專訪Met服裝大展出品人
“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.
“這就是塗了硅酮料的海鷗頭。”49歲的英國人安德魯•波頓(Andrew Bolton)解釋道，他是紐約大都會藝術博物館服裝學院(Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art)院長。他正仔細看着荷蘭設計師艾里斯•範•荷本(Iris van Herpen)設計的一款裙子，這件散射狀硅酮海鷗頭凝固的運動瞬間，做出一飛沖天的模樣。這件裙子會在“手工x機械展：科技時代的時裝展(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.
我倆就站在安娜•溫圖爾時裝設計中心(Anna Wintour Costume Center)的節能館（自2014年以來，服裝學院展覽館就被改爲現名）。舉目望去，四周掛着各式經典時裝。工作臺上覆蓋着薄紙，旁邊則放着板條箱，裏面裝着專門運送而來的各品牌經典時裝。“這件是晚禮服。”波頓指着另一件範•荷本設計的時裝說，參差不齊的外形彷彿已被磁鐵吸出似的。“這種樹脂面料裏放入了鐵屑。”他解釋道。
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.
這間展廳與其說是安靜的高級女裝展室，倒不如說更像是網絡科技會所。在角落處掛着侯賽因•卡拉揚(Hussein Chalayan)設計的一款時裝：花粉狀紙片在電線上翩翩起舞。桌子上則放着三宅一生(Issey Miyake)的A-POC時裝，這是嘗試從一卷面料中切割、而後在20個連體模特身上展示的時裝。“這酷似《人體蜈蚣》(The Human Centipede)。”波頓說，他指的是2009年推出的那部恐怖片《人體蜈蚣》。
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.
一切都在爲服裝學院今年最重要的盛事而備：春季展以及規模空前、萬衆矚目的大都會藝術博物館慈善晚會(Met Ball)。其它時裝展覽或發佈會在業界的關注程度都難以望其項背。服裝學院慈善晚會（這是現在的稱呼）是公開展示紐約老牌時尚界在世紀之交的概貌。慈善晚會可謂一票難求。嘉賓名單以及其穿着都經安娜•溫圖爾以及其美國《Vogue》團隊嚴格把關，安娜•溫圖爾將與伊德瑞斯•艾爾巴(Idris Elba)、泰勒•斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)以及蘋果公司(Apple)首席設計師喬納森•艾夫(Jonathan Ive)共同主持本屆晚會，蘋果公司是本屆晚會與時裝展覽的贊助方。晚會只有一個目的：爲服裝學院籌措所需資金。
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.
自今年一月取代哈羅德•柯達(Harold Koda)接任服裝學院院長以來，“手工x機械”展將是波頓首次全權負責的展覽。波頓曾是倫敦維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館(Victoria and Albert Museum)館長，於2002年轉投大都會藝術博物館門下後，已單獨或合作組織了13場展覽。2011年，他因成功舉辦亞歷山大•麥奎(Alexander McQueen)“野性之美 (Savage Beauty) ”的時裝展而一舉成名。就在一年前的2010年，亞歷山大•麥奎就與世長辭。該展覽吸引了661509名觀衆，而815992名觀衆在去年觀看了他組織的 “中國：鏡花水月”展(China: Through the Looking Glass)。在大都會藝術博物館146年的建館史上，這兩次展覽的觀衆人數分別高居第八、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.
服裝學院位於大都會藝術博物館北樓的地下室，擁有現成存放設施，裏面安放着3.5萬件時裝藏品的大多數。服裝學院還建有私人圖書館，這兒正是我與波頓共進茶點的地方，2014年重新裝修使用的木板，還不時沁着陣陣清香。我倆身後是一尊美國《Vogue》前任主編黛安娜•弗裏蘭(Diana Vreeland)真人模樣的漫畫玩偶像。正是黛安娜•弗裏蘭在1971年把服裝學院這個昔日存放破舊衣服的儲物室脫胎換骨、成爲全球最富盛名的激進式時尚展覽聖地。在我倆頭頂上方，則安放着一尊斯蒂芬•瓊斯(Stephen Jones)設計的金冠，它是去年《中國：鏡花水月》展覽留存至今的東西。
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.
弗裏蘭確立了服裝學院另類風格的基調，如今波頓以特有的英國人方式繼往開來。波頓身材瘦削、孩子氣、長着一副典型的英國人牙齒，他穿着尋常西服——白襯衣配着灰色高腰修身九分褲，這兩者都是其好友、美國設計師湯姆•布朗(Thom Browne)之大作。他說話仍帶着英國腔，但已學會了美國式的待人接物。他說起話來充滿激情，講起幽默來既接地氣又常帶着自嘲。他愛笑，但很快就會歸於高深莫測與發自肺腑的理念。
“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機械展’能成爲自己建院理念的昭告，”他對我說。“真的，這就是設法把一流的鑑賞力與文化理論合二爲一。”麥奎的“野性之美”單一主題時裝展是空前絕後的展覽。而波頓的興趣在於時尚如何在更廣義的社會與精神環境中定位。在我倆90分鐘的訪談中，他詳細介紹了持續10年的策展理念：建立在弗洛伊德(Freud)精神分析與流行時尚基礎上的時裝展、與科幻作家聯手以及關注體型缺陷對時裝的巨大影響——他說，香奈兒(Chanel)設計出著名的雙色淺口鞋(two-tone pump)，巧妙遮掩了“大腳”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機械展"將會探究手工與機器打造如何發展演變以及兩者如何在時尚界“合璧”的歷史進程。“我不想舉辦展現時尚與科技的展覽。”他說，“我並非器械發燒友，我不覺得它們外觀好看。我感興趣的是科技如何融入時裝設計、成爲其組成部分。”
“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]?”
“當觀衆提出未來圖景（不管是烏托邦還是反烏托邦）時，我認爲他們預期這次展覽就是呈現恐怖怪異的時裝（象科幻片中的戴立克一樣），但事實並非如此。本次時裝展覽把科技視爲不乏浪漫氣息的玩意兒。”波頓說，“在恐懼與時裝之間有着‘姻親’關係。”他繼續道，“高級女裝是對縫紉機（機器）實現規模化生產可能性的憂慮產物嗎？——要知道，兩者都出現在19世紀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.”
本次展覽的發軔是老佛爺(Karl Lagerfeld)香奈兒2014年秋冬季高級女裝展上的一件婚紗。“它由人工合成的滌氨綸針織面料打造而成。”波頓說，“14英尺長的拖裙(train)完全由手工繡就，並打造成電腦像素的模樣。從正面欣賞，這件拖裙很新潮，但轉過身看，是純手工技藝的呈現。這正是它給我的啓迪。”
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.
本屆展覽跨越巨大時空，看到了不同時裝的共性與反差：皮爾•卡丹(Pierre Cardin )1968年設計的一件3D熱成型裙與渡邊淳彌(Junya Watanabe)2015年設計的一件類似風格時裝並肩而立；一件1952年的迪奧(Dior)花紋點綴禮服與克里斯托弗•凱恩(Christopher Kane) 2014年推出的“花瓣”系列時裝並肩而立。
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.
波頓對於服裝的歷史沿革癡迷不已，這在冷嘲熱諷與喜新厭舊之風盛行的時裝界實屬鳳毛麟角。“有些經典時裝有神奇靈性。”他說。在他看來，瞭解一款時裝設計的前因後果以及相應過程其樂無窮。“其實這件時裝並不複雜。”他指的是普羅恩薩•施羅(Proenza Schouler)的一款長袖層疊裙。“激光切割的真皮製作服裝時運用超聲波焊接，所以無需使用膠水。面料運用高頻音粘結在一起：只有狗能聽見這種聲音。它在賓夕法尼亞打造。”他一臉嚴肅地說道。
“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.”
“我從中獲益匪淺，原因是本人是個十足的科技盲。”他指的是從本次展覽的心得。“科學曾是自己學生時代最不受待見的課。”
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.
沒錯，波頓是以門外漢的身份進入時尚這一行。他畢業於英國東盎格利亞大學(University of East Anglia)人類學專業，而後獲得非西方藝術的碩士學位。他在倫敦維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館的首份管理工作是在東亞分部(East Asia department)，在那兒他開始把相應的時裝款式收藏入館。轉入時裝部後，他策劃了Men In Skirts等另類時裝展，該展覽仍被衆多找尋流性設計的新銳男裝設計師所借鑑。
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.”
波頓的展覽在策劃時，主題明確具體與深思熟慮，參展後卻往往特受歡迎。“時尚與時裝的妙處是它們可以親身感知。”他說，“我們都得穿衣，因此都會形成相應看法。這與繪畫與雕塑不同，觀衆往往不敢直抒胸臆，原因是總覺得自己知識不夠淵博。”
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.”
波頓仍認爲在一家集藝術品類與豐富歷史於一身的博物館內舉辦時裝展是巨大挑戰。“哈羅德•柯達總說服裝學院就像大都會藝術博物館的漂亮姐姐。儘管約會一個不落，但卻無果而終。”他說，“我知道他話中的寓意。”但波頓因大都會藝術博物館再獲世人青睞、尤其是最近隨着收藏當代藝術精品的Met Breuer博物館開館而“大獲其利”。Met Breuer設在昔日的惠特尼博物館(Whitney Museum)大樓內。“如今在大都會藝術博物館參觀實屬超值享受。”他說，“包括我們時裝部，大都會藝術博物館對當代藝術品一直精挑細選；但是參觀大都會藝術博物館非常值得，它能讓觀衆看到其它博物館的‘過失’，而且以後參觀時更爲有的放矢。”
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，波頓發現自己根本不是當影星的料：他在《時尚惡魔的盛宴》(First Monday In May)中出任主角，這部記錄片講述了去年《中國：鏡花水月》展覽的整個準備過程以及介紹了舉辦大都會藝術博物館慈善晚會的經過。“我當時不得不多喝幾杯香檳壯膽，並在手機上觀看視頻，如此一來就看不清自己模樣了。”他說，“我對所扮演的角色喜憂參半，我只是認爲此舉對大都會藝術博物館大有裨益；而且做事不做則已，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 . . . ”
該部記錄片大大提升了大都會藝術博物館的知名度，但波頓仍有缺憾：“事後看它，我就對自己說：老天爺，自己當初爲何不早點睡覺？自己形象如此糟糕？哎喲，當初應該好好洗個頭……”
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.
去年的大都會藝術博物館慈善晚會籌措的善款超過了1250萬美元，服裝學院的所有預算都從這筆錢中開支。然而從記錄片可以清楚看到：波頓的關注焦點是時裝展覽，而非慈善晚會本身。“就慈善晚會而言，安娜與其團隊讓我能夠與時俱進，而本人的作用微乎其微。”他說。該記錄片結尾處有一個鏡頭：在慈善晚會當晚，他獨自一個人徒步走過時裝展區。“這看上去像自己參加了一場沒被邀請的晚宴。”他說。
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.’ ”
他與溫圖爾的個人關係非常密切。“她真的很給力。”他說，“有時候，我想方設法接洽安娜他們敲定的設計師時，可以向其討教一二，她總是不吝賜教，她總是這樣說，‘安德魯，按能否上《Vogue》的標準。’”
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?”
該記錄片因英國英語腔調“氾濫”而引人注目：尤其是全方位呈現如此威名赫赫的一所美國服裝學院。除了波頓與溫圖爾外，大都會藝術博物館的館長托馬斯•坎貝爾(Thomas P Campbell)同樣是位英國佬。“這很有意思。”他說，“我自認爲早已入鄉隨俗，而非定居紐約的英國人，從來都是這麼認爲。儘管我聽到自己在記錄片中的聲音，沒看到自己的模樣時就會想，這位老兄是誰？”
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.
波頓如今超負載工作。“觀衆看過記錄片後會說，‘可憐的傢伙，時裝展覽盛情空前，這就是你爲何如此憔悴的原因。’但我每年都大同小異。”今年的展覽因參展場地的嚴格要求而耽擱，參展場地與雷姆•庫哈斯(Rem Koolhaas)的大都會建築事務所(OMA)共同設計。“極簡主義風格真是可欲不可求。”他笑着說，“最糟糕的情況是我們安放160件參展作品只有三天時間。”這意味着波頓很可能此時此刻在忙着安放時裝。
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，波頓如此專心致志於時裝展過程的背後安排有着更深層的原因。“我真的認爲時裝界的瞬間有些像用紙牌搭建的房子一樣不牢靠。如今憂心忡忡的事是品牌公司無法長時間留住自己的設計總監。時尚界的發展瞬息萬變，所以擁躉們忽視了設計師的作用以及其創意理念。有此擔憂完全情有可原，我真的認爲時尚體系需要明確應改革，但時裝界的精品力作層出不窮。時尚粉絲們看不到爲之付出的大量物力與心血。”
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 機械展》似乎着眼於未來，但波頓的目的並非倡導時尚“大躍進”，其實際意圖正好相反。“我希望本屆時裝展能讓觀衆重新聚焦、重新評估時尚發展方向，並放慢腳步。”他說。
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.
不知不覺已是下午6點鐘，博物館準備閉館。端上來的餅乾絲毫未動，於是他給一位仍在工作的管理員遞了一塊。“赫姆•紐頓(Helmut Newton)的書裏肯定滿是餅乾屑。”他說，說完就回去忙工作了，腳上穿的湯姆•布朗布洛克鞋鞋釘發出的“嗒嗒”聲在走廊漸行漸遠。
