Parents picked out a T-shirt, the school dictated what colour our trousers should be.

父母挑選了一件 T 恤；學校決定了我們的褲子該穿什麼顏色。

But at some point, we were granted the opportunity to discover who we might be in the world of clothes.

曾幾何時，我們擁有機會，我們可以成為自己衣著的主人。

We had to decide for ourselves about collars and necklines, fit, colours, patterns, textures, and what goes (or doesn't) with what.

我們必須自己來決定衣領和領口的樣式、合身度、顏色、花紋、質料，以及有什麼可以 (或不可以) 穿搭的。

We learnt to speak about ourselves in the language of garments.

我們學會了用服裝展現自我。

Despite the potential silliness and exaggeration of sections of the fashion industry, assembling a wardrobe is a serious and meaningful exercise.

儘管時尚界潛存著愚蠢和浮誇，但如何將衣著呈現出整體穿搭美感卻是一項嚴肅而饒富意義的工作。

Based on our looks or background, others are always liable to come to quick and not very rounded decisions about who we are.

人們經常根據我們的外表或背景就草率地對我們做出評價。

Too often, their judgment doesn't quite get us right.

但大多數的時候，他們的判斷並不完全正確。

They might assume that because of where we come from, we must be quite snobbish or rather resentful; based on our work we might get typecast as dour or superficial;

他們可能會認為，就因為我們來自某處，所以我們一定是勢利或憤世的人；我們可能因為我們的工作，就被認定是個深沉或膚淺的人；

the fact that we're very sporty might lead people to see us as not terribly intelligent; or an attachment to a particular political outlook might be associated with being unnervingly earnest.

如果我們是運動高手，又會被認定是只有肌肉而無大腦；或者對於某些事情不苟言笑的態度，則可能被貼上特定政治傾向的標籤。

Clothes provide us with a major opportunity to correct some of these assumptions.

我們的穿著，給我們一個大好機會去改變這種刻版印象。

When we get dressed, we are, in effect, operating as a tour guide, offering to show people around ourselves.

當我們裝扮好自己時，實際上，就像個導遊，正帶向著周遭的人導覽自己。

We're highlighting interesting or attractive things about who we are and, in the process, we're clearing up misconceptions.

我們凸顯出自己風趣迷人的一面，同時，我們一併清除了別人對我們的錯誤印象。

We're acting like artists painting a self-portrait, deliberately guiding the viewer's perception of who they might be.

我們就像藝術家在畫自畫像一樣：刻意地引導觀眾去看到藝術家想展示的自我。

In 1961, the English painter Peter Blake portrayed himself wearing a denim jacket, jeans, and trainers.

1961 年，英國畫家彼得布萊克畫出自己身穿牛仔夾克，牛仔褲和運動鞋的樣子。

He was deliberately nuancing the view most of his contemporaries would have had of him, based on knowing that he was a successful and rather intellectual painter.

他有意地在小細節上去改變當代大多數人對他的印象：基於大家知道他是一位成功的又聰明的畫家。

He might have been thought of as slightly aloof and highly refined, detached from⏤and censorious of⏤ordinary life.

他可能被認為是一個略為冷漠又高雅，挑惕又不食人間煙火的人。

But his clothes speak about very different aspects of his personality: They go out of their way to tell us that he's quite modest, he's interested in talking about pop music, he sees his art largely as a kind of manual labour.

但是他的穿著告訴了我們，他不為人知的一面：他的穿著很努力的告訴我們，他很謙虛、喜歡流行音樂；他把自己從事的藝術當做是一種體力勞動。

His clothes, like ours, give us a crucial introduction to the self.

他的衣著，和我們一樣，給了我們一個很具代表性的自我介紹。

This explains the curious phenomenon whereby, if we're staying with good friends, we can spend a lot less time thinking about our clothes, compared with the anxiety about what to wear that can grip us with strangers.

這解釋了一個奇特的現象，即如果我們和好朋友聚會，較之與陌生人聚會我們對穿著的焦慮感相比，我們比較不需要去煩惱該穿什麼。

With good friends, we might sit around in a dressing gown or just hastily slip on any old jumper.

和好朋友在一起，我們可能會穿著睡衣，或只是匆匆穿件套頭衫就可以聊開了。

They know who we are already, and they're not relying on our clothes for clues.

朋友已經知道我們是誰了；他們不需要透過我們的衣著來了解我們。

It's a strange but profound fact that certain items of clothing can excite us.

某些服裝可以使我們興奮，這是一個奇特令人難解的事實。

When we put them on or see others wearing them, we're turned on⏤a particular style of jacket, the right kind of shoes, or the perfect shirt might prove so erotic we could almost do without a person wearing them.

當我們或看到別人穿上它時，我們的激情就被啟動了：一件很特別的外套，合你心意的鞋子或襯衫都可以變得很煽情，甚至不用穿在人身上，我們看到這些東西就會興奮起來。

It's tempting to see this kind of fetishism as simply deluded, but it is alerting us in an exaggerated way to a much more general and very normal idea that certain clothes make us very happy.

我們很容易將這種戀物癖簡化成對物品的迷戀，但它卻以誇張的方式，告訴我們一個更普通且正常的觀念：某些衣服讓我們感到特別高興。

They capture values that we're drawn and want to get closer to.

它抓住了我們我們心中渴望的價值觀。

The erotic component is just an extension of a more general and understandable sympathy.

色情元素只是一個更普遍和可被理解的心理的延伸。

The French novelist Stendhal wrote: "Beauty is the promise of happiness."

法國小說家 Stendhal 寫道：「美是幸福的承諾。」

And every item of clothing we're drawn to contains an allusion to a different sort of happiness.

每一件吸引我們的服裝，都代表著著一種不同的幸福。

We might see a very desirable kind of competence and confidence in a particular pair of boots.

我們可能透過一雙特別的靴子，看到一種非凡的能力和自信。

We might meet generosity in a woollen coat or a touching kind of innocence in a hemline.

我們可能在羊毛大衣的背後看到一顆慷慨的心，或透過流行的服飾看到令人感動的純真。

A particular watchstrap may sum up dignity.

一隻特殊的手錶可以是尊嚴的象徵。

The way a specific collar encases the neck could strike us as commanding and authoritative.

脖子上豎著獨特的衣領，可能代表了領導和威權。

The classic fetishist might be pushing their particular attachments to a maximum and be rather restricted in the choice of items they favour, but they are latching on to a general theme: Clothes embody values that enchant and beguile us.

典型的戀物癖者愛上一樣東西就會愛到極致，而他們只喜歡某些特定的東西，但他們都有一個共同的主軸：我們長久以來迷戀以貌取人的價值觀具體展現在服裝上。

By choosing particular sorts of clothes, we are shoring up our more fragile or tentative characteristics.

透過選擇特定的服裝，可以看出我們脆弱，或是猶豫不決的性格。

We're both communicating to others about who we are and strategically reminding ourselves:

我們與別人溝通的同時，也在提醒自己：

Our wardrobes contain some of our most carefully-written lines of autobiography.

我們的衣著，代表著一些我們最精心編寫的自傳。