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

翻译人员: Yu Xie 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

I was around 10 when one day,

在我十岁的时候，

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

有一天，我发现了一个 爸爸装旧东西的箱子。

In it, under a bunch of his college textbooks,

在里面的一堆大学教材下面，

was a pair of black corduroy bell-bottom pants.

是几条黑色灯芯绒喇叭裤。

These pants were awful --

这些裤子的状态糟糕透了——

musty and moth-eaten.

都发霉，有虫蛀了。

And of course, I fell in love with them.

而当时的我，却爱极了它们。

I'd never seen anything like them.

我以前从来没有见过这样的款式。

Until that day,

在那之前，

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

我所了解的、穿的都是校服。

which, in fact, I was pretty grateful for,

但我却对此充满感激，

because from quite a young age,

因为从非常小的时候，

I'd realized I was somewhat different.

我就意识到自己与其他人不同。

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

我从没见过有哪一个同龄的男孩子

terrible at sports,

比我还不擅长运动的，

possibly the unmanliest little boy ever.

也许只有最娇气的 男孩才会比我差吧。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I was bullied quite a bit.

那个时候，我常常遭到欺凌。

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

我发现只有 成了“透明人”才能幸存，

and the uniform helped me

而正是校服拯救了我，

to seem no different from any other child.

它让我看上去 与其他的小孩没什么不同。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Well, almost.

好吧，大部分情况下是这样的。

This became my daily prayer:

而这也成了我每日的仪式：

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

“神啊，请让我和其他人一样。”

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

我当时确信这句话 上帝是一定听得到的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And eventually, it became pretty clear

后来，顺理成章地，

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

我也并没有成长为 我父亲期望的样子。

Sorry, Dad.

对不住了，爸爸。

No, I was not going to magically change.

实际上，我并不可能 发生一个巨大的变化。

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

在成长中，我越来越不清楚 我想要成为什么样的人了。

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

所以，当那几条黑色的灯芯绒喇叭裤 出现在我眼前的时候。

something happened.

我的生活泛起了波澜。

I didn't see pants;

我看到的不是一条裤子。

I saw opportunity.

我看到的是机会。

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

于是我决定无论第二天 发生什么事情，

come what may.

我都必须穿着这条裤子去学校。

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

当我把脚伸入其中一条裤子 并拴紧腰带的时候，

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

我瞬间就感觉棒极了， 就像明星那般神气十足。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

All the way to school,

在往返学校的路上，

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

因为一到了学校，我就被遣返了——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I transformed into a little brown rock star.

我变成了一个 棕色皮肤的摇滚小明星。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

我终于不再理会 我不能讨好的人了。

That day, I was suddenly celebrating it.

在那天，我开始为这个转变而欢呼。

That day, instead of being invisible,

在那一天， 与往常的“透明人”不同，

I chose to be looked at,

我反而希望能被别人看见，

just by wearing something different.

虽然仅仅是靠着穿着的不同。

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

在那一天，我发现了衣着的魅力。

That day, I discovered the power of fashion,

在那一天，我看到了时尚的力量，

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

从那以后，我对时尚的热爱 便一发不可收拾。

Fashion can communicate our differences to the world for us.

时尚能向世界展示我们的差异。

And with this simple act of truth,

仅仅是了解到了这一点，

I realized that these differences --

我意识到这些差异——

they stopped being our shame.

它们不再是我们的耻辱。

They became our expressions,

它们成了我们的名片，

expressions of our very unique identities.

独一无二的名片。

And we should express ourselves,

我们应该表达自我，

wear what we want.

穿自己想穿的衣服。

What's the worst that could happen?

最糟的情况会发生什么呢？

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

时尚警察会因为穿着 不时髦而逮捕你吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Yeah.

并不会。

Well, unless the fashion police meant something entirely different.

除非时尚警察有着其他的意味。

诺贝尔和平奖得主马拉拉（Malala），

Nobel Prize laureate Malala survived Taliban extremists

在 2012 年 10 月 塔利班激进分子事件中得以幸存。

in October 2012.

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

然而，在 2017 年 10 月 17 日，

她又遇上了另外一个敌人，

when online trolls viciously attacked the photograph

网上的键盘侠们恶意攻击 她 20 岁时穿牛仔裤的照片。

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

The comments,

她所遭受的

the hatred she received,

评论、谩骂，

涉及的范围从：“这个围巾戴了多久了？”

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

to, and I quote,

到评论说，

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

“这就是为什么之前子弹 直接瞄准了

a long time ago."

她脑袋的原因。”

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

如今，当大多数人 决定穿牛仔裤的时候,

someplace like New York, London, Milan, Paris,

比如，在纽约，伦敦， 米兰，巴黎，这样的地方，

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

我们也许并不会意识到 穿牛仔裤是一种特权，

something that somewhere else can have consequences,

是一件会在某个地方 引起轩然大波的事情，

something that can one day be taken away from us.

是某天我们会被夺走的权利。

My grandmother was a woman who took extraordinary pleasure

我的祖母是一位

in dressing up.

热衷打扮的女士。

Her fashion was colorful.

缤纷的色彩代表了她的时尚理念。

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

她所爱的颜色也许就是唯一

that was truly about her,

能够代表她自己的东西，

the one thing she had agency over,

她唯一能掌控的事。

because like most other women of her generation in India,

跟那个年代印度的 绝大多数女性一样，

she'd never been allowed to exist

她被告诫不能违背

beyond what was dictated by custom and tradition.

习俗与传统中的规定。

She'd been married at 17,

她在 17 岁的时候就出嫁了，

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

在婚后 65 年的某一天， 我的祖父突然辞世，

her loss was unbearable.

她几近崩溃。

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

但同时，在那一天， 她也会失去其他的一些东西，

the one joy she had:

她所拥有的乐趣之一：

to wear color.

穿上色彩丰富的衣服。

In India, according to custom,

根据印度的习俗，

当一个印度女人变成了寡妇，

when a Hindu woman becomes a widow,

all she's allowed to wear is white

从他丈夫死亡的那天起，

from the day of the death of her husband.

她只能穿白色。

No one made my grandmother wear white.

没有人强迫我的祖母 穿上白色的衣服。

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

然而，她所了解到的每一位寡妇，

including her mother,

包括她的母亲，

had done it.

都是这么做的。

This oppression was so internalized,

这种在我祖母心中如此内化的、

so deep-rooted,

根深蒂固的压制，

that she herself refused a choice.

迫使她放弃了选择。

She passed away this year,

她是在今年去世的，

and until the day she died,

而直至她去世的那一天，

she continued to wear only white.

她仍然穿着白色的衣服。

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

我现在还存着早前 我和我快乐的祖母的合照；

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

其实你看不清她穿的是什么——

the photo is in black and white.

因为这是一张黑白照。

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

但是从她的微笑，

you just know she's wearing color.

你就能推断她是 穿着有颜色的衣服的。

This is also what fashion can do.

这也是时尚能够做到的一点。

It has the power to fill us with joy,

它能够给予我们愉悦感，

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

一种我们能够自由控制 自己外在形象的愉悦，

how we want to live --

一种能够选择 自己生活方式的愉悦感——

a freedom worth fighting for.

而这种自由是值得为之奋斗的。

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

而为自由而奋斗的形式有很多种。

Widows in India like my grandmother, thousands of them,

像我祖母一样的印度寡妇， 她们中的很多人，

live in a city called Vrindavan.

生活在一座名为 维伦达文（Vrindavan）的城市。

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

所以，这座城市就像是 一片白色的海洋。

However, only as recently as 2013,

然而，就在 2013 年，

the widows of Vrindavan have started to celebrate Holi,

维伦达文的寡妇们 开始庆祝胡里节（Holi），

the Indian festival of color,

即印度泼洒色彩的节日。

which they are prohibited from participating in.

这是她们不被允许参加的节日。

On this one day in March,

在 3 月的这一天，

these women take the traditional colored powder of the festival

这些妇女们用节日专用的彩色粉末

and color each other.

对着彼此泼洒。

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

每当她们向空气中洒出一捧粉末，

their white saris slowly start to suffuse with color.

她们的白色纱丽就多了一点颜色。

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

直到被染上了所有 被禁忌的颜色时，

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

她们才肯收手。

The color washes off the next day,

而这些颜色会在第二天被清洗掉，

however, for that moment in time,

但是，在那一刻，

it's their beautiful disruption.

是她们破茧成蝶的美丽瞬间。

This disruption,

这种突破，

any kind of dissonance,

任何的不和谐，

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

将成为我们对抗压迫的先锋。

And fashion --

而时尚——

it can create visual disruption for us --

能够在视觉上激励我们——

on us, literally.

毫不夸张地说，就是这样。

Lessons of defiance have always been taught

由于蔑视而带来的代价早已被

by fashion's great revolutionaries:

时尚巨擘们阐释得清清楚楚：

its designers.

它的设计师。

Jean Paul Gaultier taught us that women can be kings.

法国品牌保罗·高缇耶（Jean Paul Gaultier） 告诉我们，女人也能成为王者。

Thom Browne --

汤姆·布朗（Thom Browne） （美国男装设计师）——

he taught us that men can wear heels.

告诉我们， 男人也可以穿高跟鞋。

And Alexander McQueen, in his spring 1999 show,

而亚历山大·麦奎因（ Alexander McQueen） 在他 1999 年春季秀的舞台中央

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

设置了两个巨大的机械手臂。

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

作为模特的莎洛姆哈罗（Shalom Harlow) 开始在这两个手臂之间旋转，

these two giant arms --

而这两个巨大的手臂——

furtively at first and then furiously,

刚开始鬼鬼祟祟，而后变得狂躁，

began to spray color onto her.

开始向她喷洒颜色，

McQueen, thus,

而麦奎因

before he took his own life,

在他自杀之前，

taught us that this body of ours is a canvas,

让我们明白到 我们的身体就是一张画布，

a canvas we get to paint however we want.

一张我们能够自由发挥的画布。

Somebody who loved this world of fashion

有一个名为卡然尔努什 （Karar Nushi）的男孩

was Karar Nushi.

就沉浸在艺术的世界中。

He was a student and actor from Iraq.

他是一名来自伊拉克的学生， 同时也是一名演员。

He loved his vibrant, eclectic clothes.

他喜欢充满活力与激情的衣服。

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

然而，他却因自己的衣着 接连收到死亡威胁信。

He remained unfazed.

而他并不为此苦恼。

He remained fabulous,

他依旧保持着自己的风格。

until July 2017,

直到 2017 年 7 月，

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

据报道，卡然尔死在了巴格达 （伊拉克首都）一条繁华的街道上。

He'd been kidnapped.

他被人绑架，

He'd been tortured.

备受折磨。

And eyewitnesses say that his body showed multiple wounds.

通过肉眼就可发现 他身上有多处伤口。

Stab wounds.

刺伤。

Two thousand miles away in Peshawar,

距离白沙瓦（巴基斯坦北部城市） 两千英里的地方，

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

巴基斯坦跨性别活动家艾丽莎（Alisha） 在 2016 年 5 月受到多次枪击。

She was taken to the hospital,

她被送去了医院，

but because she dressed in women's clothing,

但是因为她穿着女人的衣服，

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

所以她既不能被安排进入男性病房， 也不能入住女性病房。

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

毫不夸张地说，我们所选择的穿着 可能决定着我们的生死。

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

甚至有时在面对死亡的时候， 我们并没有机会做选择。

Alisha died that day

艾丽莎在那天死去，

以一个男人的身份被埋入坟墓。

and then was buried as a man.

What kind of world is this?

这个世界到底怎么了？

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

在这个世界中，对这样的监视

to be frightened of this surveillance,

感到害怕或者恐惧是很自然的，

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

这是一种与我们身体 以及穿着相悖的暴力。

However, the greater fear is that once we surrender,

但是，更可怕的恐惧在于， 一旦我们屈服，

blend in

顺从，

and begin to disappear one after the other,

慢慢失去了自己的坚持，

the more normal this false conformity will look,

越是顺应着错误的指令 让自己看上去普通，

the less shocking this oppression will feel.

这种压迫感就会变得 越不那么令人窒息。

For the children we are raising,

对于我们的孩子而言，

the injustice of today could become the ordinary of tomorrow.

今天的不公，将会在未来变得平常。

They'll get used to this,

他们会将其视为平常，

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

这就意味着，他们也会把差异 视为一种肮脏的，

something to be hated,

可恶的，

something to be extinguished,

需要被清除的的东西，

like lights to be put out,

就像是灯光被逐渐扑灭，

one by one,

一个接着一个，

until darkness becomes a way of life.

直到黑暗成了生活的主宰。

However, if I today,

但是，如果我在今天，

then you tomorrow,

你们在明天

maybe even more of us someday,

甚至更多的人在某个时代，

if we embrace our right to look like ourselves,

都能接纳自己， 敢于展示出自己的特点，

then in the world that's been violently whitewashed,

那么在白色恐怖下的世界中，

we will become the pinpricks of color pushing through,

我们将成为一根根小针， 让颜色能够渗透进来，

much like those widows of Vrindavan.

就像维伦达文的寡妇们那般。

How then, with so many of us,

到那时候，我们的队伍日益庞大，

will the crosshairs of a gun

还会有人通过枪支上的瞄准器

be able to pick out Karar,

能够在人群中识别出卡然尔，

Malala,

马拉拉，

Alisha?

艾丽莎吗？

Can they kill us all?

他们能把我们全部杀死吗？

The time is now to stand up,

现在，我们应该站起来，

to stand out.

站出来。

Where sameness is safeness,

在强调相同即安全的地方，

with something as simple as what we wear,

简单到像我们的衣着，

we can draw every eye to ourselves

我们可以把目光对准自己，

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

意识到世界上存在着差异， 而这种差异将是会一直存在的。

Get used to it.

要将其视为自然。

And this we can say without a single word.

而差异，我们可以不用语言讲明。

Fashion can give us a language for dissent.

时尚，能够成为 我们表达不同意见的语言。

It can give us courage.

它能够给予我们勇气。

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

时尚，能够让我们把勇气穿在身上。

So wear it.

那么，请穿上它吧。

Wear it like armor.

像铠甲一样穿上它。

Wear it because it matters.

穿上它，因为这很重要。

And wear it because you matter.

穿上它，更因为你们很重要。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）