喜歡美式穿搭風(fēng)格的寶寶們,一定聽說過時尚品牌Abercrombie & Fitch(簡稱A&F)吧。

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這個1892年就創(chuàng)立于美國紐約的百年品牌,曾火遍全球,成為青少年文化的一部分,但后來卻迅速flop,淪落成二三線品牌,無人問津。

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最近Netflix 就出了一個紀(jì)錄片,講述A&F的衰落之路——

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White Hot:?

The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch

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曾幾何時,說到 A&F這個品牌,我們的腦子里下意識就會想到肌肉男、門面夜店風(fēng)和大排長龍的銷售場面。當(dāng)年他們家的營銷真的有毒,每開一家新店,就會請一群半裸男模在店前站臺,引得路人紛紛側(cè)目:這賣的是哪門子衣服?

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但其實你知道嗎,A&F一開始還是個蠻正經(jīng)的服裝公司,專門為特別的一群戶外運動愛好者和常春藤精英提供優(yōu)質(zhì)的露營裝備,釣魚裝備和狩獵裝備,直到麥克·杰弗里斯(Mike Jeffries)成為CEO接手了公司。

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Jefferies hired Bruce Weber, a famous fashion photographer with a signature style of capturing the eroticism of the male physique.?
杰弗里斯聘請了布魯斯·韋伯,他是一位著名的時尚攝影師,以捕捉男性體態(tài)的色情一面為自己的標(biāo)志性風(fēng)格。
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“He found a way to connect the heritage of Abercrombie as established in 1892, catering to elite privileged people. And combined it with this very sexy, sexual imagery,” New York Times business reporter Sapna Maheshwari said.
“他找到了一種方法,在成立于1892年的A&F公司所擁有的為精英特權(quán)人士服務(wù)的傳統(tǒng)上,結(jié)合這種非常性感、與性相關(guān)的意象。”《紐約時報》商業(yè)記者薩普納·馬赫什瓦里說。
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從此,A&F的宣傳照就變成了這個風(fēng)格:

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“大表姐”詹妮弗·勞倫斯(Jennifer Lawrence)、“霉霉”泰勒·斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)等在成名之前都曾為A&F拍攝廣告。

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而為了吸引年輕顧客們走進(jìn)店面,麥克·杰弗里斯也是沒少在店內(nèi)的環(huán)境花心思下功夫。
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Shirtless male greeters were placed in front of the door, to help sell the mix of All-American and sex that Abercrombie had built its brand on (think the middle ground between Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren).?
赤裸上身的男性迎賓員被安排在門店門口,以幫助推銷A&F品牌所依賴的美國味兒和性的混合體(想想Calvin Klein和Ralph Lauren之間的中間地帶就能理解)。
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Cologne was sprayed around the store, to give it a signature, musky,?masculine?scent. And the volume on the music was turned up, the pulsating nightclub beats only emphasizing its cool factor.

古龍水被噴灑在門店周圍,使門店也帶有具有標(biāo)志性的、麝香般的男性氣息。音樂的音量也被調(diào)高,動感節(jié)奏像夜店里播放的那種,只強(qiáng)調(diào)這個品牌的酷元素。

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很快,A&F在年輕人中爆火,甚至產(chǎn)生了“如果想在學(xué)校變得受歡迎,就必須穿A&F”的風(fēng)潮,如果不穿A&F你就不夠酷,會被當(dāng)成“土鱉”遭受歧視和霸凌。
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有些人買完衣服還會保留A&F的手提袋,或者A&F的廣告頁貼在高中的櫥柜里,以彰顯自己時尚弄潮兒的身份。

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In 1999, the pop band LFO released the song “Summer Girls,” whose thirsty first verse featured the immortal couplet: “I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch, I’d take her if I had one wish.”

1999年,流行樂隊LFO發(fā)布了歌曲《夏日女孩(Summer Girls)》,這首歌第一節(jié)有一句經(jīng)典的歌詞:“我喜歡穿A&F的女孩,如果我只有一個愿望,我希望能把她帶走?!?/span>

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For a kid in the 2000s,?Abercrombie & Fitch?was the coolest place to be. It was loud, it was dark, it reeked of store-brand?cologne?and the bags had shirtless men on them.?In other words, it was the perfect place to get into a screaming match with?your mother because she wouldn’t spend $50 on the over-priced graphic T-shirt that you?needed?to prove to your peers that you weren’t a poor, ugly loser.

對于2000年代的孩子來說,A&F是最酷的地方。它很吵鬧,很黑暗,散發(fā)著商店品牌古龍水的氣味,袋子上有不穿衣服的男人。換句話說,A&F門店是與你母親大吵大鬧的完美場所,因為她不愿意花50美元買一件價格過高的圖案T恤,而你需要向你的同齡人證明你不是一個貧窮、丑陋的失敗者。

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中國古話說:成也蕭何,敗也蕭何。對于A&F來說,麥克·杰弗里斯是天才,也是惡魔。在他的時尚帝國里,中產(chǎn)階級白人審美就是第一準(zhǔn)則。
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The promotional ploy for A&F was relatively simple: hire conventionally good-looking people.?
A&F的宣傳策略相對簡單:雇用傳統(tǒng)意義上的帥哥。
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Recruiters?would track down the most attractive frat guys at each college and enlist them as store employees. Overwhelmingly, these employees were white.?

招聘人員會追蹤每所大學(xué)中最有吸引力的兄弟會成員,并聘用他們作為商店員工。絕大多數(shù)情況下,這些員工是白人。

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Several Black employees recounted in the documentary how they were relegated to late night shifts stocking shelves.

幾位黑人員工在紀(jì)錄片中講述了他們是如何被安排到深夜輪班,在貨架上擺放商品的。

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甚至在進(jìn)入21世紀(jì),品牌的多元化營銷成為風(fēng)潮時,傲慢的麥克·杰弗里斯依然不把其他族裔的人當(dāng)回事。2002年,A&F貨架上赫然出現(xiàn)了種族歧視中國人的T恤衫,引發(fā)了激烈抗議。

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The offensive and problematic shirts — emblazoned with racist caricatures of?buck-tooth, slant-eyes Asians alongside racist slogans like "Pizza Dojo: You Love Long Time: Eat In or Wok Out" or "Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White" — enraged Asian-American student customers, who wound up protesting the brand.

令人反感和有問題的襯衫——印有齙牙、斜眼的亞洲人的種族主義漫畫,以及諸如 “披薩道場:你愛了很久:吃進(jìn)去或者鍛煉出來”或“王氏兄弟干洗店——兩個老王能把衣服洗白”——激怒了亞裔美國學(xué)生顧客,他們最終對該品牌提出抗議。

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那一場風(fēng)波不足與改變A&F“白人至上”的本質(zhì),很快,A&F又惹上了“種族歧視”的官司。

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Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, Abercrombie faced several lawsuits, including a 2004 class-action suit in which nine former employees of color accused the brand of discriminating against African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and women by preferentially offering positions to Caucasian males.?

在整個2000年代和2010年代初,Abercrombie面臨著一些訴訟,包括2004年的集體訴訟,其中9名有色人種的前雇員指控該品牌歧視非裔美國人、拉丁美洲人、亞裔美國人和婦女,優(yōu)先向白種人男性提供職位。

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The brand agreed a $40 million settlement, admitting no guilt but signing a consent decree in which they pledged to change their recruiting, hiring and marketing practices.

該品牌同意用4000萬美元和解,不承認(rèn)有罪,但簽署了一項同意令,其中他們承諾改變其招聘、雇用和營銷方法。

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麥克·杰弗里斯,本人也是丑聞不斷。
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他毫不掩飾自己對身材不完美的人的厭惡,更揚言“胖人不配穿我們家的衣服”,“不希望核心客戶看到不如他們性感的人出現(xiàn)”,因為他覺得這樣會讓人嫌棄A&F不夠“酷”。
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He would use words like “butch” to describe female clothing that wasn’t feminine enough, was obsessed with the narrow definition of an all-American aesthetic and openly admitted to the exclusionary intentions of the brand.Plus sizes weren’t even offered.

他將使用“butch(充當(dāng)男性角色的女同性戀者;粗魯?shù)哪腥嘶蚰泻ⅲ边@樣的詞來描述不夠女性化的女性服裝,癡迷于美式審美的狹隘定義,并公開承認(rèn)該品牌的排他性意圖。甚至不提供大碼。

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“He’s not the only person in fashion who believed these things. But he was the only person seemingly that would say that out loud,” Denizet-Lewis says in the film.?

“他不是時尚界唯一相信這些事情的人。但他似乎是唯一會大聲說出來的人?!钡履釢?劉易斯在影片中說。

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而A&F品牌發(fā)跡的另一位核心人物,攝影師布魯斯·韋伯(Bruce Weber)更是被眾多A&F男模爆出性騷擾丑聞。

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Additionally, A&F fashion models began speaking out against photographer Bruce Weber and filed?lawsuits.?
此外,A&F的時裝模特們開始公開反對攝影師布魯斯·韋伯,并提起訴訟。
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Although he has never been convicted of a crime (one case was dismissed, two were settled with no admission of guilt), several fashion models in the documentary describe how they were coerced into sexual activities, in detail.?

雖然他從未被定罪(一個案件被駁回,兩個案件在不承認(rèn)犯罪的情況下和解),但紀(jì)錄片中的幾個時裝模特詳細(xì)描述了她們是如何被脅迫著與他發(fā)生性行為的。

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這些屢屢發(fā)生的丑聞事件,不僅對A&F造成了經(jīng)濟(jì)損失,更是嚴(yán)重的品牌形象坍塌和顧客信任度的下降。

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哪怕2015年,麥克·杰弗里斯引咎辭職,也難以挽救A&F的頹勢。

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紀(jì)錄片的最后,有人問《華盛頓郵報》的黑人時尚編輯羅賓·吉夫漢(Robin Givhan),A&F以及整個美國文化是否成功地擺脫了排斥策略。

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羅賓·吉夫漢笑了一聲,說了一句:“NO

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A&F也許輝煌不再。但A&F所奉行的那套時尚價值觀,卻從未徹底消失。