During the recent women's wear shows I found myself on a bench at Tao Comme des Garçons (Tao being one of the young labels that is being developed under the CdG umbrella) sandwiched between Ikram Goldman, the eponymous owner of a store in Chicago, and Tricia Jones, editor of special projects for ID magazine. All of us looked with great desire at the shoes the models were wearing and whispered our shared product lust. The footwear in question were motorcycle boots wound round and round with studded leather chains at the ankle, and they were kind of cool and kind of fancy and kind of mad (in both meanings of the word), all at the same time.
最近几场女装秀期间,我坐在Tao Comme des Garçons(Tao是CdG品牌旗下正在主推的年轻品牌之一)秀场的板凳上,两边分别是芝加哥拥有同名商店的伊克拉姆•戈德曼和ID杂志特别专题编辑特里西亚•琼斯。我们三个人满怀垂涎之意望着台上模特们穿着的鞋子,低声分享着对这件商品共有的欲望。我们看上的是双摩托车靴,踝部绕着一圈又一圈镶有柳钉的皮链。它们看上去有点酷、有点梦幻、有点疯狂(或是愚蠢),而且是三种感觉同时兼备。

“I'm not sure what my kids would say, though, if I showed up with them on my feet at school,” I said, picturing the looks of horror on the faces of my seven- and nine-year-old daughters. Sometimes they just don't want to know about any latent biker fantasies a parent might have. My son, who is four, on the other hand, would just think the boots were neat. He's too young to understand sartorial subtext – though when I occasionally attempt to wear a Rick Owens harem-pant-style knee-length playsuit, which is kind of like the hippest LBD, even he looks a bit embarrassed and tells me to change my clothes.
“不过,如果我穿着它们出现在学校里,我不能确定我的孩子们会怎么说,”我说到,同时在脑海里勾画我那两个7岁和9岁的女儿脸上可能出现的惊恐表情。有时她们就是不想知道父母可能潜藏已久的摩托车手情结。而我那4岁的儿子只会认为这双靴子很不错。他还太小,无法理解着装的潜台词——尽管当我偶尔试着穿上一套瑞克•欧文斯伊斯兰哈伦裤风格的及膝运动装时(有点像最具嬉皮精神的小黑裙),连他也会面露尴尬之情并让我换件衣服。
  
“I used to show up at school in my flight suit,” said Jones, whose children are now grown up. “We also had a car that we patched with rust-resistant paint whenever it got a scratch. The children used to make me park around the corner.”
“过去我常常穿着我的飞行服出现在学校里,”琼斯说道,她的孩子现在都长大了。“我们还曾经有一辆汽车,一旦车身出现划痕,我们就会用一层防锈漆把它们盖住。孩子们通常会让我把车停在拐角处。”
  
Dressing for the school run is, I have discovered, more fraught than I ever would have imagined. To be honest, I had never imagined it as an issue at all. Entering the workforce I had many male friends who felt wearing suits was akin to donning a disguise, and pre-and-post office hours immediately changed into their “real” clothes, but I have always worn pretty much the same clothes to work and play. Or at least I did. Until I looked at them through the eyes of my children, and my children's friends.
我发现,接送孩子时的着装礼仪远比我想象的更令人发愁。坦白说,过去我从不认为这是个问题。进入工作岗位时,我身边有许多男性朋友觉得穿西装就像是披上了一层伪装,上班前和下班后会迅速换回他们“真正”的衣服。但我上班和平时消遣所穿的衣服基本上没有多少差别。或者说至少我过去如此,直到我用孩子以及他们朋友的眼光来看待这些衣服。
  
And I am not the only one: consider recent newspaper commentary about Victoria Beckham's “over the top” appearance at her children's school in Los Angeles in head-to-toe leather, including a shoulder-padded Balmain jacket and studded Dsquared trousers; or the praise by of Claudia Schiffer's and Elle Macpherson's “school run chic” (perfectly fitting jeans, sweaters, and flats, with scarves artfully flung around their necks). According to your outfits, your parental fitness will be judged.
而且我不是唯一这么想的人:仔细看看最近报纸上对维多利亚•贝克汉姆(Victoria Beckham)出现在洛杉矶她孩子的学校时那身“夸张”装束的评论吧。她从头到脚一身皮装,其中包括一件垫肩的Balmain皮夹克,以及镶满柳钉的Dsquared皮裤;或是网站对克劳迪亚•席弗和埃莉•麦克弗森“接送孩子时髦装束”(完美合身的牛仔裤、套头衫、平底鞋、脖子上优雅随意的围巾)的赞美之词。人们会根据你的衣着来判断你是不是称职的父母。