How the button changed fashion | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series

Translator: Camille Martínez Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

翻译人员: WENWEN CHANG 校对人员: Howel Wang

There are no bad buttons, there are only bad people.

没有不好的扣子，只有不好的人。

How does that sound? OK?

那听起来真么样？可以吗？

[Small thing.]

“小物件”

[Big idea.]

“大想法”

[Isaac Mizrahi on the Button]

“Issac Mizrahi 谈纽扣”

No one knows who invented the button.

没有人知道是谁发明了纽扣。

It might have shown up as early as 2000 BCE.

早在公元2000年前纽扣就有可能出现了。

It was decorative when it first started,

开始时它是用于装饰的，

just something pretty sewn onto your clothes.

就是一种缝在衣服上好看的东西。

Then about 3,000 years later,

大概3000年以后，

someone finally invented the buttonhole,

人们最终发明了扣眼，

and buttons were suddenly useful.

然后纽扣就突然有利用价值了。

The button and the buttonhole is such a great invention.

纽扣和扣眼是伟大的发明。

Not only does it slip through the buttonhole,

不仅纽扣可以滑入扣眼，

but then it kind of falls into place,

而且还固定在位。

and so you're completely secure, like it's never going to open.

因此你会感到很有安全感， 就像它永远不会敞开一样。

The design of a button hasn't changed much since the Middle Ages.

从中世纪以来，纽扣的设计 并没有发生多么大的变化。

It's one of the most enduring designs in history.

这是历史上经久不衰的设计之一。

For me, the best buttons are usually round.

对我来说， 最好的纽扣是圆的。

There's either a dome button with a little shank,

不管是带有小柄的 钟形纽扣，

or there's just this sort of round thing with either a rim or not a rim,

亦或是这样圆的带边或不带边的，

either two holes or four holes.

有两个洞或四个洞的。

Almost more important than the button is the buttonhole.

比纽扣更为重要的是扣眼。

And the way you figure that out is:

你可以通过以下方式知道扣眼长度：

the diameter of the button plus the width of the button,

扣子的直径和厚度，

plus a little bit of ease.

再留上一点儿空隙。

Before buttons, clothes were bigger --

在扣子出现以前 衣服都显得很大——

they were more kind of amorphous,

他们就是一些没有形状的东西，

and people, like, wriggled into them

人们就转进衣服里去，

or just kind of wrapped themselves in things.

或者将他们缠在身上。

But then fashion moved closer to the body

当我们开始使用扣子的时候，

as we discovered uses for the button.

时尚悄悄的接近我们身体。

At one time, it was the one way to make clothes fit against the body.

一时间，纽扣可以让衣服更合身。

我认为，纵观历史， 纽扣之所以经久不衰，

I think the reason buttons have endured for so long, historically,

is because they actually work to keep our clothes shut.

是因为它能够 扣住我们的衣服。

Zippers break;

拉链会坏；

Velcro makes a lot of noise, and it wears out after a while.

粘扣有噪音，并且 用一阵子后也会坏。

If a button falls off, you just literally sew that thing on.

如果扣子掉了， 你把他们缝上就好了。

A button is kind of there for the long run.

扣子的发明就是 为了长久使用的。

It's not just the most elemental design ever,

它不仅是最基本的设计

it's also such a crazy fashion statement.

也宣告了一个时尚风潮的开始。

When I was a kid, my mom knit me this beautiful sweater.

我小时候，我母亲 给我织了这件漂亮的外套。

I didn't like it.

我不喜欢它。

And then I found these buttons,

但是我发现了这些纽扣，

and the minute the buttons were on the sweater, I loved it.

当毛衣缝上了纽扣， 我立马就喜欢上它了。

If you don't have good taste and you can't pick out a button,

如果你没什么品味 你也不会挑选纽扣，

then let someone else do it, you know?

那就让懂行的帮助你吧，你明白吗？

我就是那个意思。

I mean that.