Where you sit counts
每年四大时装周上，虽然秀场中嘉宾众多，然而能够成为秀场头排客(front row guest)的却是凤毛麟角。现在就让我们一起来探究时装周头排客是如何诞生的吧！Designers and their clothes are always the center of attention during fashion week.
时装设计师同他们的作品一直都是时尚周的焦点。
However, a select group among the hundreds in the audience at each fashion show may have the power to upstage the designers. They are the front row guests.
然而，每场时装秀，台下观众席中总有这样一群时尚宠儿，他们甚至可以轻而易举地抢走设计师们的风头。他们便是时装周的头排客。
Another fashion week has already ended in Paris. We’re waiting for reports on new fashion trends. Meanwhile, let’s take a moment to find out who sits in the front row at fashion shows and how they get there.
又一场时装周在巴黎落下帷幕，我们都在翘首盼望有关最新时尚潮流的报道。与此同时，让我们来花点时间，一起来看看这些各大秀场的头排客都是何方神圣，他们又是如何坐上秀场的头排宝座的。
At fashion week, it’s where you sit that counts.
在时装周上，你坐的位置非常重要。
A normal fashion show offers about 500 seats, and audience is usually made up of news media, retailers, friends and celebrities. But the limited front-row seats are badge of honor.
一场正规的时装秀通常提供约500个座位，看客通常由新闻媒体、零售商、圈内朋友和社会名流组成。而数量有限的头排宝座则是荣耀的象征。
“The front row is such a trauma,” the Naeem Khan, an American designer who’s dressed Michelle Obama, told The New York Times. “I can’t have people coming backstage, crying, ‘I’m in the second row.’”
“头排座位实在是我的一块心病，因为我不能让人们跑到后台向我哭诉说：‘我怎么坐在第二排。’”曾为美国第一夫人米歇尔•奥巴马设计过服装的美国时装设计师纳伊•姆汗在接受《纽约时报》采访时如是说。
To solve the problem Khan worked with a team of three publicists, to put each of the 872 guests at his runway show this season in the right seat. Only 104 of them will be in the front row.
未解决这一难题，纳伊找来了一支由3名公关人员组成的团队，他们为本季秀场上872位嘉宾顺利安排了座位。而在这些嘉宾里只有104位将成为头排客。
The role of media
媒体的角色
Media usually count about half the audience in a fashion show. Most work for fashion magazines, fashion sections of a newspaper or websites.
在一场时装秀上，媒体人士通常会占据观众席的半数位置。这些人士大都来自时尚杂志、以及各大报纸、网站的时尚版块。
But only the most important fashion editors from top magazines, such as Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar, get to sit in the front row.
但是只有来自像《VOGUE》、《ELLE》、《HARPER'S BAZAAR》这样的顶尖时尚杂志的最重量级的时尚编辑才能坐在头排。
Names like Anna Wintour (editor-in-chief of Vogue US), Grace Coddington (creative director of Vogue US), Suzy Menkes (senior fashion columnist for The New York Times) are always on the front-row guest list, given their influence in the fashion industry.
比如《Vogue》美国版总编安娜•温图尔、《Vogue》美国版创意总监格蕾丝•柯丁顿、《纽约时报》资深时尚专栏作家苏熙•曼奇斯就会因为他们在时尚界的影响力而市场出现在头排嘉宾名单之上。
Lately, thanks to the growth of new social media, some grassroots fashion bloggers, such as Bryan Boy and Tommy Ton, have become popular and been given front-row seats as well.
近年来，由于新型社交媒体的发展，像Bryan Boy 和Tommy Ton这样的草根时尚博主也成为红人，成为秀场的头排客。
Celebs love fashion
名流都爱“潮”
Stars started to appear on the cover of fashion magazines in the early 1990s. Since then, celebrities and fashion are inseparable. They have made the fashion week front-row culture complete.
上世纪90年代初，明星们就开始登上时尚杂志的封面，从那时起，名人与时尚变得密不可分。正是他们令时装周的“头排文化”变得完整。
Usually, A-listers invited to a fashion show sit in the center area of the front row. They are either personal friends of the designer, regular customers of the brand, or the brand’s spokesperson.
通常，受邀参加时装秀的一线明星都被安排在头排的中心区域。他们有些是设计师的密友，有些是本品牌的重要客户，还有些是品牌的代言人。
Top celebs, such as Beyoncé Knowles and socialite Paris Hilton, can get a front-row seat to any show they want.
像碧昂斯•诺里斯和社交名媛帕里斯•希尔顿这样的顶级名流都能得到任何他们想去的时装秀的头排宝座。
For newly rising stars, a fashion show is a good opportunity to grab more attention.
对于那些冉冉升起的新星们来说，时尚秀场更是一个赚取更多曝光的好机会。
Who can get them in? It’s a publicist’s job. Any publicist who has a good relationship with a certain brand has the power to build a bridge between a star and the runway show, according to the star’s taste and style.
谁能将他们搞定秀场通行证呢？这就是公关人士的工作了。任何一位公关人员，只要是与某品牌保持良好的关系，都有能力为明星牵线搭桥，根据其品味和风格找到合适的秀场。
Once a fresh young star attends fashion week, who knows, he or she might even become a potential spokesperson. For example, designer Karl Lagarfield took a shine to Blake Lively from Gossip Girl when she attended a Chanel show two years ago. Not long after that Lively appeared in Chanel adverts.
一旦有年轻新面孔出现在时尚周上，天晓得，他/她会不会是某个品牌的下一任代言人呢。例如，两年前，出演《绯闻女孩》的女星布莱克•莱弗利在出席香奈儿的一场时装秀时，令该品牌设计师卡尔•拉格斐一见倾心，不久后她便现身香奈儿的广告。
Chinese faces at fashion week
时尚周上的中国面孔
It’s almost a tradition now: fashion week seats several Chinese women in the front row.
近年来，总有一些中国女性成为时装周头排客，这几乎成为了一个惯例。
Early on, Chinese stars who appeared at fashion week were internationally famous, such as Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi.
早前，亮相时装周的中国明星都是一些国际巨星，比如张曼玉和章子怡。
But in the past two years, the list has gone on and on: Zhou Xun, Fan Bingbing, Yao Chen, Gao Yuanyuan and this season, Li Xiaolu and Huo Siyan.
但在近两年中，这个名单上的名字变得越来越多：周迅、范冰冰、姚晨、高圆圆，而本季的时装周上，又多了李小璐和霍思燕两个新面孔。
Some of them are virtually unknown in the West since none of their films have been shown anywhere outside of China. Yet they still make it to the front row. How?
实际上，她们中的一些人在西方完全是生面孔，因为她们的电影从未在中国以外的其他地区上映过。而她们又是如何成为头排客的呢？
“It’s an all round impact of China power–the increasing influence of China in the world, the growing fashion business in China, and also stronger PR companies,” Hong Huang, writes in a feature for Women’s Wear Daily.
“这显示了中国力量的全方位影响力——中国的国际影响力的增强，国内时尚产业的成长和更加强大的公关公司。”洪晃在《女装日报》的一个专题中写道。
Hong pointed out that PR companies play an important role in getting Chinese stars to fashion week.
她还指出，中国明星之所以能够出席时装周，公关公司起到了关键性作用。
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