丑衣大逆襲 聖誕毛衣越丑越流行(雙語)

This is one of the ugliest Christmas seasons in recent memories -- and that's the way some clothing retailers want it。
　　今年的聖誕季將會是近年來最丑的一次，但這正中許多服裝零售商的下懷。
　　Sales of Christmas sweaters purposely designed to be ugly are looking pretty good at this point, according to the companies that make them。
　　聖誕毛衣廠商表示，故意做丑的聖誕毛衣今年銷量看好。
　　Festified.com, which started making off-color holiday jumpers in 2009, claims it will sell tens of thousands of sweaters this holiday season, while UglyChrstmasSweater.com is predicting sales of 30,000 ugly sweaters. Meanwhile, San Diego-based Tipsy Elves expects to beat the $3 million they had in sales in 2013.
　　2009年，Festified.com開始出售顏色難看的節日針織套衫。該網站聲稱，他們預計將在今年的節日季中售出上萬件毛衣。而UglyChrstmasSweater.com預計將售出3萬件款式難看的毛衣。位於聖地亞哥的Tipsy Elves則預計會超過2013年3百萬美元的銷售額。
As in all things, not just Christmas sweaters, ugliness is in the eye of the beholder. But there are certain standards that ugly Christmas sweaters must adhere to, according to Tipsy Elves CEO Evan Mendelsohn。
　　不僅僅是聖誕毛衣，同其他事物一樣，每個人眼中的丑也不一樣。Tipsy Elves首席執行官埃文•門德爾松(Evan Mendelsohn)表示，款式難看的聖誕毛衣要達到一些指定的標準。
"If you are trying to go truly ugly, it's all about the embellishments -- the more garland, bells, balls, lights, and sequins you can attach to your sweater, the better," he said。
　　他表示，如果想將衣服做到奇醜無比，裝飾物是關鍵。毛衣上的花環、鈴鐺、小球、燈以及小金屬片越多越好。
　　Mendelsohn's company and Festified take the accepted ugliness standards and add a touch of tastelessness. Along with the garlands, bells and garish red and green patterns come subtly shocking pictures, such as a reindeer threesome or Santa Claus showing his butt crack.
　　門德爾松的公司和Festified在採用了這些公認的醜陋標準的同時，還加入了一點庸俗的元素。他們將花環、鈴鐺還有鮮艷的紅綠色圖形組成一些難看的圖案，如三隻馴鹿或展示屁股破洞的聖誕老人。
　　Some people find the ugly sweaters amusing. Others, like fashion expert Bryce Gruber, think they may have gone too far. "My brother-in-law told me how he saw some old lady in her 70s at a sports bar wearing a sweater that showed a snowman with a carrot in his crotch and two Christmas ornaments dangling below," she said. "If the sweater is just ugly -- like too many rhinestones or sequins -- that's fine, but the holiday is not supposed to be about sexual snowmen."
　　一些人會覺得這些難看的毛衣很搞笑，而對於時尚達人布萊斯•格魯伯(Bryce Gruber)這些人來說，這類毛衣丑得有點過分了。布萊斯•格魯伯說道：「我姐夫曾告訴我，他見過一位70多歲的老太太坐在運動酒吧里，毛衣上印有一個襠部插著胡蘿蔔的雪人，還掛著兩個聖誕裝飾球。如果毛衣設計成像鑲有過多人造鑽石或是金屬片那樣丑也就算了，但聖誕節不該涉及有性暗示的雪人。」
Fashion stylist James Cornwell says that even though ugly -- and edgy -- sweaters are in fashion, context is everything. What works at a party with friends might not work at a gathering filled with conservative relatives. "You won't get as much criticism if you make fun of Santa or the reindeer as you might with Jesus," he said.
　　時尚造型設計師詹姆斯•康偉爾(James Cornwell)認為，雖然這些難看鮮艷的毛衣很流行，但節日氛圍才是重點。把朋友聚會上奏效的東西用到同保守的親戚聚會中不一定有用。詹姆斯說：「如果你拿聖誕老人或馴鹿來開玩笑，你不會受到太多的批評，但拿耶穌來開玩笑就不一定了。」