美国国家公共电台 NPR Brides Everywhere Are Saying Yes To The Low-Cut Dress

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

When Meghan Markle marries Prince Harry¹, whatever she wears is guaranteed to cause conversation. But as NPR's Neda Ulaby reports, these days she's not the only one.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE²: When it comes to the bridal bust³ line, the question these days is, how low can you go? Monte Durham works at a fancy wedding dress store in Atlanta called Bridals By Lori.

MONTE DURHAM: How can I say this kind of politely - we have dresses cut to your navel.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SAY YES TO THE DRESS ATLANTA")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Woo.

ULABY: Durham also co-hosts the show "Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta" on TLC. Turn it on, or the original "Say Yes To The Dress" set in New York, and there's constant drama about plunging⁴ matrimonial cleavage.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SAY YES TO THE DRESS ATLANTA")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I don't know if this neckline is going to be kosher with our rabbi.

ULABY: Illusion fabric⁵ does not help.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SAY YES TO THE DRESS ATLANTA")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: You have way too much boob showing.

ULABY: Perhaps unsurprisingly, future mother-in-laws are often the most concerned.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SAY YES TO THE DRESS ATLANTA")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Are you comfortable with the amount of cleavage that shows? I think it's pretty.

ULABY: Brides comfortable with dramatically dipping decolletage, says Monte Durham, are not all on reality television.

DURHAM: Ninety percent of the brides want to try on a revealing gown.

ULABY: His customers may not end up buying one, but that's also because such a gown can cost more than $10,000. Durham mentioned one...

DURHAM: Cut to here. A Lazaro, stunning⁶ gown.

ULABY: And you're pointing to your belly⁷ button.

DURHAM: I am pointing to my belt buckle⁸.

ULABY: This wedding dress trend was influenced by red carpet fashion, says Patricia Arend. She's a sociologist⁹ who studies the wedding industry. Arend says red carpet fashion itself was transformed by a green Versace gown Jennifer Lopez wore to the Grammys back in the year 2000...

PATRICIA AREND: Which plunged¹⁰ all the way to her navel and has actually been credited with the development of the Google image search because so many people wanted to see what that dress looked like after the event.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SAY YES TO THE DRESS ATLANTA")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Damn.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: Oh.

ULABY: The host of "Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta" says more people get married now on beaches and in barns, not in places of worship.

DURHAM: One of our number-one selling dresses at the store is extremely revealing.

ULABY: So Monte Durham cautions brides who buy it to wear a shrug¹¹ at the ceremony. They can shrug it off before the reception.

AREND: Marriage is no longer an event that transitions a person from being a child into adulthood¹².

ULABY: Sociology professor Patricia Arend says, today, women getting married for the first time are on average 27 years old. In 1960, they were 22. And today, more than half of couples getting married lived together first.

AREND: Something like upwards¹³ of 90 percent of women who marry are sexually experienced. And some of them are sexually experienced with other women, right? So the reference of being this innocent person who's going to lose her virginity on her wedding night or something like that and needs to be seen as pure and chaste¹⁴, that is disappearing also.

ULABY: Our next big princess bride, Meghan Markle, is 36. And this is her second marriage. Maybe what we're seeing with these wedding dresses with super-low cleavage, says Arend, are dresses that dismantle¹⁵ the tired, old virgin-whore dichotomy. They prove the girl that a guy went to sleep with and the girl he wants to marry are exactly the same person. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

2 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。

3 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

4 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

6 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

7 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

8 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

9 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

10 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

11 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

12 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

13 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

14 chaste   

adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的

参考例句：

• Comparatively speaking,I like chaste poetry better.相比较而言，我更喜欢朴实无华的诗。
• Tess was a chaste young girl.苔丝是一个善良的少女。

15 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。