2007年VOA标准英语-Fashion Brings $3 Billion Annually to New York

By Kane Farabaugh
New York City
08 February 2007
 
watch Business of Fashion

Twice a year, the international fashion spotlight¹ shines on New York during Fashion Week.  It is a chance for top clothing designers to introduce their new styles and seasonal² colors.  While it is the most recognizable part of a major industry in New York City, it's not necessarily representative of the thousands of apparel manufacturers in the city's Garment District.  From New York, VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports on a designer and manufacturer who benefits from Fashion Week, but doesn't have models on the catwalk.

Alan Sealove

On the second floor of an office building in Manhattan's Garment District, clothing executive Alan Sealove is hard at work reviewing the colors and styles for his company's autumn clothing line for women.

Sealove’s father founded Victoria Royal over 50 years ago.  He now runs the company together with his brother.  While they have outfitted³ everyone from television game show hostess Vanna White to former first lady, and now Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, they are primarily a manufacturer of clothes sold in department stores and boutiques.

Though Victoria Royal enjoys success in New York's highly competitive garment industry, the company has done it without modeling clothing in the glitz and glamour⁴ of the celebrity⁵-studded Fashion Week.

Sealove says the proposition is costly⁶. "That's not the route we want.  It's a very costly proposition to have a show.  A runway show is really expensive.  What we do is take our energy and our marketing⁷ energy and our advertising⁸ energy in a different direction.  We target our stores.  We go after the business of our stores."

Barbara Blair Randall is the Executive Director of the Fashion Center in New York City.  She says that the front row at runway shows during Fashion Week is more a place for celebrities⁹ and Manhattan socialites than industry buyers.  It's all about "being seen" rather than seeing new fashions.

"It's completely crass¹⁰ and base.  If you ask me -- and you did (laughing) -- I'm sorry to say but it's really celebrity driven."

Though it might be celebrity driven, Sealove welcomes the extra attention that comes with Fashion Week, even if his company is not modeling clothing on the runways. "The fact that the shows get the publicity¹¹, that's just good stuff for all of us.  Bring attention to the apparel industry, and bring the fashion press into New York is just very helpful for all of us."

Apparel manufacturing brings in more than $3 billion a year to New York City.  The staff of Victoria Royal represents the working class in this line of work in an industry that currently employs more than 60,000 people.

'It's perhaps less glamorous¹² than the fashion shows and the runway shows and the models and that party attitude about the introduction to product,” says Sealove, “and we instead of introducing our product to the press as the shows do, we introduce our product to the stores.  Ultimately the people that show to the press will ultimately sell to the stores.  We bypass that completely and just go directly to showing and building our business and client base in the retail¹³ establishment."

Alan Sealove isn't alone.  He says he competes with about ten other companies in the style of clothing his company delivers to the market.  Most take their designs directly to the retail buyers. "There are thousands of companies based in New York that are wholesalers / manufacturers that design, ship, market, produce their own designs and the whole backbone¹⁴ of the entire apparel industry are the smaller based companies.  We're somewhat well-known in the industry because we have longevity¹⁵.  We've been around an awful long time.  We never take a day for granted."

And neither does Mary Bays, a designer for Victoria Royal.  Her name might not be as famous as Oscar De La Renta or Donna Karen, but Mary Bays is a designer on the rise. 

Her label -- the Mary Bays Collection -- graces thousands of pieces of clothing for sale in department stores and boutiques around the United States.  Bays appreciates the importance of Fashion Week for the industry because it influences the women who buy her clothing. "It's important to fashion in general.  It's important to the city.  It's important to the country.  It's important to someone who lives in a small town who wants to look fashionable to know what's going on and to see these shows, so when she walks into a specialty¹⁶ boutique, that she knows what to buy, and she knows what's happening.  It may not be the designer thing she sees on the runway, but it will have a look.  What happens this week sets a trend."

Those trends eventually fan out across the globe, and according to Barbara Blair Randall, not only change the way we look, but also the way we feel.

“A lot of times, people view Fashion as frivolous¹⁷ and not important. And you know something, if you look at it in terms of the issues that humanity is faced with on this globe, certainly how we package ourselves is not a top priority.  But I will tell you, for the individual and the psychological impact of who we are and how we carry ourselves and how we express ourselves is certainly influenced by how we package ourselves and how we feel about that packaging.”

That packaging, whether it is on display in Alan Sealove's office or on the runway during Fashion Week, is ultimately what's on sale to the world's consumers.  Year to year, the changing fashions fuel the ever-changing garment industry in New York City… from the top designers, to the everyday apparel manufacturers like Victoria Royale.

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

3 outfitted   

v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They outfitted for the long journey. 他们为远途旅行准备装束。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They outfitted him with artificial legs. 他们为他安了假腿。 来自辞典例句

4 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

5 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

8 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

9 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

10 crass   

adj.愚钝的，粗糙的；彻底的

参考例句：

• The government has behaved with crass insensitivity.该政府行事愚蠢而且麻木不仁。
• I didn't want any part of this silly reception,It was all so crass.我完全不想参加这个无聊的欢迎会，它实在太糟糕了。

11 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

12 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

13 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

14 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

15 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

16 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

17 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。