照顧有色人種的裸色內衣暢銷歐洲

Is the fashion industry finally waking up to the fact that humans come in all colours Two companies have launched new initiatives with the specific aim of representing a broader range of skin tones. New-York hosiery brand Sheer Chemistry last month released a range of five new tights colours aimed to suit “women of all shades of brown” in conjunction with the hotel W London.

時尚界是不是最終幡然認識到以下事實——人類生來是多膚色的？兩家時尚公司已推出定位明確的全新款式：代表更多膚色調人羣。紐約針織內衣品牌Sheer Chemistry上月攜手W London酒店，推出了五款專門針對“各種棕色皮膚女性”的新色系緊身內衣。

According to the company’s founder Tahlia Gray, the hosiery will serve those who have been “confined to a cycle of disappointment and exclusion from the fashion and beauty industry”.

公司創始人塔莉亞格雷(Tahlia Gray)說，緊身內衣的服務對象是那些“長期苦悶失落、一直被排斥在時尚與美容圈外的一小撮人”。

This month, London-based hosiery brand Heist Studios launched The Nude Project as part of a broader study on diversity, for which it is asking people to send in photographs of themselves to better understand the full spectrum of skin tones. The submissions will inform a “much larger range of nude tights” that will go on sale next year and the company will share its findings with the industry in the hope it will encourage brands “to open their product ranges and cater to a more ethnically diverse population”.

倫敦內衣品牌Heist Studios不久前則推出了The Nude Project系列，這是深入研究後的一大舉措：爲此要求客戶上傳自己的照片，以便全面瞭解各種肌膚顏色。客戶提交的信息表明來年“更多款裸色緊身內衣”將面世，公司會與業界共享相關研究結果，希望以此鼓勵業界同行“擴大品類供給、以滿足各種肌膚族羣體之需求”。

“Despite the fact that the hosiery industry is projected to be worth $25.9bn by 2018, there is no fabric-ready nude palette that body-wear brands like Heist can use to develop inclusive product ranges,” explains Heist founder Edzard van der Wyck. “Hosiery is woefully under-representative. General retailers sell roughly one-third of all tights purchased in the UK and they only offer, on average, four shades of nude. This gives us some indication of how poorly the 13 per cent of the UK population that are not ‘white British’, are currently catered for.”

“儘管到2018年，內衣業銷售額預計將達259億美元，但市場上並無現成裸色調面料供Heist等內衣品牌直接用來打造品類齊全的產品。”Heist創始人範德懷克(Edzard van der Wyck)這樣解釋道。“內衣在時裝界並不受待見。在英國，一般零售店只賣市面上所售全部緊身內衣的三分之一，而且通常只賣4種裸色款。這表明：佔英國總人口13%的有色種羣的內衣需求差強人意。”

Why anyone would require flesh-coloured tights in 2017 is another matter entirely; I had naively assumed the only woman still obligated to wear a garment that gives one’s legs the eerily smooth artificiality of a prosthetic limb was the Duchess of Cambridge. But it transpires a great many people are excited by the prospect of skin-matched hosiery — especially those lawyers and women who work.in the finance sector who remain self-conscious about baring their legs at work. Twelve thousand people had signed up to The Nude Project within three hours of its launch, on July 11, and tens of thousands have engaged with it on social media.

2017年爲何所有人都青睞肉色緊身內衣則完全是另外一碼事；我過去曾天真地以爲：唯一仍執拗於腿上穿出那種出奇光滑質感（人造假肢）緊身褲的唯一女性是凱特王妃(Duchess of Cambridge)。但事實表明：無數女性沉醉於與膚色相搭的內衣——尤其是那些律師界以及金融界的俏佳人，她們仍念念不忘於裸露酥腿。7月11日，The Nude Project 推出不到3個小時，就有1.2萬人註冊成爲其會員，還有成千上萬的女性已在社交媒體上與其接洽。

Like Sheer Chemistry, the people at Heist have identified a blind-spot in the industry (or should that be greige spot). While the Heist researchers generously suggest there typically exist about four to seven skin tones in “garments worn next to the skin”, a cursory examination of nudes on the high street reflects a more limited palette. Try and find a flesh-coloured knicker, for example.

與Sheer Chemistry一樣，Heist的設計人員也找到了內衣界的一大盲區（抑或說那是米灰色區域）。儘管Heist設計人員信心滿滿地暗示市面上通常有4至7種裸色調 “貼身內衣”發售，但對商業街區店鋪所售裸色款式粗粗瞭解後，發現裸色調內衣寥寥無幾。比方說，找一款肉色女褲就費盡周折。

Marks and Spencer’s nude underwear extends only to white, black and a beige, which might otherwise be described as “pan stick”. Topshop’s versions come in a very peachy shade of rose which, while they might suit most skin types, would only really match an unprotected white skin after a few too many hours in the sun. Hanro, the Swiss lingerie brand beloved for its contour fit and cashmere comfort, does offer a selection of six shades — from “powder” through “mocha” to “mahogany” — but many may balk at the prospect of paying about ￡15 for a single pair of undercrackers. In most instances, the choices are scant: no wonder niche lingerie lines such as the London-based Nubian Skin, launched in 2014 by Ade Hassan “to provide the essential underwear needs of women of colour”, are cleaning up.

瑪莎百貨(Marks and Spencer)所售裸色內衣只有白色、黑色以及米黃色（也可暱稱爲“粉底棒”）。Topshop推出的則是粉紅色調中的桃紅色款式，儘管它能滿足多數膚色消費者需要，但桃紅色內衣在烈日下穿上幾小時後，實際上只適合無保護的白色肌膚。瑞士貼身內衣品牌Hanro因異常合體與舒適而深受女性消費者青睞，它也推出了六種色調的內衣——從“粉末色”到“摩卡咖啡色”再到“赤褐色”——但很多人想到，買件小小的短褲就得花15英鎊可能會打退堂鼓。多數情況下，消費者的選擇餘地很小：難怪，旨在“滿足有色種羣女性內衣需求”的小衆內衣品牌（如艾德哈桑(Ade Hassan)2014年在倫敦推出的Nubian Skin）都賺翻了。

But why wouldn’t brands want to serve more people with its products The imperative of diversity aside, it simply makes good business sense. (I am reminded of a recent article in the Financial Times, in which Ozohu Adoh, founder of the Epara skincare line for women of colour, was forced to point out to her financiers, sceptical of the “minority market” she intended to serve, that “Nigerian women spend more money in Harrods than women of any other country — one out of every three pounds in 2015”. The beauty industry is way ahead on diversity (Bobbi Brown offers 31 shades of foundation while MAC foundations come in 46 variations), but even fashion brands must now realise that colour blindness is as economically backward as it is bigoted.

但是，爲何各大品牌不願推出滿足更多膚色人羣的產品？先不提必要性，產品多樣化還能讓公司賺大錢。（這不由讓我想起《金融時報》近日一篇文章，有色人種女性專用護膚品牌Epara創始人Ozohu Adoh不得不向出資方解釋“尼日利亞女性消費者在倫敦哈羅德百貨店(Harrods)出手闊綽、冠絕全球——2015年佔到了哈羅德百貨公司三分之一的營業額”，因爲出資方對Ozohu Adoh專門的銷售對象——“少數有色人種女性羣體”的購買力心存疑慮。美容行業在產品多樣化方面則已遙遙領先（Bobbi Brown推出了13種色調的粉底，而MAC推出的粉底顏色多達46種），但即便時尚品牌如今也必須明白：對多色調產品前景置若罔聞既與時代格格不入，而且會在銷售上大大落伍。

Niche brands serving the needs of men and women of colour are now fast emerging. But it’s especially cheering when a global fashion brand decides to offer a broader product range as part of its main line. When Christian Louboutin first introduced his Nudes Collection of classic shoes in 2013, he offered them in five shades, which he increased to seven last year. So successful has it been, that this year he introduced two new styles: the ballet-inspired Christeriva and the chunkier Cherrysandal.

滿足有色人種需求的各種小衆品牌如今層出不窮。但國際時尚品牌下決心在主系列中推出（滿足有色人種）的多樣化產品則尤爲振奮人心。法國設計師克里斯蒂安婁伯丁(Christian Louboutin)2013年首次推出經典款式的裸色鞋時，總共推了五種色調，去年他將色調增至七種。由於推出後大受市場追捧，今年他又推出了兩種新款式高跟涼鞋：設計靈感源於芭蕾的Christeriva以及更爲厚實的Cherrysandal。

“Nude is not a colour, it’s a concept,” says the French designer. He has been quicker than most to recognise that not all fashion clients are fair-skinned aristocrats. And all power to him.

“裸色並不僅僅是顏色，而是一種全新理念。”克里斯蒂安婁伯丁說。相比多數設計師，他總是稍勝一籌，能敏銳意識到並非所有時尚擁躉都是膚色白皙的大腕。 好好幹，克里斯蒂安婁伯丁！

Having shared an image of my phizog with The Nude Project, I eagerly await the spectrum of colours that will more accurately reflect my own skin colour when I shop for sheers next spring. I just hope that among all the coppers, mochas, Kardashians and cappuccinos they’ll be some consideration for us poor specimens better suited to shades such as ashen, pallid or “a little bit blue looking”.

把自己一張臉蛋照上傳至The Nude Project後，我就焦急地等待適合自己的幾款色調：精準反映自己的肌膚，以便明年開春買進理想的裸色裝。我只是希望：在所有紅棕色、摩卡咖啡色、卡戴珊姐妹心儀的色調以及深褐色調中，能有我們這羣人適合的灰白、蒼白或是“淡淡的憂鬱”之類的色調。