专访Met服装大展出品人

“It’s a gull’s head that’s been coated in silicone,” explains Andrew Bolton, the 49-year-old British-born curator in charge of the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is examining a dress by Dutch designer Iris van Herpen, a wild whip of silicone fringing frozen in motion, the gull skulls caught as if attempting to fly. The dress will appear in the Costume Institute’s new show Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology, opening next week.

“这就是涂了硅酮料的海鸥头。”49岁的英国人安德鲁•波顿(Andrew Bolton)解释道，他是纽约大都会艺术博物馆服装学院(Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art)院长。他正仔细看着荷兰设计师艾里斯•范•荷本(Iris van Herpen)设计的一款裙子，这件散射状硅酮海鸥头凝固的运动瞬间，做出一飞冲天的模样。这件裙子会在“手工x机械展：科技时代的时装展(Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology”)上展出。

We are standing in the conservation lab of what, since 2014, has been named the Anna Wintour Costume Center. All around are garments. The work benches are covered in tissue paper and furnished with the crates in which various archive clothes have been delivered. “This piece was grown,” says Bolton of another dress by Van Herpen, the jagged contours of which have been “drawn out” by magnets. “It’s a sort of resin that has iron filings in it,” he explains.

我俩就站在安娜•温图尔时装设计中心(Anna Wintour Costume Center)的节能馆（自2014年以来，服装学院展览馆就被改为现名）。举目望去，四周挂着各式经典时装。工作台上覆盖着薄纸，旁边则放着板条箱，里面装着专门运送而来的各品牌经典时装。“这件是晚礼服。”波顿指着另一件范•荷本设计的时装说，参差不齐的外形仿佛已被磁铁吸出似的。“这种树脂面料里放入了铁屑。”他解释道。

The room has more the air of a geeky science club than a hushed couture atelier. In the corner is a Hussein Chalayan dress from which paper pollens fly on wires. On the table is an Issey Miyake A-POC, an experiment in cutting clothes from a roll of fabric that was planned to be shown on 20 conjoined mannequins. “It’s like The Human Centipede,” says Bolton, referring to the 2009 horror film.

这间展厅与其说是安静的高级女装展室，倒不如说更像是网络科技会所。在角落处挂着侯赛因•卡拉扬(Hussein Chalayan)设计的一款时装：花粉状纸片在电线上翩翩起舞。桌子上则放着三宅一生(Issey Miyake)的A-POC时装，这是尝试从一卷面料中切割、而后在20个连体模特身上展示的时装。“这酷似《人体蜈蚣》(The Human Centipede)。”波顿说，他指的是2009年推出的那部恐怖片《人体蜈蚣》。

All is preparation for the most important date in the Costume Institute’s calendar: the spring exhibition, and its spectacular unveiling at the vast gala dinner, the Met Ball, on Monday. Few exhibitions, fashion or otherwise, attract such widespread attention. The Costume Institute Benefit, to use its correct name, is an overt example of old New York society turned 21st century. Getting a ticket is near-impossible. The guest list, and what everyone wears, is controlled by Anna Wintour and her team at US Vogue, who will co-chair the gala alongside Idris Elba, Taylor Swift and Jonathan Ive, chief design officer at Apple: the company is sponsoring both the gala and exhibition. The event’s sole purpose is to raise the money needed to fund the Costume Institute.

一切都在为服装学院今年最重要的盛事而备：春季展以及规模空前、万众瞩目的大都会艺术博物馆慈善晚会(Met Ball)。其它时装展览或发布会在业界的关注程度都难以望其项背。服装学院慈善晚会（这是现在的称呼）是公开展示纽约老牌时尚界在世纪之交的概貌。慈善晚会可谓一票难求。嘉宾名单以及其穿着都经安娜•温图尔以及其美国《Vogue》团队严格把关，安娜•温图尔将与伊德瑞斯•艾尔巴(Idris Elba)、泰勒•斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)以及苹果公司(Apple)首席设计师乔纳森•艾夫(Jonathan Ive)共同主持本届晚会，苹果公司是本届晚会与时装展览的赞助方。晚会只有一个目的：为服装学院筹措所需资金。

Manus x Machina will be the first exhibition to fall under Bolton’s full charge since he took over from Harold Koda as the Institute’s curator in charge in January. Once a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Bolton moved to the Met in 2002, where he has curated or co-curated 13 shows. He made his name with Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen show staged in 2011, a year after the designer’s death. It attracted 661,509 visitors, while last year, 815,992 visitors saw his exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass — making the exhibitions respectively the Met’s eighth- and fifth-most-visited shows in its 146-year history.

自今年一月取代哈罗德•柯达(Harold Koda)接任服装学院院长以来，“手工x机械”展将是波顿首次全权负责的展览。波顿曾是伦敦维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆(Victoria and Albert Museum)馆长，于2002年转投大都会艺术博物馆门下后，已单独或合作组织了13场展览。2011年，他因成功举办亚历山大•麦奎(Alexander McQueen)“野性之美 (Savage Beauty) ”的时装展而一举成名。就在一年前的2010年，亚历山大•麦奎就与世长辞。该展览吸引了661509名观众，而815992名观众在去年观看了他组织的 “中国：镜花水月”展(China: Through the Looking Glass)。在大都会艺术博物馆146年的建馆史上，这两次展览的观众人数分别高居第八、第九位。

The Costume Institute is housed in the basement of the Met’s north wing and includes an on-site storage facility containing most of its 35,000-piece collection. It also has a private library, still smelling of fresh wood from the 2014 renovations, where Bolton and I are now sharing tea and biscuits. Behind us is a life-sized caricature doll of Diana Vreeland, the former US Vogue editor who, in 1971, transformed the Costume Institute from being a fusty old repository for clothes into one of the world’s foremost destinations for radical fashion display. On her head sits a gold crown made by Stephen Jones, a remnant from last year’s China show.

服装学院位于大都会艺术博物馆北楼的地下室，拥有现成存放设施，里面安放着3.5万件时装藏品的大多数。服装学院还建有私人图书馆，这儿正是我与波顿共进茶点的地方，2014年重新装修使用的木板，还不时沁着阵阵清香。我俩身后是一尊美国《Vogue》前任主编黛安娜•弗里兰(Diana Vreeland)真人模样的漫画玩偶像。正是黛安娜•弗里兰在1971年把服装学院这个昔日存放破旧衣服的储物室脱胎换骨、成为全球最富盛名的激进式时尚展览圣地。在我俩头顶上方，则安放着一尊斯蒂芬•琼斯(Stephen Jones)设计的金冠，它是去年《中国：镜花水月》展览留存至今的东西。

Vreeland set the tone for eccentricity at the institute which Bolton continues to essay in his own English way today. Tall, slim and boyish, with British teeth, he is dressed in his daily uniform of a white shirt and slim-cut, cropped grey high-waisted trousers, both by his partner, the US designer Thom Browne. His accent is still English but he has learnt the American art of engagement. His talk is impassioned, his humour gleefully base and often self-deprecating. He laughs easily, before switching back to ideas that are complex and deeply felt.

弗里兰确立了服装学院另类风格的基调，如今波顿以特有的英国人方式继往开来。波顿身材瘦削、孩子气、长着一副典型的英国人牙齿，他穿着寻常西服——白衬衣配着灰色高腰修身九分裤，这两者都是其好友、美国设计师汤姆•布朗(Thom Browne)之大作。他说话仍带着英国腔，但已学会了美国式的待人接物。他说起话来充满激情，讲起幽默来既接地气又常带着自嘲。他爱笑，但很快就会归于高深莫测与发自肺腑的理念。

“I really want Manus x Machina to be like a manifesto of where I would like to take the Costume Institute,” he tells me. “Really it’s about trying to marry connoisseurship with cultural theory.” The McQueen show, with its single subject, was a rarity. Instead, Bolton’s interests lie in the position of fashion within a wider social and psychological context. During our 90-minute conversation, he details enough exhibition ideas to last a decade: a show based on Freud and fashion; a collaboration with fiction writers; a look at the impact of flawed bodies — Chanel created her famous two-tone pump, he says, to disguise her “really big feet”.

“我衷心希望‘手工x机械展’能成为自己建院理念的昭告，”他对我说。“真的，这就是设法把一流的鉴赏力与文化理论合二为一。”麦奎的“野性之美”单一主题时装展是空前绝后的展览。而波顿的兴趣在于时尚如何在更广义的社会与精神环境中定位。在我俩90分钟的访谈中，他详细介绍了持续10年的策展理念：建立在弗洛伊德(Freud)精神分析与流行时尚基础上的时装展、与科幻作家联手以及关注体型缺陷对时装的巨大影响——他说，香奈儿(Chanel)设计出著名的双色浅口鞋(two-tone pump)，巧妙遮掩了“大脚”女性的缺憾。

Manus x Machina will examine how man and machine-made processes have evolved and become entwined in fashion. “I didn’t want a show on fashion and technology,” he says. “I’m not a great fan of gadgets. I don’t find them that beautiful to look at. I’m interested in how technology has been incorporated as part of the creative process.”

"手工x机械展"将会探究手工与机器打造如何发展演变以及两者如何在时尚界“合璧”的历史进程。“我不想举办展现时尚与科技的展览。”他说，“我并非器械发烧友，我不觉得它们外观好看。我感兴趣的是科技如何融入时装设计、成为其组成部分。”

“When people present visions of the future, its utopian or dystopian. I think people expect this show to be daleks and it’s not. It looks at technology as something romantic,” says Bolton. “There’s a connection between fear and clothing,” he continues. “Was haute couture a reaction to the anxiety of the democratic possibilities of the sewing machine — the two came about in the same decade [the 1850s]?”

“当观众提出未来图景（不管是乌托邦还是反乌托邦）时，我认为他们预期这次展览就是呈现恐怖怪异的时装（象科幻片中的戴立克一样），但事实并非如此。本次时装展览把科技视为不乏浪漫气息的玩意儿。”波顿说，“在恐惧与时装之间有着‘姻亲’关系。”他继续道，“高级女装是对缝纫机（机器）实现规模化生产可能性的忧虑产物吗？——要知道，两者都出现在19世纪50年代。”

The exhibition’s genesis was a wedding dress from Karl Lagerfeld’s AW14 Chanel couture show. “It was made of a scuba knit, a completely synthetic material,” says Bolton. “The 14ft train was hand-embroidered, and made in a sort of computer pixelated pattern. From the front it was super-modern, and as she turned it was all [artisanal skill of] the hand. That was the inspiration for it.”

本次展览的发轫是老佛爷(Karl Lagerfeld)香奈儿2014年秋冬季高级女装展上的一件婚纱。“它由人工合成的涤氨纶针织面料打造而成。”波顿说，“14英尺长的拖裙(train)完全由手工绣就，并打造成电脑像素的模样。从正面欣赏，这件拖裙很新潮，但转过身看，是纯手工技艺的呈现。这正是它给我的启迪。”

The show leaps across decades to find contrasts and commonalities: a Pierre Cardin 3D heat-moulded dress from 1968 next to a similar 2015 work by Junya Watanabe; a 1952 Dior couture dress with floral embellishment next to a piece from Christopher Kane’s botanical “petal” collection from 2014.

本届展览跨越巨大时空，看到了不同时装的共性与反差：皮尔•卡丹(Pierre Cardin )1968年设计的一件3D热成型裙与渡边淳弥(Junya Watanabe)2015年设计的一件类似风格时装并肩而立；一件1952年的迪奥(Dior)花纹点缀礼服与克里斯托弗•凯恩(Christopher Kane) 2014年推出的“花瓣”系列时装并肩而立。

Bolton is enraptured by the narrative of clothing, rare in an industry that is rife with cynicism and ennui. “There is a sort of shamanistic quality to some works,” he says. For him there is great pleasure in understanding why a piece was made, and with what processes. “It’s actually not that complicated,” he says of a Proenza Schouler long-sleeve tiered dress. “The laser-cut leather has been applied to the garment by ultrasonic welding, so there’s no glue. The fabrics are bonded using high-frequency acoustics: only dogs can hear it. In Pennsylvania,” he says, deadpan.

波顿对于服装的历史沿革痴迷不已，这在冷嘲热讽与喜新厌旧之风盛行的时装界实属凤毛麟角。“有些经典时装有神奇灵性。”他说。在他看来，了解一款时装设计的前因后果以及相应过程其乐无穷。“其实这件时装并不复杂。”他指的是普罗恩萨•施罗(Proenza Schouler)的一款长袖层叠裙。“激光切割的真皮制作服装时运用超声波焊接，所以无需使用胶水。面料运用高频音粘结在一起：只有狗能听见这种声音。它在宾夕法尼亚打造。”他一脸严肃地说道。

“I’ve learnt so much from this because I’m such a technophobe,” he says of his research for the show. “Science was my least-favourite subject at school.”

“我从中获益匪浅，原因是本人是个十足的科技盲。”他指的是从本次展览的心得。“科学曾是自己学生时代最不受待见的课。”

Indeed, Bolton’s path into fashion was that of an outsider. He studied anthropology at the University of East Anglia before doing an MA in non-western art. His first curatorial role at the V&A was in the East Asia department, where he began to introduce examples of fashion into the collection. When he switched to the fashion department, he staged provocative exhibitions such as Men In Skirts, a show that is still referred to by young menswear designers finding a path through gender fluidity.

没错，波顿是以门外汉的身份进入时尚这一行。他毕业于英国东盎格利亚大学(University of East Anglia)人类学专业，而后获得非西方艺术的硕士学位。他在伦敦维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆的首份管理工作是在东亚分部(East Asia department)，在那儿他开始把相应的时装款式收藏入馆。转入时装部后，他策划了Men In Skirts等另类时装展，该展览仍被众多找寻流性设计的新锐男装设计师所借鉴。

Bolton’s exhibitions come from specific, considered beginnings, yet the results have proven exceedingly popular. “The beautiful thing about fashion and clothing is that it’s accessible,” he says. “We all wear it, so we all have an opinion about it. It’s unlike painting or sculpture, where people are almost afraid to voice their opinion because they don’t feel they know enough.”

波顿的展览在策划时，主题明确具体与深思熟虑，参展后却往往特受欢迎。“时尚与时装的妙处是它们可以亲身感知。”他说，“我们都得穿衣，因此都会形成相应看法。这与绘画与雕塑不同，观众往往不敢直抒胸臆，原因是总觉得自己知识不够渊博。”

Bolton still recognises the challenges of mounting fashion shows in an organisation that incorporates the entire spectrum and history of art. “Harold [Koda] always says the Costume Institute is like the Met’s pretty sister. It gets all the dates but none of the respect,” he says. “I know what he means by it.” But Bolton is benefiting from a new interest in the Met, especially with the recent opening of the contemporary galleries at Met Breuer in the old Whitney Museum building. “It’s an exciting time to be at the Met,” he says. “Apart from our department, it has always been very circumspect about the contemporary. But it’s paid off. It’s allowed us to see the mistakes of other institutions, and to approach it in a more thoughtful way.”

波顿仍认为在一家集艺术品类与丰富历史于一身的博物馆内举办时装展是巨大挑战。“哈罗德•柯达总说服装学院就像大都会艺术博物馆的漂亮姐姐。尽管约会一个不落，但却无果而终。”他说，“我知道他话中的寓意。”但波顿因大都会艺术博物馆再获世人青睐、尤其是最近随着收藏当代艺术精品的Met Breuer博物馆开馆而“大获其利”。Met Breuer设在昔日的惠特尼博物馆(Whitney Museum)大楼内。“如今在大都会艺术博物馆参观实属超值享受。”他说，“包括我们时装部，大都会艺术博物馆对当代艺术品一直精挑细选；但是参观大都会艺术博物馆非常值得，它能让观众看到其它博物馆的‘过失’，而且以后参观时更为有的放矢。”

Additionally, Bolton has found himself an unlikely film star: he plays a central role in First Monday In May, a documentary that follows preparations for last year’s China exhibition, and the Met Gala that launched it. “I had to have a few glasses of champagne and watch it on a really small screen so I couldn’t see myself,” he says. “I was really ambivalent about my role. I just thought it was going to be amazing for the museum. And once you commit to something, you have to really commit to it.”

此外，波顿发现自己根本不是当影星的料：他在《时尚恶魔的盛宴》(First Monday In May)中出任主角，这部记录片讲述了去年《中国：镜花水月》展览的整个准备过程以及介绍了举办大都会艺术博物馆慈善晚会的经过。“我当时不得不多喝几杯香槟壮胆，并在手机上观看视频，如此一来就看不清自己模样了。”他说，“我对所扮演的角色喜忧参半，我只是认为此举对大都会艺术博物馆大有裨益；而且做事不做则已，做就得全身心投入。”

The film further raises the institute’s profile, but he does have some regrets. “I look back at it now and I think, god, why didn’t I get an early night’s sleep? Why did I look so rough? Jeez, I should have washed my hair . . . ”

该部记录片大大提升了大都会艺术博物馆的知名度，但波顿仍有缺憾：“事后看它，我就对自己说：老天爷，自己当初为何不早点睡觉？自己形象如此糟糕？哎哟，当初应该好好洗个头……”

Last year’s Met Gala raised more than $12.5m, with the Institute’s entire budget paid for from its proceeds. It’s clear from the film, though, that Bolton’s focus is on the exhibition, not the event. “Anna and her team update me in terms of the gala but my role’s quite minimal,” he says. One scene towards the end of the film follows Bolton on the gala night as he walks through the exhibition alone. “It looks like I’m at a party I wasn’t invited to,” he says.

去年的大都会艺术博物馆慈善晚会筹措的善款超过了1250万美元，服装学院的所有预算都从这笔钱中开支。然而从记录片可以清楚看到：波顿的关注焦点是时装展览，而非慈善晚会本身。“就慈善晚会而言，安娜与其团队让我能够与时俱进，而本人的作用微乎其微。”他说。该记录片结尾处有一个镜头：在慈善晚会当晚，他独自一个人徒步走过时装展区。“这看上去像自己参加了一场没被邀请的晚宴。”他说。

His relationship with Wintour is close. “She’s really supportive,” he says. “Sometimes I’m struggling to get in contact with a designer [about] a decision made by them. I can ask Anna for advice and she always gives it. And her advice is always, ‘Andrew, edit, edit, edit.’ ”

他与温图尔的个人关系非常密切。“她真的很给力。”他说，“有时候，我想方设法接洽安娜他们敲定的设计师时，可以向其讨教一二，她总是不吝赐教，她总是这样说，‘安德鲁，按能否上《Vogue》的标准。’”

The film is striking for its number of English accents: especially in a study of such a quintessentially American institution. As well as Bolton and Wintour, the Met’s director Thomas P Campbell is also a Brit. “It’s funny,” he says, “I see myself as so much of a New Yorker, not as an Englishman in New York. I never did. Although when I hear my voice on the documentary, when it’s not with my face, I think, who’s that?”

该记录片因英国英语腔调“泛滥”而引人注目：尤其是全方位呈现如此威名赫赫的一所美国服装学院。除了波顿与温图尔外，大都会艺术博物馆的馆长托马斯•坎贝尔(Thomas P Campbell)同样是位英国佬。“这很有意思。”他说，“我自认为早已入乡随俗，而非定居纽约的英国人，从来都是这么认为。尽管我听到自己在记录片中的声音，没看到自己的模样时就会想，这位老兄是谁？”

Bolton’s workload is now in overdrive. “People saw the documentary and said, ‘Poor you, that show was so big and that’s why you were so behind.’ But pretty much every year is like that.” This year, they have been delayed by the rigour of the set-build, created in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas’s design studio OMA. “Minimalism is just so hard to do,” he jokes. “Worst-case scenario we’ll have three days to install 160 works.” Which means Bolton may well be installing dresses, right now.

波顿如今超负载工作。“观众看过记录片后会说，‘可怜的家伙，时装展览盛情空前，这就是你为何如此憔悴的原因。’但我每年都大同小异。”今年的展览因参展场地的严格要求而耽搁，参展场地与雷姆•库哈斯(Rem Koolhaas)的大都会建筑事务所(OMA)共同设计。“极简主义风格真是可欲不可求。”他笑着说，“最糟糕的情况是我们安放160件参展作品只有三天时间。”这意味着波顿很可能此时此刻在忙着安放时装。

Underneath it all, however, Bolton has a deeper reason for focusing the show so squarely on process. “I do think the moment in fashion is a bit of a house of cards. It’s alarming that design houses can’t keep their chief designers. Fashion is so fast that people are losing sight of the role of the designer and ideas of creativity. There are very valid concerns, and I do feel the fashion system needs to be addressed, for sure, but there’s so much incredible work being done in fashion. People lose sight of the materiality and artistry that goes into it.”

但是，波顿如此专心致志于时装展过程的背后安排有着更深层的原因。“我真的认为时装界的瞬间有些像用纸牌搭建的房子一样不牢靠。如今忧心忡忡的事是品牌公司无法长时间留住自己的设计总监。时尚界的发展瞬息万变，所以拥趸们忽视了设计师的作用以及其创意理念。有此担忧完全情有可原，我真的认为时尚体系需要明确应改革，但时装界的精品力作层出不穷。时尚粉丝们看不到为之付出的大量物力与心血。”

Manus x Machina may seem to be engaged with the future but Bolton’s intent is not to advocate a great leap forward. In fact, quite the opposite. “I hope this show allows people to refocus, and recalibrate, and to slow down,” he says.

《手作x 机械展》似乎着眼于未来，但波顿的目的并非倡导时尚“大跃进”，其实际意图正好相反。“我希望本届时装展能让观众重新聚焦、重新评估时尚发展方向，并放慢脚步。”他说。

It’s past 6pm and the museum is about to close. The biscuits are untouched, so he offers one to the librarian, still at work. “There’ll be crumbs all over the Helmut Newton book,” he says. And then heads back to work, the metal taps of his Thom Browne brogues clicking down the corridors as he goes.

不知不觉已是下午6点钟，博物馆准备闭馆。端上来的饼干丝毫未动，于是他给一位仍在工作的管理员递了一块。“赫姆•纽顿(Helmut Newton)的书里肯定满是饼干屑。”他说，说完就回去忙工作了，脚上穿的汤姆•布朗布洛克鞋鞋钉发出的“嗒嗒”声在走廊渐行渐远。