Forget Standing Tall, Female Models Make Slouching Look Good
When J. Mendel summoned a young model named Dalia Dubrindyte for a photo shoot last spring, the furrier known for swathing Jennifer Lopez in cotton-candy-pink mink knew it had found the right girl.
The fashion company had been chasing a celebrity to star in its fall ad campaign. But then 17-year-old Dalia arrived, put on the goods, and threw everybody a curve. "It was the way she stood," marvels creative director Kym Canter, who gave the model high marks for her height, her beauty -- and her slouch. With lynx-draped shoulders slumped forward in an unconventional pose, the model had a perfect attitude, says Ms. Canter: "I'm so beautiful, so rich, so bored. What's next?"
From editorial spreads in Elle and Vogue to ads for Perry Ellis, Marc Jacobs and Moschino -- as well as star turns on the Hollywood red carpet -- the sultry slouch is the latest fashion accessory for legions of well-heeled young women.
Next-generation actresses like Dakota Johnson and Alice Braga happily hunch in the October issue of Teen Vogue. They follow the lead of other young women such as Princeton student Lauren Bush, President Bush's niece, who helped legitimize the look in the magazine several issues ago. Other young female role models, like director Sofia Coppola, are often captured looking cool in a crouch. Even some store mannequins are stuck in a stoop.
"It's so glamorous, something different to do," says Neal Hamil, executive vice president of Ford Models Inc. "This isn't ugly slouching. When it's done right, it's magnificent."
Until the early 1990s, good posture -- think of women in power suits -- was in fashion. Even supermodels such as Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer made it chic to stand tall.
Now, as designers help usher in a new wave of elegance, luxury and lounging, the slouch offers a matter-of-fact way to express rebellious behavior and wealth. The message: "Come buy this $2,000 blouse, but wear it like you don't care," says Patti Wood, a body-language expert who performs celebrity posture analyses for magazines including Us Weekly and Cosmopolitan.
A slouching Dalia Dubrindyte sets the tone for furrier J. Mendel's ad campaign.
Like most things fashionable, the slouch is a reprise of looks past. In the 1920s, the debutante slouch was popular among well-to-do young women, according to fashion historian Caroline Rennolds Milbank. With hips thrust forward and a tucked-in chest, the pose was accentuated by the tubular, flapper-style dresses of the period. The old-school slump, says Ms. Milbank, "was supposed to look artificial, whereas now, [magazines and designers] are making it seem more natural."
Clothes today are just as expensive and designer-conscious as in other decadent fashion cycles. But the industry is projecting a different tone.
The 1980s and 1990s were "a very aggressive time in showing the world your luxury and your ability to consume," says David Wolfe, creative director of the Doneger Group, a New York fashion/trend consultancy. Today's mood, he says, "is about internalized wealth and private luxury; you're doing it for yourself. It's even more decadent to pretend the world isn't noticing your money."
In the September issue of Elle, one photo feature, called "Doll House," depicts a blonde with a sort of floppy-doll look, sweeping and smoking as she blithely exhibits such styles as a Marni $1,287 cotton-blend day coat (slouch to the left) and an embroidered tulle $10,378 gown from Dior's John Galliano (slouch to the right). With neat suburban lawns as backdrop, the layout makes the model's hipper-than-you pose seem as cool as the clothes.
But don't take it too seriously. "It's a dream," says Gilles Bensimon, publication director of Elle. "Women know that they don't have to copy the pose or the attitude of the girl."
Tell that to the would-be mannequins of Middle America. The slouch isn't sanctioned at Barbizon International, at least not in the modeling schools' official handbook. Its "perfect posture summary" has a checklist of dos and don'ts for attaining straightness in a "plumb line." (Do keep your head up from the crown; don't round your shoulders, don't slouch.) Still, that hasn't stopped students from bending the curriculum. "They flip through the pages [of fashion magazines] and mimic what they see," says Jaime Hatcher, owner of a Barbizon franchise in Knoxville, Tenn. "Anything that looks slouchy, they're all about it."
Some designers take a practical stance. Though Tracy Reese observes that some models "look like contortionists," she concedes that her styles can actually look better on a curved frame. Ms. Reese, who showed her spring 2005 collection in New York earlier this month, featured dresses with draping in the back and loose, barrel-shaped coats. The slouch, in its modified, moving runway form "gives a cool silhouette" to the clothes, she says. "The coat just hangs off the back, which is so groovy."
Already, the slouch is showing up in more mundane consumer advertising, notably in a recent ad campaign for Motorola's v810 cellphone, shot by fashion photographer Platon. In everyday life, the leaning look may be harder to spot. At Andrisen Morton Women's, a Denver boutique that carries such designer labels as Giorgio Armani, Loro Piana and Michael Kors, the slouch hasn't crept into consumers' consciousness. Says owner Dave Morton: "Our customers wear their clothing respectfully."
慵懒姿态成流行时尚
去年春天，当J. Mendel找到一个叫戴利亚?杜布林迪特(Dalia Dubrindyte)的女孩来做照片模特时，这家曾因给珍妮佛?洛佩兹(Jennifer Lopez)设计了一款cotton-candy-pink貂皮服饰而名声大震的皮草商知道自己找对人了。
这家时装公司一直在为自己秋季的广告宣传物色一个明星担任主角。然而，当17岁的戴利亚披上他们的新款系列时，在场的每个人不禁眼前一亮。“她站著的模样很特别，”创意总监金?坎特(Kym Canter)惊叹道。他对戴利亚的高度和美貌给予高度评价--尤其是她那股懒洋洋的劲儿。坎特女士说，两个肩膀像山猫一样地向前倾，这个不寻常的姿势使模特的气质得到完美烘托。“我是如此妩媚，如此富有，如此慵懒。还有什么比这更妙的呢？”
从《Elle》和《Vogue》的社论到佩里?艾理斯(Perry Ellis)、马克?雅各斯(Marc Jacobs)、莫奇诺(Moschino)的广告，到其他在好莱坞晚会上露面的明星，放荡的懒姿是眼下那些注重衣著品位的年轻女士最流行的时尚。
像达科他?约翰森(Dakota Johnson)和艾丽丝?布拉格(Alice Braga)这些年轻一代的女星在《Teen Vogue》10月刊上也以驼背懒姿示人。她们步的是其他一些年轻女性的后尘，如普林斯顿学生、布什总统的侄女劳伦?布什(Lauren Bush)。劳伦在早几期的杂志上为懒姿赢得了合法地位。其他年轻的女性典范，像导演索菲亚?科波拉(Sofia Coppola)就常常被人看见驼著背的样子，但很酷。甚至连商店里的模特也被做摆成驼背的样子。
“魅力十足、别具一格，”Ford Models Inc.执行副总裁尼尔?哈米尔(Neal Hamil)说。“我指的不是那种难看的懒散。做得恰到好处的话，真是棒极了。”
直到90年代初期，漂亮的姿势都是最流行的--我们可以回想一下女士穿大垫肩西装(power suit)的情形。俄米?坎贝尔(Naomi Campbell)和克劳迪亚?希弗(Claudia Schiffer)等超级名模神气十足的站姿曾经风行一时。
如今，随著设计师把人们领进到一个优雅、奢华、闲淡的新潮流，驼背的时尚成了表达反叛和富有的实实在在的方式。其中传达出一个信息：“来买这件2000美元的上衣吧，但要穿成满不在乎的样子，”身体语言专家帕蒂?伍德(Patti Wood)说。伍德为Us Weekly、Cosmopolitan等杂志提供名人姿态方面的分析。
戴利亚?杜布林迪特的懒散风姿定下了皮草商J. Mendel广告宣传的基调。
正如大多数流行现象一样，懒散的姿势不过是一个历史乐章的重奏。据时尚史学家卡洛琳?雷诺?米尔班克(Caroline Rennolds Milbank)称，在19世纪20年代，初次参加社交活动时就表现出懒散的样子在当时有钱的年轻女子中很流行。翘臀、弓背，加上当时流行的苍蝇拍式管状连衣裙，真是懒劲十足。米尔班克说，老式的懒散显得很刻意，而现在，杂志和设计师使这种风格更自然了。
时下的服装跟其他时尚一样讲究昂贵和设计师的品味。而这个行业正在使它投射出别样的韵味。
纽约时尚潮流顾问公司Doneger Group创意总监大卫?沃尔夫(David Wolfe)称，80和90年代是“张扬、大胆的时代，人们要向全世界炫耀自己的奢侈和消费能力”。他说：“如今的情调却在于将财富和个人奢侈内在化，行为是为了自己本身。故意假装全世界都没注意到你的钱则显得更有意味。”
在《Elle》的9月刊上有一张名为“娃娃屋”(Doll House)的特写照片，照片上的金发女郎做慵懒的娃娃状而不失愉悦，展示的新款潮流包括价值1287美元的Marni棉混纺外套和Dior设计师约翰?加利亚诺(John Galliano)创作的一件10378美元的薄纱花边睡袍。整个画面以平整的郊外草坪为背景，模特被衬托得就像里面的服饰一样酷。
不过可别太认真。“这不过是个梦想，” 《Elle》发行总监吉勒斯?本斯蒙(Gilles Bensimon)说。“女士们很清楚不必照搬这个女孩的姿势和态度。”
这一点要让那些可能成为模特的中美洲女孩们明白。懒散并未得到Barbizon International的认可，至少不会出现在模特学校的正式学习手册上。Barbizon International的“完美姿态概要”列出了种种要求事项，为的是要把模特训练得像铅垂线一样直（例如，要昂首挺胸，双肩不能窝著，不能无精打采）。尽管如此，还是有学员擅改课程要求。“她们流览时装杂志，模仿从中看到的东西，”田纳西州诺克斯维尔市一家Barbizon授权店的老板贾米?哈切特(Jaime Hatcher)说。“那些懒散颓废的东西，她们照搬不误。”
一些设计师开始在实际设计中融入这种风格。特蕾西?瑞斯(Tracy Reese)虽然发现一些模特“看起来像柔术演员”，但还是承认她的设计用曲架展示效果更好。瑞斯最近在纽约展示了她设计的2005春装系列，其中亮点就包括黑色皱褶连衣裙和桶形的宽松外套。里斯说，这种改良的飞机跑道式的懒散风格使服装的“外形很酷”。“整件衣服就像随意地挂在背上一样，很帅气。”
懒散之风已经开始蔓延至更大众化的消费者广告中，尤其是最近由时尚摄影师普雷顿(Platon)拍摄的摩托罗拉v810手机广告。然而，在日常生活中，懒散的面貌也许很难看到。丹佛一家服饰店Andrisen Morton Women's出售Giorgio Armani、Loro Piana、Michael Kors等名牌服饰，但散淡的风格并未引起消费者的注意。店主戴夫?莫顿(Dave Morton)说：“我们的客户穿著都很体面。”
