PART 4

Good morning.

早上好。

Now, we've been asked to choose an aspect of European clothing or fashion and to talk about its development over time.

现在，有人要求我们选择欧洲服装或时尚的一个方面，并探讨其随时间而产生的变化。

I decided to focus on a rather small area of clothing and that's pockets.

我决定聚焦在服装上很小的一部分，那就是口袋。

I chose pockets for two reasons, really.

我选择口袋有两个原因。

We all have them – in jeans, jackets, coats, for example – and even though we often carry bags or briefcases as well, nothing is quite as convenient as being able to pop your phone or credit card into your pocket.

我们的衣服，比如牛仔裤、夹克、外套，都有口袋。尽管我们也经常背背包或公文包，但没有什么比将手机或信用卡放入口袋更方便的了。

Yet, I suspect that, other than that, people don't really think about pockets too much and they're rather overlooked as a fashion item.

然而，我怀疑，除了这个作用，人们不会过多地思考口袋的意义。而且，作为一种时尚单品，口袋往往被忽视了。

It's certainly very interesting to go back in time and see how pockets developed for men and women.

有趣的是我们可以回到过去，看看男性和女性的口袋是如何发展变化的。

In the 18th century, fashions were quite different from the way they are now, and pockets were too.

世纪的时尚与现在大不相同，口袋的样式也天差地别。

If we think about male fashion first … that was the time when suits became popular.

如果我们先聊男性时尚，会发现那是西装流行的时期。

Trousers were knee-length only and referred to as ‘breeches', the waistcoats were short and the jackets were long, but all three garments were lined with material and pockets were sewn into this cloth by whichever tailor the customer used.

西裤被称为“马裤”，裤长只到膝盖。背心短，夹克长。但这三件都有里衬。不论哪一个裁缝都会把口袋封在内衬上。

The wearer could then carry small objects such as pencils or coins on their person and reach them through a gap in the lining.

然后，穿西装的人可以随身携带铅笔或硬币等小物件，通过衬里的缝隙就能够到它们。

Coat pockets became increasingly decorative on the outside for men who wanted to look stylish, but they were often larger but plainer if the wearer was someone with a profession who needed to carry medical instruments – a doctor or physician, for example.

对于想要看起来时尚的男士来说，外套的外侧口袋变得越来越具有装饰性。但如果穿衣服的人从事的是需要携带医疗器械的职业——例如医生或医师，他们的口袋通常会更大但更朴素。

The development of women's pockets was a little different.

女士口袋的发展略有不同。

For one thing, they weren't nearly as visible or as easy to reach as men's.

一方面，女装口袋不像男装口袋那样显眼，也不容易够到。

In the 18th and 19th centuries, women carried numerous possessions on their person and some of these could be worth a lot of money.

在18和19世纪，女性随身携带着许多财物，其中一些可能价值不菲。

Women were more vulnerable to theft and wealthy women, in particular, worried constantly about pickpockets.

女性更容易被盗窃，尤其是富有的女性，她们总是担心扒手。

So – what they did was to have a pair of pockets made that were tied together with string.

所以她们用的是用绳子系在一起的口袋。

The pockets were made of fabric, which might be recycled cloth if the wearer had little money or something more expensive, such as linen, sometimes featuring very delicate embroidery.

口袋是用布料做的。如果她们没有钱或更贵的材料，例如亚麻布，也可以使用旧布。有时口袋上带有非常精致的刺绣。

Women tied the pockets around their waist so that they hung beneath their clothes.

女人把口袋系在腰上，这样口袋就挂在衣服下面。

Remember, skirts were long then and there was plenty of room to hide a whole range of small possessions between the layers of petticoats that were commonly worn.

请记住，那时的裙子很长。在通常穿着的衬裙层之间有足够的空间来隐藏各种小物件。

They would have an opening in the folds of their skirts through which they could reach whatever they needed, like their perfume.

她们的裙子褶皱处会有一个开口，她们可以通过这个开口拿到任何需要的东西，比如香水。

Working women, of course, also needed to carry around items that they might use for whatever job or trade they were involved in, but their pairs of pockets still remained on the inside of their clothing, they just got bigger or longer – sometimes reaching down to their knees!

当然，职业女性也需要随身携带她们可能用于办公或者做买卖所需的任何物品，但她们的口袋仍然留在衣服内侧，只是变大或变长，有时会到膝盖处！

So the tie-on pockets went well into the 19th century and only changed when fashion altered towards the end of that period.

因此，系带口袋一直延续到19世纪，直到世纪末时尚发生变化时才有了改变。

That's when dresses became tighter and less bulky, and the pairs of pockets became very noticeable – they stood out too much and detracted from the woman's image.

那时裙子变得更紧身，不再笨重。一对袋子变得非常引人注目，太过突出，有损女性形象。

Women who had been used to carrying around a range of personal possessions – and still wanted to – needed somewhere to carry these items about their person.

习惯于随身携带各种个人物品的女性不愿意改变，所以需要找个地方装下随身携带的这些物品。

That was when small bags, or pouches as they were known, came into fashion and, of course, they inevitably led on to the handbag of more modern times, particularly when fashion removed pockets altogether.

那时小包也就是众所周知的手袋开始流行，当然，当时尚风潮彻底抛弃口袋的时候，手袋不可避免地演变成了更具现代感的手提包。