A Sneakers-Only Runway
网球场是新的秀场

WANT to rub shoulders with a high-powered fashion editor? How about a designer? Arguably the best place these days isn’t the Top of the Standard hotel or even Amy Sacco’s new boîte, No. 8, but a nondescript slab of a building at 27th Street and Eighth Avenue, a neighbor to Chelsea housing projects and a Gristede’s grocery store, and the home of the misleadingly titled Midtown Tennis Club. (It’s not in Midtown, and membership isn’t required to play there.)

想跟位高权重的时尚编辑或者设计师套近乎吗？如今最合适的地方可能不是顶级酒店，甚至也不是艾米·萨科(Amy Sacco)新开的8号酒吧(No. 8)，而是纽约27街和第八大道交叉处一栋不起眼的建筑。它紧邻切尔西住宅区和格雷斯提德百货大楼。它就是“中城网球俱乐部”(Midtown Tennis Club)。这个名字起得太误导人，因为它根本不在曼哈顿中城，也不是会员制。

Particularly on Wednesday mornings from 7 to 9, the two-level bare-bones space, featuring eight bumpy Har-Tru courts circled by chain-link fencing (the space between the baseline and the wall is infamously cramped), has become jammed with members of the fashion industry.

这里设施简单，只有8个坑洼不平的“好础”牌(Har-Tru)砂地场地，四周是钢丝编成的网眼状围栏（底线到围墙之间的空隙非常狭窄）。但是这两层的空间里挤满了时尚界人士，特别是周三上午7点到9点。

On Court 4, you might spy Peter Malachi, the senior vice president of communications at Hermès, smashing back a volley, or Armand Limnander, the deputy editor of W magazine, strumming a loopy topspin forehand, in a weekly doubles game that the two men have participated in for four years running.

在4号场地，你可能会看到爱马仕(Hermès)的沟通部高级副总裁皮特·马拉奇(Peter Malachi)正在大力扣杀，也可能会看到《W》杂志的执行主编阿曼德·林姆纳德(Armand Limnander)挥手打出一个正位上旋球；在过去的四年里，他们每周都来这里玩双打。

Upstairs, Jillian Demling, the entertainment editor of Vogue, and Karen Mulligan, the agent and studio manager for the photographer Annie Leibovitz, who have together founded the swimwear line Pret-à-Surf, take lessons from Basil Thompson, a soft-spoken, reedy pro who is popular there. Mr. Thompson, a Jamaica native, also teaches the model Hilary Rhoda (“laidback, but she’s a perfectionist,” he said), the hockey player and dandy Sean Avery (whom Mr. Thompson called “aggressive”) and Jessica Diehl, the fashion and style director of Vanity Fair.

楼上，一起创立泳衣品牌Pret-à-Surf的《Vogue》杂志娱乐编辑吉莉安·戴姆灵(Jillian Demling)和摄影师安妮·莱博维茨(Annie Leibovitz)的经纪人兼工作室经理凯伦·莫利甘(Karen Mulligan)正在跟巴兹尔·汤普森(Basil Thompson)学打网球。后者是一位言语温和、身体瘦削的网球教练，在这儿很受欢迎。汤普森来自牙买加，他的学员还有模特希拉里·罗达(Hilary Rhoda)（他说她“很随和，但是追求完美”），曲棍球选手、花花公子肖恩·艾弗利(Sean Avery)（汤姆森称他“很有进攻性”）和《名利场》的时尚总监杰西卡·迪尔(Jessica Diehl)。

David Neville, the designer at Rag & Bone who is married to Gucci Westman, the makeup artist, also books morning lessons at Midtown Tennis two to three times a week, although he’s not picky about with whom. Mr. Neville has practiced his enviable ground strokes, developed after only two years of play, with Midtown instructors like Errol Campbell, Wayne Walker and Byron Spence, the latter of whom guides the game of tennis’s most famous fashion fan, Anna Wintour.

瑞格布恩(Rag & Bone)的设计师戴维·纳维尔(David Neville) 是化妆师古琦·维斯特曼(Gucci Westman)的丈夫，他也在“市中心网球俱乐部”每周预约了两到三次的上午课程，不过他不挑教练。仅仅学了两年，他已经很让人羡慕地开始学习击落地球了。他的教练有埃罗尔·坎贝尔(Errol Campbell)，韦恩·沃克(Wayne Walker)和拜伦·斯宾塞(Byron Spence)，后者同时还指导时尚界最著名的网球迷安娜·温图尔(Anna Wintour)。

“She’s like a retriever,” the muscular and fit Mr. Spence, also from Jamaica, said of the powerful Vogue editor. “She’s so fast. She’ll chase down everything. She doesn’t hit with a lot of spin, but she has an amazing cross-court forehand.”

“她就像个追踪器，” 肌肉发达、身材匀称的斯宾塞也来自牙买加，他这样评价这位强势的《Vogue》主编：“她非常快。她追每一个球。她打的球不怎么旋转，但是她的正手斜线球打得很好。”

Spurred perhaps not only by Ms. Wintour’s devotion to the game (she often sits in the player’s box for the Grand Slam matches of Roger Federer), but also by the enthusiasm of other editors like Stefano Tonchi of W and designers like Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch, Tom Ford and Vera Wang, fashion seems to be in the midst of a love affair with tennis. For Ms. Burch, for example, summer didn’t officially start until after “2 hours of tennis,” she posted to her Twitter account in June.

温图尔对这项运动非常投入（大满贯比赛时她经常坐在罗杰·费德勒[Roger Federer]的球员包厢里），其他编辑和设计师也对此充满热情，例如《W》杂志的斯特凡诺·通奇(Stefano Tonchi)， 汤米·希尔费格(Tommy Hilfiger)，托里·伯奇(Tory Burch)，汤姆·福特(Tom Ford)和王薇薇(Vera Wang)。在他们的推动下，时尚似乎爱上了网球。例如，伯奇六月份在推特上说，“不打两个小时网球”，夏季就没有正式开始。

According to People magazine, Ms. Wang met her husband, Arthur Becker, at a tennis match in Forest Hills, Queens, though she recently announced their separation.

《人物》杂志称，王薇薇是在皇后区森林小丘(Forest Hills)的网球比赛上认识她的丈夫亚瑟·贝克尔(Arthur Becker)的，虽然她最近宣布跟丈夫分居了。

Mr. Neville wooed Ms. Westman courtside. “My first-ever date with my wife, I took her to a Wimbledon final,” he said. “She was impressed.” Ms. Westman doesn’t play, but Mr. Neville has competition. “She’s in love with Roger Federer,” he said. “And our daughter was born on Roger’s birthday, Aug. 8.”

内维尔是在球场边向维斯特曼求爱的。“我跟妻子第一次约会的时候，我带她去看温布尔登网球赛的决赛，”他说：“她大为震撼。”维斯特曼不打球，但是内维尔还是非常有胜算。“她爱上了罗杰·费德勒，”他说：“我们的女儿就是在罗杰生日的那天出生的，8月8日。”

It doesn’t hurt, perhaps, that the sport allows for business chatter without the calories of a three-martini lunch. “You do make fast friends — and maybe with someone you wouldn’t necessarily be able to — because you spend this quality time together,” said Mr. Malachi, who brings his Babolat racket on business trips even when he doesn’t have court time scheduled.

也许是因为边运动边谈生意不会摄入卡路里，所以比边吃大餐边谈生意来得健康。“你确实能很快交到朋友——包括一些你之前不大可能交上的朋友——因为你们在一起度过了一段非常美好的时光，”马拉奇说，他出差的时候总是带着百保力(Babolat)网球拍，即使他根本没有预约打球时间。

“Sometimes even having it with you, you can create this instant bond,” he said. “It happened on a work trip to L.A. when I flew out for the Oscars. I ended up playing with an agent from one of the firms out there. He saw my racket, and we just connected.”

“有时仅仅是带着这个，你就有可能快速跟人建立起一种联系，”他说：“有一次我去洛杉矶参加奥斯卡典礼，结果却和一个公司的经纪人打了一场球。他看到我的网球拍，我们就这样联系上了。”

Some find its rules of order and gentle thwacks relaxing (“For me, tennis is more meditative than yoga,” Ms. Diehl said), while others find the court a safe theater of aggression. “The great thing about a doubles game is that you can hit someone,” Mr. Limnander said with a devilish smile. “I mean literally. You can hit the person at the net.”

有些人觉得网球的发球次序规则和轻柔的击球很让人放松（“对我来说，网球比瑜伽还利于冥想，”迪尔说），也有人觉得网球场是个合理释放攻击性的地方。“双打比赛最棒的地方在于，你可以打别人，”林姆纳德先生带着坏笑说：“我是说真的，你的球拍可能会真的打到网前选手。”

ON summer weekends, the unofficial league heads to less-gritty digs in the Hamptons. Ms. Demling (“I’m the loud one that’s always kind of out of control,” she said) and Ms. Mulligan, who is steady and consistent, play at Sportime in Amagansett, N.Y., where they take lessons from Ted Dimond. Mr. Dimond, who also teaches the couple Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, said that, contrary to prissy fashion stereotypes, many of his students from that field are skilled.

在夏天的周末，这个非官方联盟会去汉普顿斯沙砾较小的场地。戴姆灵（“我是那种很闹腾的人，总是有点失控的样子，”她说）和一向沉稳的莫利甘在纽约阿曼甘塞特的“运动时光”俱乐部打球，教练是泰德·狄梦德(Ted Dimond)。狄梦德的学生还有娜奥米·沃茨(Naomi Watts)和里夫·施雷伯(Liev Schreiber)夫妇，他说时尚界人士并不像传说的那样纤弱，他的很多时尚界学生技术相当好。

“A lot of people in fashion were at one point models, and if anything they’re very lithe, strong and athletic,” he said, adding that Ms. Demling was “pretty good” but “could be great, if she was able to cut down on her hours at Vogue.”

“很多时尚界人士都做过模特，她们身态轻盈、体格健壮，”他说，并补充说戴姆灵女士“很不错”，但是“如果她能减少在《Vogue》的工作时长，她会非常棒”。

“And, of course, if you’re in the business you have to look a certain way,” he said. “You have to be in shape, and tennis does that, too.”

“当然，如果你在时尚圈混，你必须得看起来像那么回事，”他说：“你必须保持身材，而打网球能收到这个效果。”

Peter Marino, the star architect who is known for designing Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Céline and Dior stores and for wearing head-to-toe black leather, is a member of the Southampton Bath and Tennis club. Mr. Marino, who played squash at Cornell University, also frequently whizzes baseline winners from the personally designed, sunken-in private court at his nearby house, overlooked by Lalanne sculptures.

皮特·马瑞诺(Peter Marino)，著名的建筑师，以设计香奈儿、路易斯威登(Louis Vuitton)、芬迪(Fendi)、赛琳(Céline)和迪奥(Dior)的店铺、从头到脚穿黑色皮革而出名，他是南安普顿洗浴网球俱乐部的会员。马瑞诺也在康奈尔大学打壁球，还经常在附近他家里自己设计的下沉式球场以底线球一球制胜，球场外陈列着拉兰恩(Lalanne)设计的雕塑。

With a relentless travel and work schedule for most the year, Mr. Marino takes the month of August off, playing tennis daily. He usually faces off against nonfashion types, he said, although profession and play occasionally align.

一年中的大部分时间，马瑞诺都在不停地旅行和工作，只有8月份休假，每天打网球。他通常不和时尚圈的人打球，他说，但是有时候打球也跟工作有关。

“One of my clients, Bernard Arnault, is a tennis fanatic,” Mr. Marino said, describing the chairman of LVMH, the luxury goods company. “He is extremely good at it, and we talk about it all the time. Once, he asked, ‘Do you want to play for a month’s fee?’ I said, ‘No way!’ Because he’s better than I am.”

“我的一个客户，伯纳德·阿诺特(Bernard Arnault)，是个网球迷，”马瑞诺说，他指的是著名奢侈品公司LVMH集团的总裁。“他网球打得很好，我们总是在谈论网球。有一次，他问我，‘我付钱，你陪我打一个月，行吗？’我说：‘绝不！’因为他打得比我好。”

Regardless of the skill level, the fashionable also relish the chance to sport attractive athletic wear. Though (disappointingly) he doesn’t wear his signature leather on the court, Mr. Marino does wear all black, unless he’s at one of the increasingly rare clubs with an all-white dress code.

不管打球技术如何，这些时尚人士都特别珍惜这种穿漂亮运动服的机会。虽然马瑞诺在场上（很遗憾地）不能穿他标志性的皮衣，但是他还是穿一身黑，除非在那些要求穿全白色运动服的俱乐部，不过有这种要求的俱乐部越来越少了。

“Then I make sure I’m wearing sunglasses so no one knows it’s me,” he said, laughing.

“在那种地方我一定会带着太阳镜，保证没人认出我，”他大笑着说。

Others, like Ms. Diehl, prefer the classic prep-school ensembles of the Federer variety.

其他人，比如迪尔，更喜欢费德勒那种经典的学院派服装。

“I mourn the fact that not more tournaments are tennis-whites-only,” Ms. Diehl said. “It’s one of the last few sports that, if you dress appropriately, it’s chic attire.”

“许多网球场并不要求只能穿白色网球服，这让我很伤心，”迪尔说：“在网球运动中，如果你穿得合适，会显得非常时髦，这样的运动所剩不多了。”

Suroosh Alvi, a founder of Vice magazine, who plays weekday mornings at public courts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, often with the fashion designer Swaim Hutson, might shock Ms. Diehl’s good taste. He described his match style as “utilitarian and semi-militant,” perhaps including “a Hamas Police Force T-shirt,” paired with shorts by Supreme.

《Vice》杂志的创始人之一苏罗什·阿尔维(Suroosh Alvi)每个工作日的早上都在布鲁克林威廉斯堡的公共球场上打网球，通常是跟时装设计师斯温·赫特森(Swaim Hutson)一起。他的着装可能会吓到迪尔。他形容自己的打球风格是“功利主义的，有点好战的”，这可能包括他穿的“伊斯兰抵抗运动”的警察T恤和Supreme短裤。

Ms. Demling and Ms. Mulligan fancy retro styling. (Mr. Alvi seconded it: “Tennis used to be much more stylish than it is nowadays. The designers all seem to have lost their minds a bit — these space-age modern styles.”) They designed a few tennis pieces, flirty pleated skirts and shirt dresses, part Brigitte Bardot and part Althea Gibson, for Pret-à-Surf that could almost pass for cocktail garb.

戴姆灵和莫利甘都喜欢复古风。（阿尔维也是这样：“过去网球比现在要时髦得多。现在的设计师们好像都有点疯了——才设计出这些太空时代的网球服。”）她们为Pret-à-Surf品牌设计了几件网球单品，轻盈的有皱褶边的网球裙和长袖连衣裙，带着点碧姬·巴铎(Brigitte Bardot)的味道，也带着点爱尔西亚·吉布森（Althea Gibson，译注：上世纪50年代的美国黑人女网球明星）的味道，穿着这些，差不少能去参加鸡尾酒会了。

“I love the classic white tennis dresses,” Ms. Mulligan said wistfully of 1950s court style. Ms. Demling wears more color. “I even lay out my tennis clothing the night before,” she said.

“我喜欢经典的白色网球裙，”莫利甘说，她非常向往上世纪50年代的网球衣的风格。戴姆灵的衣服颜色更多样化一点。她说：“我甚至在头天晚上就把打网球穿的衣服都准备好了。”

The connection between the industry and the sport has become so attuned that many of the pros, like Mr. Thompson, who has never attended a fashion event, have developed an eye for good fit. When he’s not in his tennis whites at Midtown, Mr. Thompson can often be found in front of the club’s waiting area for the next lesson in handsomely tailored trousers and a crisp button-down shirt.

时尚跟网球之间的联系如此协调，很多从未参加过时尚活动的网球教练，比如汤普森，也养成了很好的时尚品味。在“市中心网球俱乐部”，如果他没有穿着白色网球服，通常就是穿着精心剪裁的裤子和温文尔雅的衬衣在等待区等着上下一堂课。

“I find proper attire almost an essential part of the game,” Mr. Thompson said. “The ones that play well, like Nadal, Federer and Serena Williams, you find they have a certain recognizable style about them.”

“我发现合适的服装是这项运动必不可少的一部分，”汤普森说：“你能看出来，那些打得很好的球员，比如纳达尔，费德勒和小威廉姆斯，都有自己的着装风格。”

Ms. Williams and her sister Venus, of course, have crossed over into fashion, as has the French Open champion Maria Sharapova, who has collaborated on footwear and accessories with Cole Haan. In May, Novak Djokovic traded his Sergio Tacchini polos for outfits by Uniqlo, the Japanese fast-fashion retailer.

当然，小威廉姆斯和她的姐姐已经跨界进入时装业。还有法国网球公开赛的冠军玛丽亚·莎拉波娃(Maria Sharapova)，她已经和科尔哈恩(Cole Haan)就鞋子和配饰达成了合作协议。5月份，诺瓦克·德约科维奇(Novak Djokovic)不再穿达芝妮(Sergio Tacchini)的polo衫比赛，而是身穿日本快速时尚品牌优衣库的比赛服。

In ready-to-wear, other than perhaps with Ralph Lauren, the boundaries are more sacrosanct. “There’s the occasional tennis-inspired collection,” Ms. Diehl said. “Jean Paul Gaultier did one for Hermès. But I don’t think about the sport having a fashion influence.”

对于成衣来说，也许除了拉夫·劳伦(Ralph Lauren)，运动服和时装的界限非常严格。“网球偶尔能启发设计，”迪尔说。“让·保罗·戈尔杰(Jean Paul Gaultier)为爱马仕设计了一件衣服。但是我觉得运动不会对时尚有影响。”

Mr. Neville agreed, before cheekily adding, “Nothing wrong with short skirts, though.”

纳维尔也这么看，然后他又嬉皮笑脸地补充说：“当然，短裙永远都不会错。”

Even so, when planning a fashion show, a young designer would be wise to consider the United States Open, beginning late this month and spilling over into New York Fashion Week. Ms. Wintour is often spotted at Flushing Meadows during those dates, as is Mr. Limnander.

即使如此，年轻的设计师在策划时装秀的时候，考虑一下美国网球公开赛是明智的选择。美国公开赛开始于这个月底（指8月——译注），会一直延续到纽约时装周期间。在那些日子，温图尔会经常出现在法拉盛草原(Flushing Meadows，美网比赛所在地——译注)，林姆纳德也是如此。

“I go every year, and I go as much as possible,” Mr. Limnander said. “Annoyingly, it always goes into the beginning of fashion week. I don’t lie. I tell the designers or P.R. people I might skip their show to see a match.”

“我每年都去，一有时间我就去，”林姆纳德说：“讨厌的是，它总会延续到时装周开始的那段时间。我也不说谎。我直接告诉设计师或者公关人员，为了去看比赛，我可能不去看他们的秀。”

Mr. Malachi, meanwhile, has been trying to organize court time for the Paris ready-to-wear shows in September, when he and his editor pals will be without Midtown Tennis.

而在此时，马拉奇已经在努力为9月份的巴黎成衣服装秀安排打球时间了，那时候他和他的编辑伙伴们将不会出现在“中城网球俱乐部”了。

“I heard there’s this secret underground court there,” Mr. Malachi said. “But I haven’t been able to find out where it is.”

“我听说那儿有一个秘密的地下球场，”马拉奇说：“但是我还没找到在哪儿。”

来源：好英语网