阅读提示： 对照中文翻译在上，英文原文在下。

我最反感的就是打折销售：眼见四个月前全价购买的衣服，如今掉价掉得已所剩无几，内心哪有快乐可言？尤其是同样的衣服买来后挂在衣柜里压根没穿过，全价标签仍完好无损时。但也不尽然，打折季唯一的福音是它宣示了新时装季的到来————因此，我唯一喜欢的购物场景就是打折货架与一排排光鲜亮丽、之前从未见到的服装现货比肩而立。
I hate sales shopping: there is no pleasure to be had in finding things reduced to a fraction of the full price I paid four months previously (especially when that same unworn item is still swinging its full-price ticket in my wardrobe). No, the only good thing about a sale is that it announces a new season — and the only ones I like, therefore, are those in which the sales racks sit alongside rails of shiny, previously unseen stock.
说起从未见过的货物，真的是实至名归。如今店铺里上架的很多服装既未在T型台上亮相，也未曾在时尚刊物上大肆报道。与T型台上亮相的时装相比，它们往往价廉物美、薄利多销，它们就是季前装————整个流行时装周期中的“珍珠”。
When I say unseen, I mean exactly that. Many of the clothes in store now have neither graced a catwalk nor featured in much editorial. Slightly more commercial and often less expensive than their catwalk counterparts, these are the pre-collections: the pearls of the fashion cycle.
季前系列每年通常推出两次：早秋季从现在（六月）一直持续到九月，届时正好与拥趸们耳熟能详的秋季装接上茬（秋装请参看今年2月的时装秀）。另一季前系列（也称作resort或cruise季，称呼容易让人晕菜）从每年11月开始推出，直至与春季装对接上。季前系列不同于主流时装秀：色调与剪裁风格更为朴素，服装也不追求标新立异，设计风格更显含蓄。它们通常更为耐穿。因此，它们如今占到各大公司年销售额70-80%的份额也就不足为奇了，它们贡献了各个品牌销售额的十之八九。
There are two “pre” collections; pre-fall will trickle in store from now until September, when the clothes will be joined by the more familiar autumn pieces (seen on catwalks in February). The other “pre” collection (confusingly known as resort, or cruise) goes into shops from November in advance of the spring collections. Pre-collections are a different beast from the main shows: the palette and cut are sober; the clothes are less distinctive; the styles more subtle. They are typically more wearable. No surprise, then, that they today account for 70-80 per cent of a house’s annual sales; the vast majority of a label’s turnover.
鉴于这些季前系列贡献的真金白银，那么对于在主时装季上费心费力持怀疑态度也就情有可原了。这似乎是个怪异的讽刺：我们买的多数服装与T型台上秀的时装风马牛不相及。那么时装秀真的就是鸡肋吗？
Considering the financial might of these collections, one would be forgiven for wondering why we even bother with seasonal fashion shows. It seems a bizarre irony that most of the clothes we buy have nothing to do with what we see on the catwalk. So is the fashion show redundant?
多数时装权威人士坚称：若要提升品牌知名度，唯有T型台一条路。从经济层面看，时装秀仍是买家出手前衡量各大品牌热度的最佳平台。在时尚专家看来，时装周仍是实现媒体关注度最大化的最好舞台；而从创意层面看，时装秀仍是体现设计师理念精髓的最佳场合。
Most fashion insiders insist there is no other option. Financially, the show is still the best forum for buyers to gauge the heat of a design house before they make their orders. Editorially, a fashion week is still the best arena in which to maximise media attention. And, creatively, the show is still held as being the most pure distillation of a designer’s vision.
因此，季前秀俨然就是时装界的“工兵”，它就好比突然出现在舞台剧中、主演家喻户晓角色的知名性格演员：兢兢业业、不受赏识，但作用巨大。
Hence, the pre-collections exist to do fashion’s donkey work, just like those great character actors who crop up in dramas starring bigger household names: never out of work, barely recognised and terrifically good value.
但此一时、彼一时也。Miu Miu如今在巴黎推出自己的resort季前系列，算是拉上了非正式“时装季”（越来越多的季前系列亮相于T型台）的帷幕。过去六周里，香奈儿(Chanel)、古驰(Gucci)、路易威登(Louis Vuitton)和迪奥(Dior)分别在韩国、纽约、美国加州棕榈泉(Palm Springs)以及法国戛纳举办了季前秀场，更绝的是：J•W•安德森(JW Anderson)在英国剑桥艺术馆、已故馆长吉姆•伊德(Jim Ede)的故居Kettle’s Yard举办了季前秀。这些季前秀往往会同台举办多场其它品牌的发布会，更多关注是否成系列。与此同时，各种季前系列层出不穷地推出。曾几何时，它们的款式屈指可数，如今俨然已是“千军万马”之势————往往有成百上千种款式。过去一年中，时尚界的“丑小鸭”已蜕变成时尚宠儿，各种季前秀把时装秀档期安排得满满当当。
But things are changing. Next Saturday, Miu Miu will present its resort collection, in Paris, drawing to a close an unofficial “season” in which pre-collections are increasingly being staged. In the past six weeks, Chanel has shown in Korea, Gucci in New York, Louis Vuitton in Palm Springs, Dior in Cannes and, rather wonderfully, JW Anderson in Kettle’s Yard, the Cambridge gallery and former home of the late curator Jim Ede. These have been accompanied by myriad other presentations to put more focus on the lines. At the same time, the collections are mushrooming. Where once they amounted to a few looks, they are now massive — often numbering hundreds of pieces. Over the past year, the fashion donkey has metamorphosed into show pony, and the fashion calendar become an endless carousel of shows.
CEO们声称这些计划外的秀场专注于主流时装周外的品牌。我觉得爽呆的是推出的新款不胜枚举。但设计师们如何应对这种无休止轮番上演的季前秀？要知道，很多设计师如今每年至少得观摩六场季前装发布会。
Chief executives claim these off-schedule shows focus attention on the label outside the noise of fashion week. And I think it’s terrific there are so many new things to buy. But what do the designers — many of whom are now looking at a minimum of six collections a year — make of this hamster-wheel rate of productivity?
“这让人心力交瘁。”在自己门店举行季前秀的设计师罗兰•穆雷(Roland Mouret)说。“太疯狂了。”来自奥斯卡•德拉伦塔(Oscar De La Renta)的设计师彼得•柯平(Peter Copping)补充道。“工作量超人。”维多利亚•贝克汉姆(Victoria Beckham)一边带我参观她伦敦芒特街(Mount Street)门店的季前装、一边对我说。维多利亚•贝克汉姆还推出了价格便宜点的二线品牌Victoria，她先费尽心思预选出约500件，然后逐步淘汰，直到选出自己最心仪的款式：“我们店面空间有限。”对于那些未上架的衣服，她这样解释道。季前装通常两次交付，所以新货往往每三个月上架一次，这与繁华商业街的店铺并无二致。
“It’s exhausting,” said Roland Mouret at his store presentation. “It’s crazy,” added Peter Copping, of Oscar de la Renta. “It’s a lot of work,” said Victoria Beckham as she walked me through her pre-collection at her London Mount Street store. Beckham, who also offers a broad diffusion line (Victoria, by Victoria Beckham) had wrestled with an estimated 500-piece edit before whittling it down to her favourite looks: “We ran out of space,” she said of the clothes she had kept back. The collection will be delivered in two lots, so new stock will arrive in store every two months, not unlike the high street.
尽管如此，她竭力避免举办resort季前秀。但诸位注意她的这家门店，露天市场的印花图案在她的季前系列贯穿始终。季前系列甚至有望变成时尚宠儿的意味……
As yet, she has avoided staging a resort show. But watch this space. Fairground prints were a recurring motif throughout her collection. It even had a hint of show pony . . .