The Page 3 girl is dead. Long live the Page 3 girl. Rumours that The Sun’s topless mascot and author of “news in briefs” was to be retired after her 45-year tenure at the tabloid paper proved unfounded. She bounced back this week, as pert as ever, and as unwelcome a surprise for those journalists who had penned her obituary as it was for the feminists who claimed her demise a victory for women.
I was just disappointed not to see how her future incarnations might manifest. The proposition that she could be “scantily clad” in future suggested such quaint possibilities: so very Helen Mirren in Calendar Girls.
我失望的只是沒看到未來三版女郎的真容是啥模樣。未來三版女郎可能“稍有穿著”的提議暗示會出現以下離奇有趣的可能:可能如同《日歷女郎》(Calendar Girls)中海倫•米倫(Dame Helen Mirren)的穿著。
It was not to be. The episode was but a daydream — or, possibly, an artfully directed publicity stunt. Instead, her continued existence remains one of the great anachronisms — and more pitiful clichés — of modern Britain.
These are interesting times on the road to emancipation. Recent research from the University of Cambridge finds that the key to longevity and good health might well reside in a brisk 20-minute daily walk, which spells trouble for purveyors of another signifier of oppression: the stiletto shoe.
這些都是實現女性真正解放過程中的有趣時刻。劍橋大學(University of Cambridge)的最新研究表明:健康長壽的秘訣最好是每天快步行走20分鐘,這給另一壓迫性標志——細高跟鞋——帶來“巨大麻煩”。
The sight of a woman staggering around in ill-fitting heels is another of those pitiful clichés we should surely have grown out of as a society. And yet, it continues to exist. High heels can be a beautiful thing, and I adore them, but few are blessed with the genetic disposition to stride for miles while so shod. Could the new findings be the spur for us to be rid once and for all of “taxi shoes”?
Thankfully, the fashion industry has seen this coming — and is investing heavily in our future health. The heel may traditionally have been associated with the very height of elegance but its flat counterpart has been making chic inroads for several seasons now. It was officially sanctified at couture last year, when Karl Lagerfeld sent his models on to the catwalk in tweed sneakers at Chanel, and Raf Simons offered a crystal-mesh sneaker hybrid at Dior. A parade of Velcro-strapped, skater, trek-inspired, orthopaedic and otherworldly varieties has walked into our hearts ever since.
And the trend is set to continue. At almost all of the spring accessory presentations in September, the shoe collections were split between heels and flats. Even at those labels usually associated with sky-high podiatric architecture. Even in Milan.
“With the amount of travelling and running around that goes on, there’s been an increase in sales and interest for our flats ” says shoes designer Nicholas Kirkwood, before adding: “Women still want something interesting and unique, though.”
Well, obviously. Flats should never be shameful. “I wanted to create flats you don’t have to apologise for,” agrees Edgardo Osorio, founder and creative director of Aquazzura who, despite having founded his line in 2011 in search of “a heel you could dance in”, now dedicates a quarter of his collection to flats. No hideous hiking hybrids here. Ossorio specialises in strappy little shoes. “I want my flats to go from day to night,” he tells me. “I want a woman to wear my flats with jeans and a T-shirt but also with a beautiful Alaïa dress.”
“There’s been a strong demand for flats in the last two seasons,” says Tabitha Simmons, who launched in 2009 with teetering stilettos but then spearheaded the flat revival with a simple, pointed black-and-white shoe called the Alexa. It now has a cult following — “and we’ve expanded with styles such as the Vera, Daisy Chain and Hermione”, says Simmons. I’ve got my eye on Vera, pointed, ankle-strapped and blessed with a saucily low-cut toe.
Sophia Webster won a British Fashion Award in 2013 for her delightfully eccentric, geometric designs and this season has included a sneaker-style day shoe alongside her spindle heels. “Having just had a baby, I know how much of a necessity everyday flats are,” she explains. Even Paul Andrew, “king of the slingback” and 2014 winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, is feeling lowly. “Flats are about 15 per cent of my collection,” he says. “For pre-fall 2015, I introduced the Rhea flat and it became the collection’s bestseller.”
索菲婭•韋伯斯特(Sophia Webster)憑借她賞心悅目的幾何形另類設計風格勇奪2013年度英國時尚大獎(British Fashion Award)。這個時裝季,她除了推出細長款高跟鞋外,還設計了運動鞋風格的日常用鞋?!拔页鯙槿四?,知道日常平底鞋必不可少,”她這樣解釋道。甚至“露跟女鞋設計之王”、2014年度美國時裝設計師協會與Vogue合辦的時裝基金大獎(CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award)得主保羅•安德魯(Paul Andrew)也表現得很謙恭?!捌降仔s占本人系列的15%,”他說?!?015早秋季,我加入了Rhea平底鞋,它成為自己系列最為暢銷的款式?!?/div>
Of course, the French could have told us this years ago. Paris is the spiritual home of the ballet flat, a shoe style that seems mandatory for most women living within the Périphérique, where the cobbled streets are unsparing on one’s feet. An upcoming book, Paris Street Style: Shoes, by Isabelle Thomas and Frédérique Veysset (published in March), calls ballet flats “the little black dress of footwear”. And while Paris-born shoe designer Roger Vivier may have been credited with inventing the stiletto in 1954, it is a flat on which the fortunes of the house now rest. “Our most popular shoe is the Belle Vivier — a flat. And the second is also a flat, the Gommette,” says designer Bruno Frisoni of the label’s signature styles, with their distinctive square detail at the toe. “High heels are a dream,” he adds. “And the flat is a dream come true.”
當然,法國人幾年前就可昭告天下,因為巴黎是芭蕾平底鞋的精神家園。這種鞋對于生活在環城大道(Périphérique)內的多數女性來說似乎是必備的行頭,因為鵝卵石街道對她們的腳可是“不留情面”。由伊莎貝爾•多瑪(Isabelle Thomas)與弗雷德里克•維塞(Frédérique Veysset)合著的書《巴黎街道時尚風情——鞋履大觀》(Paris Street Style: Shoes)于今年三月出版,該書把芭蕾平底鞋譽為“鞋履中的黑色小禮服”。盡管巴黎出生的鞋履設計師羅杰•維威耶(Roger Vivier)或許可譽為細高跟鞋的設計鼻祖,他1954年推出的這款平底鞋奠定了其同名時尚品牌大獲成功的基石?!拔覀兤煜伦钪氖荁elle Vivier平底鞋;知名度緊隨其后的也是一款平底鞋,它就是Gommette,”設計師布魯諾•弗里索尼 (Bruno Frisoni)說,他是這兩大招牌款式的設計師,他在腳趾處設計了精美獨特的方扣?!案吒秃帽赛S粱美夢,”他補充道。“而平底鞋就是已成真的美夢?!?/div>
A dream come true? Perhaps. Or maybe just a solution — and an elegant one at that — for modern women. Leave the clichés on page 3.