![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/A-Propos-Logo.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAfter a typical translator\u2019s day\nworking on dense annual reports and ponderous litigation files, fashion\ntranslation seems fun enough. What better diversion than immersing yourself in\nskirts and dresses?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet as with all well-executed translation,\nchallenges abound. Sewing terms are technical, precise, and sometimes\nmysterious. There are endless variations of pleats, pockets, darts, seams, necklines,\nsleeves, hooks, buttonholes, and lapels. Fabric finishes also vary widely\ndepending on textile manufacturers and whether the items are intended for haute\ncouture or the mass market. Fashion is visual, yet translators are often faced\nwith descriptions of pieces that have no accompanying images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/poches.jpg\")
French terms for a variety of pocket styles.
Photo credit: link<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/pockets.jpg\")
English terms for a variety of pocket styles.
Photo credit: Pinterest<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nHaute couture and visionary designers often reference historical clothing styles and techniques in their creations. Max Mara even maintains a private historical fashion archive<\/a>, which serves as a resource for its designers: \u201cFashion is a culture. Designers don\u2019t create alone,\u201d noted the brand\u2019s creative designer.[i]<\/a> Sometimes designs make literal references to historical items, in which case translations are best served doing the same. Indeed \u201cles paniers\u201d <\/em>on a Junya Watanabe dress with zippered duffels at either hip are a fairly literal interpretation of the historical \u201cpanniers.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wantanabe-dress.jpg\")
Watanabe dress with panniers<\/em>.
Photo Credit: 1stdibs<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/panniers.jpg\")
Historical dress with panniers. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n In other cases, historical fashions serve to spur the designer\u2019s creativity in developing entirely new and avant-garde concepts. Consider Margiela\u2019s use of \u201cblouse blanche,\u201d not a blouse at all, but a white lab coat, pointing to the highly skilled French \u201cpetites mains<\/em>\u201d who worked in haute couture ateliers<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/margiela.jpg\")
White lab coats at Margiela.
Photo credit: Instagram<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe\nfashion house uses the historical term and the piece itself as a jumping off\npoint for a multitude of items in its collections. These designs have included\neverything from all white clothing (some of them blouses!) to head-to-toe white\ndown comforters worn as coats, right down to the plain white labels inserted in\nall of its pieces. Indeed, in Margiela\u2019s case, the historical \u201cblouse blanche\u201d\nhas become a way of branding the house itself\u2014simple, exceedingly modern, but\ndeeply connected to the past.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/duvet-coat.jpg\")
White \u201cduvet\u201d coat at Margiela.
Photo credit: Instagram<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTo\ncomplicate matters further, some terms are<\/em>\n\u201cone-offs,\u201d where sometimes a more literal translation is warranted. Pierre\nCardin once devised a pair of pantalons \u00e0\nroulettes<\/em>, or roller pants, with a leg finishing in a roller-skate wheel\nshape. Recently, there was a description for an \u201cinside-out poodle jacquard\u201d in\na review of John Galliano\u2019s latest collection for Maison Margiela, which turned\nout to be exactly as described.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/roller-pants-821x1024.jpg\")
Pierre Cardin\u2019s \u201croller pants\u201d
\u00a9 1971. Image used with the permission of Jean-Pascal Hesse.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/poodle.jpg\")
The very literal \u201cinside-out poodle jacquard.\u201d
Photo credit: Instagram<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWhile having a photograph of the garment or accessory is, of course, the ultimate resource, translators are often left in the dark. Technical and fashion dictionaries can be helpful starting points. From there, we have turned to designers\u2019 websites, online videos of fashion shows (time consuming, but elucidating), reliable fashion reviews (Vogue<\/a>, WWD<\/a>, New York Times<\/a>, BoF<\/a>), blogs and sewing websites found online, as well as museum and auction house catalogues. Reaching out to fashion houses or museums is also an option, time permitting. We were delighted when a museum in Paris even sent us photographs of the back of a garment we simply could not envision for a book translation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As always, it is essential to\nconduct online research meticulously, with context, linguistic register, and\nfinal audience in mind. When in doubt, we recommend relying heavily on\ndescription, so your reader can see the item in question in their mind\u2019s eye.\nSometimes leaving a term in French can be an option, a way of naming the object\nwhere you otherwise could not. Obviously, this technique should be used\njudiciously and thoughtfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, perhaps due to French\u2019s\nlongstanding role as the lingua franca of fashion, use of French in English is\nsometimes de rigueur. Indeed, when translating historical books on classic\ncouture or biographies of legendary houses or couturiers, publishers and\neditors even mandate that certain words should be kept in French. haute couture, atelier, petites mains, flou <\/em>and tailleur <\/em>are a few examples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless, as can be expected in fashion, change is always in the air. English suddenly abounds in French, and very much so in fashion reporting. Sometimes the terms are simply borrowed (la fashion week<\/em>, les shows<\/em>, le vintage<\/em>, le it bag<\/em>) but words cannot always be handily back-translated into English. The word \u201coversize<\/em>\u201d in French, for example, often equates not to our English-language conception of oversize, but to descriptions like \u201croomy,\u201d \u201crelaxed,\u201d or \u201cslouchy.\u201d Perhaps translating fashion texts is so tricky because fashion itself is a language. Miuccia Prada herself has said, \u201cWhat you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language.\u201d[ii]<\/a> As translators, we present texts that can be read and absorbed in a moment. Yet how we present that language should be a detailed process using mixed research sources and a bevy of translation techniques and styles.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[i]<\/a> Olsen, Kerry. \u201cIn Max Mara\u2019s Archive, Decades of Italian History.\u201d New York Times, September 19, 2018, link<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[ii]<\/a> Galloni, Alessandra. \u201cInterview: Fashion is how you Present Yourself to the World.\u201d Wall Street Journal. Updated January 18, 2007, link<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nLiza Tripp<\/strong> has been a translator of French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese into English for over 15 years. Much of her French and Italian work is in the luxury fashion sector. She most recently translated Martin Margiela: 1989\u20132009<\/em> with Denise Jacobs, which was published by Rizzoli in conjunction with a show at the Palais Galliera in Paris. She holds a BA in French translation from Barnard College, an M.Phil. from the Graduate School and University Center of the City of New York, and a French to English Certificate in Translation from NYU SCPS.
Website: www.lizatripp.com<\/a>\ufeff<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\nDenise Jacobs <\/strong>is a French to English translator focusing on illustrated books about fashion, jewelry, art, travel, and the French lifestyle. She has an MA and M.Phil. in French literature from Columbia University. In addition to publishing more than 40 books, she has also translated several biographies, documentaries, and television news program segments. Website: w<\/a>ww.deniserjacobs.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Liza Tripp and Denise Jacobs After a typical translator\u2019s day working on dense annual reports and ponderous litigation files, fashion translation seems fun enough. What better diversion than immersing yourself in skirts and dresses? Yet as with all well-executed translation, challenges abound. Sewing terms are technical, precise, and sometimes mysterious. There are endless variations … Continue reading Pleats, Pockets and Problems: the Deceptive Ease of Fashion Translation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2387"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2415,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387\/revisions\/2415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}