职业女性不能学美剧穿衣说说你对于自己工作领域中性别差异的看法，在电视里，你经常会看到一些职业女性。从《口红森林》(Lipstick Jungle)到豪斯医生(House)、从《办公室》(The Office)到《整容室》(Nip/Tuck)，到处是聪明女性做着聪明事情的例子，尤其是在美国的电视节目中。但着装呢？是的，她们在穿着上也是聪明的，但她们现实吗？不，她们一点也不现实。

　　Say what you like about the gender division in your own workplace, on television there's no shortage of professional women. From Lipstick Jungle to House, The Office to Nip/Tuck, examples of smart women doing smart things abound, especially on US TV. But what about the clothes? Yes, they're smart, but are they realistic? Not at all.

　　麦肯锡(McKinsey & Company)前高管，现任多家公司董事的约翰娜•沃特斯(Johanna Waterous)表示：“你必须能跑上楼梯，找到出租车。我看《口红森林》之类的电视节目中，浑身珠光宝气、胸口开得很低的女士穿着5英寸的高跟鞋到处走动。那是不切实际的。”

　　“You've got to be able to run up stairs and chase down taxis,” says Johanna Waterous, a former McKinsey & Company executive who now sits on the board of several companies. “I see programmes like Lipstick Jungle, where the women walk around in 5in heels, with outrageous jewellery and low necklines. That isn't practical.”

　　自1995年以来担任巴尼斯纽约精品店(Barneys New York)制作服务协调员的劳拉•曼尼克斯(Laura Mannix)帮助大城市里的专业人士和电视服装设计师搭配职业装。她表示，当前环境要求黑色、合适的裙边和鞋跟高度以及最少的首饰。例如，曼尼克斯称，这个季节她的“真实世界”的客户将回归基本原则，“她们多了点严肃，少了点活泼”。她们避开前几年流行的长裙、毛领和明亮的色彩，偏向传统而独创的服饰。总部位于日内瓦的资产管理公司Parly Company的董事罗克珊•戴维斯(Roxanne Davies)对此表示赞同。她喜欢将深蓝色细条纹西服，配上合身的丝绸衬衫和黑色漆皮高跟鞋作为其职业装。

　　Laura Mannix, studio services coordinator for Barneys New York since 1995, helps both big city professionals and TV costume designers assemble their workplace wardrobes. She says the current environment demands dark colours, sensible hemlines and heel heights, and minimal jewellery. This season, for example, Mannix says her “real world” clients are going back to basics. “They're a little more serious and a little less playful”. They are shying away from the full skirts, fur collars and bright colours of years past in favour of conservative yet original clothes. Roxanne Davies, a director with Parly Company, a Geneva-based money management firm, agrees. She favours a midnight blue pinstriped suit paired with a fitted satin shirt and black patent heels for her professional life.

　　驻伦敦的一位对冲基金经理布里特•林特纳(Britt Lintner) 表示，原则就是简单：“坚持色彩柔和，避免过于性感，永远不要过多装饰”。她在空闲时间还设计了一系列高雅的职业裙装和女服。

According to Britt Lintner, a London-based hedge fund manager who also designs a line of chic, work-appropriate dresses and separates in her spare time, the rules are simple: “Stick to muted colours, avoid being too sexy, and never over-accessorise.”

　　《口红森林》系列剧中讲述的是纽约3位女强人的职业故事。剧中的女性每周都会打破所有的原则。但该剧的形象设计师阿曼达•罗斯(Amanda Ross)认为她们的服装从没有变得不合身。他表示：“我为剧中的角色设计服装，让她们看上去优雅和整洁。”他也确实承认，为了“满足观众的愿望”，偶尔会在“混搭上走向极端”。换句话说，剧中的一些服饰旨在为高端形象设计，并不适合现实生活。罗斯还承认，由于适中和明亮的色彩在电视屏幕中的效果更好，剧中的服饰比现实生活中可能见到的更为鲜艳。

　　The women featured in Lipstick Jungle, a drama series that follows the careers of three high-powered New York females, break each of these rules every week. But the show's stylist, Amanda Ross, doesn't think their attire ever veers towards the inappropriate. “I dressed the characters on the show to look polished and impeccably groomed,” says Ross, who does acknowledge that the series occasionally “goes to extremes with layering and accessorising” to connect with viewers' “wish fulfilment”. In other words, some of the looks on the show aim for the aspirational rather than the authentic. Ross also admits that the clothes on Lipstick Jungle are more colourful than those you might find in real life, since medium and bright colours play better on television screens.

　　由于过于紧身与合适之间的差异也许导致能否获得工作的差别，于是就有了如何搭配服装的问题——确切地说是难题。花旗(Citibank)驻纽约的私人银行业务部门的时尚零售集团主管伊达•刘(Ida Liu)表示：“穿着裁剪得体（但从不会紧身）的黑色普拉达(Prada)和杜嘉班纳(Dolce & Gabbana)裙装。她树立了一个非常好的榜样，以致银行指定她举办有关职业着装的会议。刘指的是电视剧《黑金诱惑》(Dirty Sexy Money)近期的一集。在剧中扮演一位有权势律师的女演员刘玉玲(Lucy Liu)（与伊达•刘没有亲戚关系）穿着大量过分性暗示的衣服。花旗银行的刘表示：“实际上，我认为这不是你希望向客户发出的信号。”

　　And then there is the question – or rather the problem – of how the clothes fit, since the difference between overly snug and appropriately fitted may make the difference between landing a job or being shown the door. “The last thing I want to play to is sex appeal,” says Ida Liu, head of the fashion retail group in Citibank's private banking arm in New York. Liu, who can usually be found in well-tailored (but never tight) black Prada and Dolce & Gabbana skirt suits during office hours, sets such a good example that the bank tapped her to run seminars on professional dressing. She points to a recent episode of the TV drama Dirty Sexy Money in which the actress Lucy Liu (no relation), who depicts a powerful attorney, wears a spate of overtly suggestive suits. “In reality I don't think that is the signal you want to send to your clients,” says Citibank's Liu.

　　医学电视剧《豪斯医生》同样也是如此。剧中女演员丽萨•埃德尔斯坦(Lisa Edelstein)扮演的医院行政主管库迪(Cuddy)常常穿着4英寸的高跟鞋和低领上衣。拥有许多有权势女性客户的驻英国服装咨询顾问芭芭拉•吕埃朗丝(Barbara Ruelens)悲叹道：“裙子紧贴着她的屁股，夹克紧贴着她的胸部。”

　　The same can be said for medical drama House, in which Cuddy, the hospital administrator played by actress Lisa Edelstein, is routinely dressed in 4in heels and low-cut blouses. “The skirts cling to her behind, the jackets cling to her bosom,” laments Barbara Ruelens, a UK-based wardrobe consultant with a roster of high-powered female clients.

　　当然，电视服装设计师不仅考虑哪些服装适合办公室着装，还要考虑观众应该如何理解角色的问题。以《整容室》中布鲁克•希尔兹(Brooke Shields)扮演的治疗专家费丝•沃尔珀(Faith Wolper)为例。该剧的服装设计师卢•艾里希(Lou Eyrich)表示，希尔兹作为剧中的浪漫角色，要求服装色彩鲜艳，穿着丝绸衬衫和裙子，以及展现美腿的高跟鞋。艾里希称：“技巧是使她看起来性感而专业。”

　　Of course, TV wardrobe stylists have to take into account not only what can be considered suitable office attire but also how the audience is supposed to perceive the character. Take Dr Faith Wolper, a therapist played by Brooke Shields on Nip/Tuck. Lou Eyrich, costume designer on the series, says Shields' role as a romantic interest on the show demanded clothes in rich hues, satin blouses and skirts, and high heels that highlighted her legs. “The trick was making her sexy but professional,” says Eyrich.

　　所有这些对希尔兹（她也在《口红森林》中扮演角色）来说都是可以的，但我们其他人呢？应该从这些电视角色中得到启示吗？

　　All of which is fine for Shields (who also appears in Lipstick Jungle) but what about the rest of us? Should we take our cues from these TV counterparts?

　　沃特斯称，答案也许取决于你所处的行业。“你不必看起来像某个人，但你必须看起来是认真的”。

　　The answer may depend on what industry you work in, says Johanna Waterous. “You don't have to look like a man but you do have to look like you mean business.”