"For me, nude would be if I wore brown," says Dodai Stewart, deputy editor of Jezebel. "I do think that it really is exclusionary not to realise that this is not nude for everyone."
But it isn’t just the description of a colour that is potentially offensive here, it’s also the way the look is styled, the conception of the entire trend. On the cover of May’s InStyle, actor Gemma Arterton appears in a frock so close to her skin tone that it seems to seep into her chest and shoulders, the two adjacent pallors of flesh and dress somehow bleaching each other out, lightening further the overall look. On the catwalks in Paris, Milan, London and New York, these pale shades were presented almost uniformly on pale skins. It’s a look that’s all about white skin.
"Obama looks amazing," says Reina Lewis, professor of cultural studies at the London College of Fashion. "It’s a fabulous dress. But on her skin ’nude’ is revealed as a colour rather than neutral."
Indeed it seems misplaced to think of these shades as neutral, when the debate makes clear that this trend is anything but. Pantone, the world-renowned authority on colour, may have a "nude" shade, thereby conferring a certain official acceptability on all those magazines’ usage of the term. But then another N-word was once commonly used in clothes catalogues to describe a chocolatey shade of brown. (Yes, THAT N-word.) Will "nude" one day strike us as equally horrifying?
【重点单词及短语】
du jour 当今的;今日特色的
cause a stir 引起轰动;引发骚动
frock n. 女装;连衣裙
pass over 越过;忽略;回避;不注意
furore n. 勃然大怒;公众骚动
see-through adj. 透明的;穿透的
get worked up 特别生气;不开心
in this regard 就这一点而言
cross out 删去;注销
black up 把……弄黑
few and far between 稀少;彼此相距很远;不常发生
complexion n. 肤色;面色
deputy editor 副主编
exclusionary adj. 排他的
seep into 渗入;流入;影响到
bleach out 漂白;褪色
is anything but 绝对不是
confer on 授予;授给
Question time:
1. Why did Michelle Obama’s frock caused controversy?
2. Is "nude" proper according to the author’s opinion? Why?
