Good morning. Now, we’ve been asked to choose an aspect of European clothing or fashion and to talk about its development over time.

早上好。现在，我们被要求选择欧洲服装或时尚的一个方面，并谈论它的发展历程。

I decided to focus on a rather small area of clothing and that’s pockets.

我决定专注于一种相对小众的服装领域，那就是口袋。

I chose pockets for two reasons, really.

我选择口袋有两个原因。

We all have them – in jeans, jackets, coats, for example – and even though we often carry bags or briefcases as well, nothing is quite as convenient as being able to pop your phone or credit card into your pocket.

首先，我们都有口袋——牛仔裤、夹克、外套等等——即使我们经常还携带包或公文包，但没有什么比能够把手机或信用卡放进口袋更方便了。

Yet, I suspect that, other than that, people don’t really think about pockets too much and they’re rather overlooked as a fashion item.

然而，除此之外，我怀疑人们对口袋并不会过多思考，口袋在时尚领域往往被忽视。

It’s certainly very interesting to go back in time and see how pockets developed for men and women.

回顾男女口袋的发展历程确实非常有趣。

In the 18th century, fashions were quite different from the way they are now, and pockets were too.

在18世纪，时尚与现在的时尚截然不同，口袋也是如此。

If we think about male fashion first … that was the time when suits became popular.

如果我们先考虑男性时尚……那个时候西装流行起来。

Trousers were knee-length only and referred to as ‘breeches’, the waistcoats were short and the jackets were long, but all three garments were lined with material and pockets were sewn into this cloth by whichever tailor the customer used.

裤子只到膝盖，被称为“马裤”，背心很短，夹克很长，但这三种服装都内衬有材料，并且裁缝为顾客在这块布料上缝制了口袋。

The wearer could then carry small objects such as pencils or coins on their person and reach them through a gap in the lining.

穿着者可以随身携带铅笔或硬币等小物品，并通过内衬上的开口取出。

Coat pockets became increasingly decorative on the outside for men who wanted to look stylish, but they were often larger but plainer if the wearer was someone with a profession who needed to carry medical instruments – a doctor or physician, for example.

夹克口袋在外部变得越来越装饰，用于想要时尚外观的男性，但如果穿着者是需要携带医疗器械的专业人士，比如医生或医师，夹克口袋通常会更大但更朴素。

The development of women’s pockets was a little different.

女性口袋的发展有些不同。

For one thing, they weren’t nearly as visible or as easy to reach as men’s.

首先，它们没有男性的那么显眼或容易取用。

In the 18th and 19th centuries, women carried numerous possessions on their person and some of these could be worth a lot of money.

在18和19世纪，女性身上携带着许多财产，其中一些可能价值不菲。

Women were more vulnerable to theft and wealthy women, in particular, worried constantly about pickpockets.

女性更容易成为被盗的目标，特别是富裕妇女，她们经常担心扒手。

So – what they did was to have a pair of pockets made that were tied together with string.

因此，她们做了一对用绳子系在一起的口袋。

The pockets were made of fabric, which might be recycled cloth if the wearer had little money or something more expensive, such as linen, sometimes featuring very delicate embroidery.

口袋由面料制成，如果穿着者没有多少钱，可能会使用回收的布料，或者使用更昂贵的亚麻布，有时还会有非常精美的刺绣。

Women tied the pockets around their waist so that they hung beneath their clothes.

女性将口袋系在腰间，这样它们就悬挂在衣服下面。

Remember, skirts were long then and there was plenty of room to hide a whole range of small possessions between the layers of petticoats that were commonly worn.

请记住，当时的裙子很长，可以在通常穿的褶裙层之间隐藏一系列小物品。

They would have an opening in the folds of their skirts through which they could reach whatever they needed, like their perfume.

她们会在裙子的褶皱中间有一个开口，通过这个开口她们可以拿到自己需要的东西，比如香水。

Working women, of course, also needed to carry around items that they might use for whatever job or trade they were involved in, but their pairs of pockets still remained on the inside of their clothing, they just got bigger or longer – sometimes reaching down to their knees!

当然，工作的女性也需要随身携带可能用于工作或贸易的物品，但她们的一对口袋仍然保持在衣服内部，只是变得更大或更长，有时长至膝盖！

So the tie-on pockets went well into the 19th century and only changed when fashion altered towards the end of that period.

所以系在腰间的口袋一直延续到19世纪末，只有当时尚发生变化时才有所改变。

That’s when dresses became tighter and less bulky, and the pairs of pockets became very noticeable – they stood out too much and detracted from the woman’s image.

那时的连衣裙变得更加紧身、不那么臃肿，一对口袋非常显眼——它们过于突出，与女性的形象不协调。

Women who had been used to carrying around a range of personal possessions – and still wanted to – needed somewhere to carry these items about their person.

一些习惯携带各种个人物品的女性仍然希望继续携带这些物品，她们需要一个地方来随身携带这些物品。

That was when small bags, or pouches as they were known, came into fashion and, of course, they inevitably led on to the handbag of more modern times, particularly when fashion removed pockets altogether.

这就是小包或袋子的时尚出现的时候，当然，它们最终发展成了更现代的手提包，尤其是当时尚完全取消了口袋。