How fashion helps us express who we are -- and what we stand for | Kaustav Dey

Prevoditelj: Snjezana Markus Recezent: Sanda L

I was around 10 when one day,

Imao sam oko deset godina kada sam jednog dana

I discovered a box of my father's old things.

pronašao kutiju s očevim starim stvarima.

In it, under a bunch of his college textbooks,

U njoj su se, ispod hrpe studentskih knjiga,

was a pair of black corduroy bell-bottom pants.

našle i jedne crne trapez hlače od samta.

These pants were awful --

Hlače su bile grozne,

musty and moth-eaten.

ustajale i izjedene moljcima.

And of course, I fell in love with them.

Naravno, zaljubio sam se u njih.

I'd never seen anything like them.

Nikada nisam vidio ništa poput njih.

Until that day,

Do tog dana,

all I'd ever known and worn was my school uniform,

jedino za što sam znao i nosio bila je moja školska odora,

which, in fact, I was pretty grateful for,

na kojoj sam, zapravo, bio jako zahvalan,

because from quite a young age,

budući da sam od malih nogu

I'd realized I was somewhat different.

shvaćao da sam nekako drugačiji.

I'd never been one of the boys my age;

Nikada nisam bio poput dječaka mog uzrasta,

terrible at sports,

bio sam grozan u sportu,

possibly the unmanliest little boy ever.

vjerojatno najmanje muževan dječak ikada.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

I was bullied quite a bit.

Dosta su me maltretirali.

And so, I figured that to survive I would be invisible,

Stoga sam shvatio, da bih preživio, trebao sam biti nevidljiv,

and the uniform helped me

a odora mi je pomogla

to seem no different from any other child.

da se ne razlikujem od druge djece.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Well, almost.

Pa, gotovo da je bilo tako.

This became my daily prayer:

Svakodnevno sam se molio:

"God, please make me just like everybody else."

"Bože, učini da budem kao i svi ostali."

I think this went straight to God's voicemail, though.

Mislim da je molitva otišla ravno u božju govornu poštu.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And eventually, it became pretty clear

S vremenom je postalo jasno

that I was not growing up to be the son that my father always wanted.

da neću biti sin kakvog je moj otac oduvijek želio.

Sorry, Dad.

Oprosti, tata.

No, I was not going to magically change.

Bio sam svjestan da me nikakva čarolija neće promijeniti.

And over time, I grew less and less sure that I actually wanted to.

S vremenom sam se sve manje htio mijenjati.

Therefore, the day those black corduroy bell-bottom pants came into my life,

Kada su crne trapezice od samta ušle u moj život,

something happened.

nešto se dogodilo.

I didn't see pants;

Nisam vidio hlače.

I saw opportunity.

Vidio sam priliku.

The very next day, I had to wear them to school,

Već sam ih sljedećeg dana htio odjenuti za školu,

come what may.

kud puklo da puklo.

And once I pulled on those god-awful pants and belted them tight,

Kada sam navukao te užasne hlače i stisnuo remen,

almost instantly, I developed what can only be called a swagger.

gotovo sam se isti tren počeo praviti važan.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

All the way to school,

Na putu do škole i natrag,

and then all the way back because I was sent home at once --

budući da su me odmah poslali kući.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

I transformed into a little brown rock star.

Preobrazio sam se u malu smeđu rock zvijezdu.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

I finally didn't care anymore that I could not conform.

Konačno mi više nije bilo bitno što sam drugačiji.

That day, I was suddenly celebrating it.

Tog sam dana odjednom to slavio.

That day, instead of being invisible,

Tog dana, umjesto neprimjetan,

I chose to be looked at,

odabrao sam biti uočljiv

just by wearing something different.

jednostavnim nošenjem nečeg drugačijeg.

That day, I discovered the power of what we wear.

Tog sam dana otkrio moć onoga što nosimo.

That day, I discovered the power of fashion,

Otkrio sam moć mode

and I've been in love with it ever since.

i zaljubio se u nju.

Fashion can communicate our differences to the world for us.

Moda svijetu može prenijeti naše različitosti, umjesto nas.

And with this simple act of truth,

I uz ovaj jednostavan čin iskrenosti,

I realized that these differences --

shvatio sam da su te različitosti

they stopped being our shame.

prestale biti naša sramota.

They became our expressions,

Postale su naš izričaj,

expressions of our very unique identities.

odraz naših jedinstvenih identiteta.

And we should express ourselves,

Trebamo se izražavati,

wear what we want.

nositi što želimo.

What's the worst that could happen?

Što je najgore što se može dogoditi?

The fashion police are going to get you for being so last season?

Uhvatit će vas modna policija jer nosite prošlogodišnju kolekciju?

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Yeah.

Da.

Well, unless the fashion police meant something entirely different.

Osim ako modna policija ne predstavlja nešto sasvim drugo.

Nobel Prize laureate Malala survived Taliban extremists

Malala, dobitnica Nobelove nagrade, preživjela je talibanske ekstremiste

in October 2012.

u listopadu 2012. godine.

However, in October 2017, she faced a different enemy,

Međutim, u listopadu 2017. godine, suočila se s drugačijim neprijateljem,

when online trolls viciously attacked the photograph

kada su je internetski zlobnici napali zbog fotografije

that showed the 20-year-old wearing jeans that day.

na kojoj 20-godišnjakinja nosi traperice.

The comments,

Komentari,

the hatred she received,

mržnja upućena prema njoj,

ranged from "How long before the scarf comes off?"

od "Koliko dugo dok ne skine maramu?"

to, and I quote,

do, citiram,

"That's the reason the bullet directly targeted her head

"Zbog ovoga je metak ciljao ravno u njenu glavu

a long time ago."

prije dugo vremena."

Now, when most of us decide to wear a pair of jeans

Danas, kada većina nas odluči nositi traperice

someplace like New York, London, Milan, Paris,

u New Yorku, Londonu, Milanu, Parizu,

we possibly don't stop to think that it's a privilege;

vjerojatno ni ne pomislimo da je to privilegija,

something that somewhere else can have consequences,

koja negdje drugdje može imati posljedice,

something that can one day be taken away from us.

koja nam jednog dana može biti oduzeta.

My grandmother was a woman who took extraordinary pleasure

Moja je baka bila žena koja je izuzetno uživala

in dressing up.

u odijevanju.

Her fashion was colorful.

Njezina je moda bila šarena.

And the color she loved to wear so much was possibly the only thing

Boje, koje je toliko voljela nositi, vjerojatno su bile jedina prava,

that was truly about her,

istinska stvar o njoj samoj,

the one thing she had agency over,

jedino nad čime je imala moć,

because like most other women of her generation in India,

jer, poput mnogih žena njezine generacije u Indiji,

she'd never been allowed to exist

nije joj bilo dopušteno biti iznad pravila

beyond what was dictated by custom and tradition.

koja su određivali običaji i tradicija.

She'd been married at 17,

Udala se sa 17 godina

and after 65 years of marriage, when my grandfather died suddenly one day,

i nakon 65 godina braka, kada je djed jednog dana iznenada preminuo,

her loss was unbearable.

njezin je gubitak bio nepodnošljiv.

But that day, she was going to lose something else as well,

No, tog je dana izgubila još nešto,

the one joy she had:

svoju jedinu radost,

to wear color.

nošenje boja.

In India, according to custom,

U Indiji, prema običajima,

when a Hindu woman becomes a widow,

kada Hindu žena postane udovica,

all she's allowed to wear is white

smije nositi jedino bijelu boju

from the day of the death of her husband.

od dana kada izgubi supruga.

No one made my grandmother wear white.

Moju baku nitko nije natjerao da nosi bijelo.

However, every woman she'd known who had outlived her husband,

Međutim, sve žene koje je poznavala i koje su nadživjele svoje muževe,

including her mother,

uključujući njezinu majku,

had done it.

učinile su to.

This oppression was so internalized,

Represija je bila toliko ukorijenjena,

so deep-rooted,

toliko duboko usađena,

that she herself refused a choice.

da je i ona sama odbila mogućnost odabira.

She passed away this year,

Preminula je ove godine,

and until the day she died,

i do svoje smrti

she continued to wear only white.

nastavila je nositi jedino bijelo.

I have a photograph with her from earlier, happier times.

Imam fotografiju s njom, iz sretnijih dana.

In it, you can't really see what she's wearing --

Na njoj ne možete vidjeti što nosi

the photo is in black and white.

jer je fotografija crno-bijela.

However, from the way she's smiling in it,

Međutim, prema njezinom osmijehu

you just know she's wearing color.

jednostavno znate da nosi boje.

This is also what fashion can do.

Moda može učiniti i to.

It has the power to fill us with joy,

Ima moć ispuniti nas veseljem,

the joy of freedom to choose for ourselves how we want to look,

radošću slobode izbora kako želimo izgledati,

how we want to live --

kako želimo živjeti,

a freedom worth fighting for.

slobodom za koju se vrijedi boriti.

And fighting for freedom, protest, comes in many forms.

Borba za slobodu, prosvjed, dolazi u mnogo oblika.

Widows in India like my grandmother, thousands of them,

Udovice u Indiji, poput moje bake, na tisuće njih,

live in a city called Vrindavan.

žive u gradu Vrindavanu.

And so, it's been a sea of white for centuries.

I kao takav, stoljećima izgleda poput bijelog mora.

However, only as recently as 2013,

Međutim, nedavno, od 2013. godine,

the widows of Vrindavan have started to celebrate Holi,

udovice u Vrindavanu počele su slaviti Holi,

the Indian festival of color,

indijski festival boja,

which they are prohibited from participating in.

na kojem im je zabranjeno sudjelovati.

On this one day in March,

Tijekom jednog dana u ožujku,

these women take the traditional colored powder of the festival

ove žene uzimaju tradicionalni šareni festivalski prah

and color each other.

i boje jedna drugu.

With every handful of the powder they throw into the air,

Sa svakom šakom praha bačenog u zrak,

their white saris slowly start to suffuse with color.

njihovi bijeli sariji polako bivaju prekriveni bojom.

And they don't stop until they're completely covered

I ne prestaju dok nisu potpuno prekrivene

in every hue of the rainbow that's forbidden to them.

svakom nijansom duginih boja koje su im zabranjene.

The color washes off the next day,

Boja se ispere sljedećeg dana,

however, for that moment in time,

ali tog trenutka,

it's their beautiful disruption.

one mogu uživati u buntu.

This disruption,

Taj bunt,

any kind of dissonance,

bilo koja vrsta neslaganja,

can be the first gauntlet we throw down in a battle against oppression.

može biti prvi korak u našoj borbi protiv represije.

And fashion --

Moda nam omogućuje

it can create visual disruption for us --

izraziti vizualni bunt,

on us, literally.

na nama, doslovce.

Lessons of defiance have always been taught

Lekcije o prkosu oduvijek su nam davali

by fashion's great revolutionaries:

veliki modni revolucionari:

its designers.

dizajneri.

Jean Paul Gaultier taught us that women can be kings.

Jean Paul Gaultier naučio nas je da žene mogu biti kraljevi.

Thom Browne --

Thom Browne

he taught us that men can wear heels.

naučio nas je da muškarci mogu nositi pete.

And Alexander McQueen, in his spring 1999 show,

Alexander McQueen, na predstavljanju svoje proljetne kolekcije 1999. godine,

had two giant robotic arms in the middle of his runway.

nasred piste postavio je dvije ogromne robotske ruke.

And as the model, Shalom Harlow began to spin in between them,

Kad se model, Shalom Harlow, počela vrtjeti između njih,

these two giant arms --

ove divovske ruke

furtively at first and then furiously,

prvo kriomice, a zatim mahnito,

began to spray color onto her.

počele su po njoj prskati boju.

McQueen, thus,

Tako nas je McQueen,

before he took his own life,

prije nego si je oduzeo život,

taught us that this body of ours is a canvas,

naučio da je naše tijelo platno

a canvas we get to paint however we want.

po kojemu možemo slikati kako mi želimo.

Somebody who loved this world of fashion

Svijet mode volio je

was Karar Nushi.

i Karar Nushi.

He was a student and actor from Iraq.

On je bio student i glumac iz Iraka.

He loved his vibrant, eclectic clothes.

Volio je svoj živopisan stil odijevanja.

However, he soon started receiving death threats for how he looked.

Međutim, uskoro je zbog svog izgleda počeo primati prijetnje smrću.

He remained unfazed.

Ostao je smiren.

He remained fabulous,

Ostao je divan,

until July 2017,

do srpnja 2017. godine,

when Karar was discovered dead on a busy street in Baghdad.

kada su ga pronašli mrtvog na prometnoj ulici Bagdada.

He'd been kidnapped.

Oteli su ga.

He'd been tortured.

Mučili su ga.

And eyewitnesses say that his body showed multiple wounds.

Očevici kažu da mu je na tijelu pronađeno više rana.

Stab wounds.

Rana od uboda.

Two thousand miles away in Peshawar,

Tri tisuće kilometara dalje, u Peshawaru,

Pakistani transgender activist Alisha was shot multiple times in May 2016.

pakistansku transrodnu aktivisticu Alishu upucali su nekoliko puta u svibnju 2016.

She was taken to the hospital,

Odvezena je u bolnicu,

but because she dressed in women's clothing,

ali zato što se odijevala u žensku odjeću

she was refused access to either the men's or the women's wards.

odbijen joj je pristup i muškom i ženskom bolničkom odjelu.

What we choose to wear can sometimes be literally life and death.

Što odabiremo nositi ponekad doslovce znači život ili smrt.

And even in death, we sometimes don't get to choose.

Ponekad nam čak ni u smrti nije pružena mogućnost odabira.

Alisha died that day

Alisha je umrla toga dana

and then was buried as a man.

i pokopana je kao muškarac.

What kind of world is this?

Kakav je ovo svijet?

Well, it's one in which it's natural to be afraid,

Svijet u kojem je prirodno bojati se,

to be frightened of this surveillance,

biti uplašen ovakvim nadzorom,

this violence against our bodies and what we wear on them.

nasiljem nad našim tijelima i što nosimo na njima.

However, the greater fear is that once we surrender,

Međutim, veći je strah ako se predamo,

blend in

stopimo

and begin to disappear one after the other,

i počnemo nestajati jedan za drugim,

the more normal this false conformity will look,

što će ovaj lažni sklad izgledati normalniji,

the less shocking this oppression will feel.

to će se represija činiti manje šokantnom.

For the children we are raising,

Za djecu koju odgajamo,

the injustice of today could become the ordinary of tomorrow.

današnja nepravda mogla bi postati sutrašnja svakodnevica.

They'll get used to this,

Naviknut će se na nju

and they, too, might begin to see anything different as dirty,

i mogli bi na sve što je drugačije početi gledati kao na nešto prljavo,

something to be hated,

nešto što treba mrziti,

something to be extinguished,

što treba istrijebiti,

like lights to be put out,

poput gašenja svjetala,

one by one,

jedno po jedno,

until darkness becomes a way of life.

dok tmina ne postane način života.

However, if I today,

Ipak, ako ja danas,

then you tomorrow,

vi sutra,

maybe even more of us someday,

a možda čak i više nas jednog dana,

if we embrace our right to look like ourselves,

prigrlimo naše pravo da izgledamo poput nas,

then in the world that's been violently whitewashed,

tada ćemo u svijetu koji je nasilno potisnut,

we will become the pinpricks of color pushing through,

postati raznobojna šačica koja se probija,

much like those widows of Vrindavan.

poput udovica iz Vrindavana.

How then, with so many of us,

Kako će tada, kada nas bude toliko,

will the crosshairs of a gun

pištolji moći naciljati

be able to pick out Karar,

jednog Karara,

Malala,

Malalu,

Alisha?

Alishu?

Can they kill us all?

Mogu li nas sve ubiti?

The time is now to stand up,

Vrijeme je da ustanemo,

to stand out.

da se istaknemo.

Where sameness is safeness,

Gdje istovjetnost znači sigurnost,

with something as simple as what we wear,

nečim jednostavnim poput onoga što nosimo,

we can draw every eye to ourselves

na sebe možemo privući svačiju pažnju

to say that there are differences in this world, and there always will be.

i reći da u svijetu postoje različitosti i uvijek će postojati.

Get used to it.

Naviknite se na to.

And this we can say without a single word.

I to možemo reći bez ijedne riječi.

Fashion can give us a language for dissent.

Moda nam omogućuje izražavanje neslaganja.

It can give us courage.

Ona nam može dati snagu.

Fashion can let us literally wear our courage on our sleeves.

Moda nam doslovce pruža mogućnost nošenja naše hrabrosti na rukavima.

So wear it.

Nosite je.

Wear it like armor.

Nosite je poput oklopa.

Wear it because it matters.

Nosite je jer je bitno.

And wear it because you matter.

Nosite je jer ste vi bitni.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)