra is one of the show's three co-curators. While Boateng's suit reflects today's style with its slim cut, Esguerra says it draws on something much older.

ESGUERRA: The jacket that Ozwald Boateng is wearing - the sack jacket - our earliest example of that is actually a shooting jacket from 1840.

GUILHEM: The path from shooting jacket to formal wear is simple, says Esguerra. It was comfortable.

And Boateng's trousers, too, go back a long way to the working-class men of 18th century France known as sans-culottes.

ESGUERRA: Which literally⁷ means without breeches.

GUILHEM: We've moved to a mannequin wearing one of the rarer outfits⁸ in the show. It dates to the 1790s. He's wearing a red cap, cropped blue jacket and most importantly...

ESGUERRA: He's wearing trousers. I mean, if you look at the men that represent the 18th century before him, they're all wearing breeches which were so symbolic⁹ of aristocracy, of wealth and for a man to wear these trousers as a statement for a revolution is pretty profound.

GUILHEM: The sans-culottes became the revolutionaries who overthrew¹⁰ the French monarchy¹¹.

ESGUERRA: You know, many fashion historians have point to this era as a period where fashion in menswear really drastically changed and altered its course from the ostentatious dress of the 18th century with the silks and embroidery¹² to the kind of somber¹³ suits of the Victorian era.

GUILHEM: Whether it's a top hat and tails from the 1930s or a banyan¹⁴ robe inspired by the Far East that European gentlemen wore at home in the 1700s, the items tell a story of evolving tastes shaped by a changing world. It's easy to forget these aren't costumes, but garments real people wore in their daily lives. Ozwald Boateng says the best ones share a common trait no matter the era or culture.

BOATENG: A really good suit is about the cut and it's also about the experience of the wearer in the suit. The suit is an enhancer of the wearer's personality.

GUILHEM: Clothes don't make the man, says the man who makes the clothes. For NPR News, I'm Matt Guilhem in Los Angeles.

1 reigning   

adj.统治的，起支配作用的

参考例句：

• The sky was dark, stars were twinkling high above, night was reigning, and everything was sunk in silken silence. 天很黑，星很繁，夜阑人静。
• Led by Huang Chao, they brought down the reigning house after 300 years' rule. 在黄巢的带领下，他们推翻了统治了三百年的王朝。

2 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

5 cuff   

n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口

参考例句：

• She hoped they wouldn't cuff her hands behind her back.她希望他们不要把她反铐起来。
• Would you please draw together the snag in my cuff?请你把我袖口上的裂口缝上好吗？

6 elegance   

n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙

参考例句：

• The furnishings in the room imparted an air of elegance.这个房间的家具带给这房间一种优雅的气氛。
• John has been known for his sartorial elegance.约翰因为衣着讲究而出名。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

9 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

10 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

11 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

12 embroidery   

n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品

参考例句：

• This exquisite embroidery won people's great admiration.这件精美的绣品，使人惊叹不已。
• This is Jane's first attempt at embroidery.这是简第一次试着绣花。

13 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

14 banyan   

n.菩提树，榕树

参考例句：

• This huge banyan tree has a history of more than 400 years.这棵大榕树已经有四百多年的历史了。
• A large banyan tree may look like a forest.大型的榕树看起来象一片树林。