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

Translator: Camille Martínez Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

譯者: Chen Chi-An 審譯者: Kanei Chio

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

沒有壞鈕扣，只有壞人

How does that sound? OK?

聽起來如何？還可以嗎？

[Small thing.]

[小東西]

[Big idea.]

[大點子]

[Isaac Mizrahi on the Button]

[Issac Mizrahi 談鈕扣]

No one knows who invented the button.

沒人知道誰發明鈕扣

It might have shown up as early as 2000 BCE.

鈕扣最早可能出現在公元前 2 千年

It was decorative when it first started,

當時它作為裝飾用

just something pretty sewn onto your clothes.

就是一種縫在衣服上好看的東西

Then about 3,000 years later,

三千年之後

someone finally invented the buttonhole,

有人發明了鈕扣孔

and buttons were suddenly useful.

鈕扣突然間變得有用了

The button and the buttonhole is such a great invention.

鈕扣和鈕扣孔是如此偉大的發明

Not only does it slip through the buttonhole,

不僅僅因為鈕扣可以滑進鈕釦孔

but then it kind of falls into place,

也因為這可以固定

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

你因此有安全感 就好像這絕對不會打開一樣

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

鈕扣的設計從中世紀以後 沒有變化太多

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

它是歷史上最持久的設計之一

For me, the best buttons are usually round.

對我來說，最好的鈕扣總是圓的

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

不管是帶有小柄的鐘型鈕扣

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

或者是那些圓形的 帶有邊或無邊的設計

either two holes or four holes.

有兩個洞或四個洞的

Almost more important than the button is the buttonhole.

幾乎比鈕扣重要的是鈕扣孔

And the way you figure that out is:

你可以發現鈕釦孔的長度

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

就是鈕扣的直徑加上厚度 再抓一點點距離

plus a little bit of ease.

Before buttons, clothes were bigger --

在鈕扣發明前，衣服會做得大一點

they were more kind of amorphous,

衣服更像是一種沒有固定形狀的東西

and people, like, wriggled into them

而人們纏住衣服

or just kind of wrapped themselves in things.

或將自己包進衣服裡

But then fashion moved closer to the body

但隨著衣著時尚興起

as we discovered uses for the button.

我們發現鈕扣的應用

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

曾經，這是唯一一種 讓衣服合身的方式

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

我想鈕扣的設計之所以能維持這麼久

is because they actually work to keep our clothes shut.

是因為它真的能讓衣服緊密

Zippers break;

拉鍊會壞掉

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

魔鬼氈會製造噪音 且過一陣子就不能用

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

如果鈕扣掉了，你只要把它縫回去

A button is kind of there for the long run.

鈕扣似乎就是為了長久使用的

It's not just the most elemental design ever,

它不僅是史上最根本的設計而已

it's also such a crazy fashion statement.

它也宣告了時尚風潮

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

當我還是小孩 我媽替我織了這件漂亮的毛衣

I didn't like it.

我當時不喜歡

And then I found these buttons,

但不久我找到這些鈕扣

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

當這些紐扣縫上去時，我愛死了

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

如果你的品味不好而且不會挑鈕扣

then let someone else do it, you know?

就讓其他人來做，好嗎？

I mean that.

我誠心建議