双语达人:重塑品牌Chloé的女人

PARIS

巴黎。

A PIN dropped.

一根大头针掉到了地上。

Twenty feet from where the designer Clare Waight Keller was sitting in the offices of Chloé on the Avenue Percier, it slipped from the hands of an assistant as he adjusted the hem of a crisp white popover top, worn by the 16-year-old English model Rosie Tapner, who had the sniffles. You could hear the plink of metal as it struck the painted wood floor.

设计师克莱尔·维特·凯勒(Clare Waight Keller)坐在珀西大街的Chloé办公室，这根大头针是从她的一位助理手中滑落的，掉到了离克莱尔20英尺的地方。当时这位助理正在调整16岁的英国模特罗西·塔普纳(Rosie Tapner)身上穿的挺括、宽松的白色上衣的边缘，而这位模特正在抽鼻子。你能听到大头针撞上涂了漆的木质地板时发出的叮铃声。

It was proverbially quiet in the Chloé showroom, three days before Ms. Waight Keller's spring runway show here, as critical decisions were being made about the hair and makeup, the order the clothes would be shown, whether the colors and proportions were just right. A steady stream of guests came and went. A plastic box of Haribo gummi candies that had been full the day before was half-empty, but the detail that spoke loudest was the lack of noise.

Chloé样品间的安静，人尽皆知；此时距维特·凯勒女士的春装发布会还有3天，她们正在做一些关键性的决定，比如发型和妆容，服装展出的顺序，颜色和比例是否合适。客人们来来往往，川流不息。一塑料盒的哈里波橡皮糖前一天还是满的，第二天就半空了；但这里最显著的细节是没有任何噪音。

In the year since Ms. Waight Keller, formerly the designer of Pringle of Scotland, became the creative director at Chloé, many visitors have noted the remarkable calmness that radiates from her studio. That, and the fact that roughly 80 percent of the hundreds of employees at the company are women, which is a point of pride at a house that has projected an aura of femininity for 60 years.

维特·凯勒之前是苏格兰普林格(Pringle)的设计师，在她就任Chloé的创意总监后的这一年里，很多客人已经注意到了她的工作室散发出来的格外宁静的气氛。该公司的上千名员工中有大概80%是女性，这对于这家60年来散发着女性魅力的品牌来说，是一种骄傲。

Guido Palau, the hairstylist, proposed a loosely tied ponytail, sort of half up and half down, with a deep part inspired by Twiggy. Ms. Waight Keller and her team considered whether it looked modern enough, or cool, or sufficiently effortless. They debated, then asked to see another model. Mr. Palau, in mock exasperation, said, “Oh, my God, how many girls are in this room?”

发型师吉多·帕劳(Guido Palau)提议扎一个松松的马尾，差不多是一半扎起来，一半垂下来，其实这是受到模特崔姬(Twiggy)的启发。维特·凯勒女士和她的团队在考虑这样够不够现代，够不够酷，够不够随意。她们争论了一会儿，然后要求再看一位模特。帕劳先生假装恼怒地说：“哦，我的天哪，这个房间里到底有多少女孩子啊？”

He wasn't being rude. It is a question Ms. Waight Keller has asked herself as she decided how to best approach a label that, for better or worse, has been reduced over the years to terms like "girly" and "flirty," which do not do it justice. It is her job to balance the sweetness with something a little bit cooler and a lot more modern. Though clearly confident, she is prone to questioning her decisions. In moving to Paris, she brought along her husband, an interior architect, and three young children, and so a lot rides on making this a success.

他这样问并非无礼。维特·凯勒也问过自己这个问题——在她决定怎样才能最好地经营这个经过多年的发展被简单地定义为“女孩子气”和“充满风情”的品牌的时候（你不好说这种定义是好是坏，但是这么说不够公平）。让这个品牌不仅甜美，而且还有那么一点酷，有更强的现代感，是她的责任。她虽然非常自信，但还是常常对自己的决定没有把握。搬到巴黎的时候，她把丈夫（一位内部建筑师）和三个年幼的孩子也带来了；所以她成功与否关系重大。

"Is the proportion right? she asked. "Do I like the colors? Is it too sweet?"

“这个比例合适吗？”她会问自己，“我喜欢这些颜色吗？这个是不是太甜美了？”

She was concerned about a white top with frothy sleeves made of a Japanese polyester that in theory should have looked crisp but in fact were beginning to look like the type of collars that keep dogs from scratching themselves.

她在为一件日本涤纶做的白色泡泡袖上衣而忧虑，理论上讲它应该看起来挺括，但实际上它看着有点像是防止小狗抓伤自己的项圈。

Ms. Waight Keller, 42, English-born (though she has lived and traveled extensively), is the ideal image of the Chloé customer. She was raised in dresses and the skirts of school uniforms and has spent much of her adult life rebelling by wearing pants. And she is the type of designer who can make leather pants — like the forest-green ones she was wearing in the showroom, with a cool blue cotton shirt — look as comfortable as pajamas. She keeps her head down and walks with her hands in her pockets.

维特·凯勒今年42岁，出生在英国（不过她在很多国家居住和旅游过）；她是Chloé的顾客的理想形象。她成长的过程中常常穿连衣裙和校服的半身裙，长大以后为了表示叛逆，经常穿长裤。她是那种可以把皮裤设计得看起来像舒服的睡衣的设计师，就像她在样品间穿的那件深绿色的皮裤，搭配一件酷酷的蓝色棉质衬衣。她经常低着头，走路的时候把手插在口袋里。

But with the spring collection, which was shown on Oct. 1 in the Tuileries, Ms. Waight Keller gave herself a challenge by chopping and cropping pieces to unexpected lengths. And she sought to reconnect the label with the more playful elements of its past, including tanks that were styled after basketball jerseys, sequined tuxedo stripes that ended with the point of an arrow, and a floral print that resembled something from Hawaiian surf wear.

在10月1日在杜伊勒里宫举办的春装系列发布会上，维特·凯勒做了一次尝试，把很多单品剪切成各种意想不到的长度。她努力想把这个品牌和它曾经有过的比较调皮的元素再次联系起来，包括模仿篮球运动衫设计的紧身背心，底端是箭头形状的金属亮片条纹装饰，以及夏威夷冲浪服风格的印花。

"You can be too familiar with the look," Ms. Waight Keller said. "You have to push forward. It can be a little bit of a trap to be the consumer."

“你可能太熟悉那个样子了，”维特·凯勒说，“你必须得向前推进。对顾客来说，这可能是个小小的策略。”

The vision of Gaby Aghion, the Egyptian-born daughter of a cigarette manufacturer who founded Chloé and named it after a friend, was not girly. It was to create feminine clothing with less formality and more freedom than what was being shown in postwar couture. The pioneering Ms. Aghion, who is 91 and still attends Chloé shows when she is able, remains a notorious flirt. But she was more likely to describe her own style as "simple" and "classic."

Chloé的创始人盖比·阿格依奥(Gaby Aghion)出生在埃及，父亲是个烟草商；她用一个朋友的名字命名这个品牌，当时她的设想可不是“女孩子气”。她想要不那么正式、比战后的高级服装店的服装更加自由的女性服装。前卫的阿格依奥女士今年91岁，力所能及的时候仍然参加Chloé的发布会，她还是那么充满风情。但是她可能更愿意把自己的风格描述为“简单”、“经典”。

Ms. Aghion once said something that Ms. Waight Keller found inspiring: "I don't explain anything. I lived the life I wanted."

阿格依奥曾经说过一些维特·凯勒认为非常鼓舞人心的话：“我从不做解释。我只是过了我想要的生活。”

"In a way, we have such a recent idea of Chloé," Ms. Waight Keller said, speaking of its growth as a luxury brand, mostly during the decade beginning in 1997, when it was designed with great success by Stella McCartney and Phoebe Philo, producing hit styles and bags like the Paddington.

“从某种意义上讲，Chloé给人的最新印象就是这样的，”维特·凯勒女士这样说；她指的是这个奢侈品牌的发展过程，主要是在1997年之后的10年里，当时的设计师是斯特拉·麦卡特尼(Stella McCartney)和菲比·费罗(Phoebe Philo)，她们成功地设计出了一些风靡一时的时装和手包，比如帕丁顿(Paddington)手袋。

Of course, there was the long association with Karl Lagerfeld, beginning in the '60s, but Chloé has mostly been a house where young designers, like Peter O'Brien, Guy Paulin and Martine Sitbon, were allowed to flourish on their way to becoming stars. Still, there is the sense that the label, which is owned by Richemont, has lost some traction in recent years, with mixed collections by Paulo Melim Andersson and Hannah MacGibbon, the two previous creative directors.

当然，这个品牌长期以来是跟卡尔·拉格菲尔德(Karl Lagerfeld)联系在一起的，这种关系始于上世纪60年代，但是Chloé主要还是让年轻设计师们在这里大展身手，成为大师，比如皮特·奥布莱恩(Peter O'Brien)、盖依·保林(Guy Paulin)和玛蒂娜·希特博恩(Martine Sitbon)。不过，近年来这个品牌（属于历峰集团[Richemont]）在之前的两位创意总监保罗·麦林姆·安德森(Paulo Melim Andersson)和汉娜·麦克吉博恩(Hannah MacGibbon)的引领下，似乎丧失了部分魅力。

"Honestly,” said Daniella Vitale, the chief merchant of Barneys New York, "I think this past show was the most spot-on I have seen in terms of capturing the spirit of the Chloé girl, which had waned in the years before Clare took over.”

“坦白地说，”纽约巴尼斯(Barneys)精品百货公司的采购总监丹尼娜·维塔尔(Daniella Vitale)说，“我觉得这次新发布会最准确地捕捉到了Chloé女孩的精髓，这一点在克莱尔接管之前的那些年里有些衰落了。”

Barneys had not carried the Chloé fashion collection since the '80s, but when the buzz started, "we wanted in," Ms. Vitale said, noting that over the last year the store has expanded its selection to include ready-to-wear and accessories, based on its confidence in Ms. Waight Keller.

巴尼斯精品百货公司从上世纪80年代开始就不再销售Chloé服装系列了，但是在它重现活力的时候，“我们也想加入，”维塔尔女士说；她指出去年这家百货公司扩大了进货范围，包括成衣和配饰，这都是基于对维特·凯勒女士的信心。

"She embodies that Chloé spirit herself," Ms. Vitale said. "She's nice. And you can really talk to her. She's interested in your opinion, and she's not removed at all."

“她本人就体现了Chloé的精神，”维塔尔女士说。“她很温和。你真的可以跟她深入交谈。她对你的观点很感兴趣，一点都不疏远。”

MS. WAIGHT KELLER was not very well known when she was hired at Chloé, but she had impressed the company's chief executive, Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye, when she was at Pringle and he ran the Liberty store in London.

维特·凯勒女士被Chloé聘用的时候，并不是非常出名，但是公司的首席执行官杰弗瑞·德拉波多那耶(Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye)对她印象很好，那时候她在普林格，而他在伦敦经营自由(Liberty)百货公司。

She displayed both creative and managerial maturity, Mr. de la Bourdonnaye said, a combination that is becoming more valuable in fashion as designers are expected to produce more and do more. And she had previously worked at Calvin Klein in New York, where she learned the power of minimalism, and at Gucci during the Tom Ford years, where she learned the importance of meticulous planning. At Gucci, she worked on a team that included Christopher Bailey and Francisco Costa, both of whom have gone on to personify the broader role that designers are taking as brand managers.

德拉波多那耶说，她在创意和管理方面都表现得很成熟，这两种才能的结合在时装界越来越有价值，因为公司都希望设计师们能生产得更多，做得更多。她之前在纽约的凯文·克莱恩(Calvin Klein)工作的时候，领会了简约的力量；在汤姆·福特(Tom Ford)做古驰(Gucci)的创意总监期间她在那里工作，明白了谨慎规划的重要性。在古驰的时候，她所在的小组还包括克里斯托弗·贝利(Christopher Bailey)和弗朗西斯科·考斯特(Francisco Costa)，这两位设计师后来也承担起了品牌经理的部分职责。

In the showroom, there was a life-size mock-up of what the actual runway would look like, with blinding lights to simulate those of a show so Ms. Waight Keller could be certain the colors would read exactly the right way.

在样品间，有一个实物大小的秀台模型，跟真实的秀台一样，灯光炫目，这样维特·凯勒女士能够准确判断颜色出来的效果是否正好。

"Clare is very pragmatic, very determined and she has a very clear vision," Mr. de la Bourdonnaye said. "But she also has a soft and pleasurable way of dealing with the team around her."

“克莱尔非常务实，非常坚定，有非常清晰的愿景，”德拉波多那耶先生说。“但是她跟周围的团队打交道时，又很温和，让人舒服。”

Ms. Aghion had that ability to inspire her designers as well. According to an anecdote in WWD, she was known to address them as "my little kittens."

阿格依奥女士也有那种鼓舞设计师的能力。根据《女装日报》(WWD)上的一则传说，她称呼设计师们为“我的小猫咪们”。

During Paris Fashion Week, there was a sweet moment when Mr. Lagerfeld, who had lost touch with Ms. Aghion after he left Chloé in the '90s, was reunited with her at an exhibition covering the history of the label at the Palais de Tokyo.

在巴黎时装周期间，在东京宫(Palais de Tokyo)展示该品牌历史的展览上，拉格菲尔德先生与阿格依奥女士再次重逢，这一时刻非常温馨，因为自从上世纪90年代离开Chloé，他跟她就失去了联系。

"She's still funny," he said, after posing for photographs.

“她还是很风趣，”在摆好姿势拍照之后他这样说。

The exhibition was meant to remind audiences that Chloé is a French label with a history not unlike those of Dior or Saint Laurent, where the news of two new designers this season overshadowed just about everything else happening in Paris. What struck Judith Clark, the art historian who curated the exhibition, was that after founding the label, Ms. Aghion remained so open to the work of others.

该展览意在提醒观众，Chloé这个法国品牌的历史，与Dior和Saint Laurent一样悠久而辉煌；这一季关于后两家公司的新任设计师的新闻，盖过了巴黎时装周期间发生的所有其他新闻。本次展览的策展人是艺术历史学家朱迪思·克拉克(Judith Clark)；让她感到震撼的是，阿格依奥在创建了这个品牌之后，依然对其他品牌的作品保持包容的态度。

"It's not about a cult of personality," Ms. Clark said.

“这不是个人崇拜，”克拉克女士说。