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In 1565, a man named Richard Walweyn was arrested in London for wearing what the authorities described as a "very monstrous and great outrageous pair of trunk hose."
1565年，一位名叫理查德·沃尔温的男子在伦敦被捕，原因是他穿着当局所说的“非常怪异、非常离谱的大脚短裤”。
For those of you who don't already have a pair of these in your closet, trunk hose are these puffy trousers, and they were all the rage in men's fashion in Renaissance England.
你的衣柜里可能没有这种裤子，大脚短裤就是蓬松的裤子，它们在文艺复兴时期的英国男装中非常流行。
But they could get you into trouble.
但他们可能会让你惹上麻烦。
Walweyn had his pants confiscated by the authorities and exhibited in a public place, as, I quote, "an example of extreme folly."
沃尔温的裤子被当局没收，并在公共场所展出，我引用他的话说，这是“一个极端愚蠢的例子”。
Laws like this weren't unique to Tudor-era England.
这样的法律并不是都铎时代英国独有的。
In fact, the fashion police were hard at work all over Europe at this period in history.
事实上，在历史上的这个时期，整个欧洲的时尚警察都在努力工作。
In England, France, Spain and in cities up and down the Italian peninsula.
在英国、法国、西班牙以及意大利半岛的各个城市。
The authorities were passing laws about what people could wear, sometimes dozens in a single year, in order to keep up with ever changing fashions.
为了跟上不断变化的时尚，当局正在通过法律规定人们可以穿什么，有时一年会有几十条规定。
Now, OK, I imagine you're all thinking, well, that's an interesting history lesson.
我想你们都在想，嗯，这是一堂有趣的历史课。
But what does it have to do with us today?
但这跟我们今天的内容有什么关系呢？
That's like bloodletting or trial by ordeal.
这就像是放血或经受磨难的审判。
It's not the sort of thing we do in today's enlightened society.
这不是我们今天这个文明社会所做的事情。
But actually we do.
但实际上确实存在。
In fact, even in the 21st century, people regularly lose their jobs, kids are sent home from school, people are kept off airplanes and other types of public transportation, and sometimes people are even jailed for what they're wearing.
事实上，即使在21世纪，人们经常失去工作，孩子们从学校被送回家，人们被禁止乘坐飞机和其他类型的公共交通工具，有时人们甚至因为他们的穿着而被监禁。
A couple of examples.
有几个例子。
In 2015, a high school student in Kentucky named Stephanie Dunn was sent home from school for wearing a scandalously revealing top that revealed her collarbones.
2015年，肯塔基州一名名叫斯蒂芬妮·邓恩的高中生因穿了一件暴露锁骨的上衣而被从学校遣送回家。
And in 2012, an Alabama judge sentenced someone to jail for wearing sagging pants.
2012年，阿拉巴马州的一名法官判处某人穿宽松裤子入狱。
"You are in contempt of court," the judge said, "because you showed your butt in court."
“你藐视法庭，”法官说，“因为你在法庭上露出了你的屁股。”
I'm a law professor, and I work on questions of civil rights and racial justice and gender equity.
我是一名法学教授，我致力于民权、种族正义和性别平等问题的研究。
And over the course of my career, I've been surprised at just how many legal disputes involve what people are wearing.
在我的职业生涯中，有这么多的法律纠纷涉及到人们的着装，这让我感到惊讶。
And all of these lawsuits over dress and dress codes got me thinking that there's a lot more going on with our attire than just making a fashion statement.
所有这些关于着装和着装规范的诉讼让我想到，我们的着装不仅仅是一种时尚宣言。
So I decided to look into the history of rules and laws around clothing to try to figure out what's really at stake.
因此，我决定研究一下有关服装的规则和法律的历史，试图找出真正的利害关系。
And my research took me all the way back to the late Middle Ages.
我的研究把我带到了中世纪晚期。
I found that these kinds of laws and rules really got started with the growth of cities when strangers began to come together and needed a way to size each other up quickly and on sight.
我发现这些法律和规则真正开始于城市的发展，当陌生人开始聚集在一起，需要一种方法快速地、一眼就能看到对方。
And fashion became a kind of shorthand for status and identity and belonging.
时尚成了地位、身份和归属感的代名词。
The elite used fashion in order to assert their social superiority and high status and position.
精英们用时尚来彰显他们的社会优越感和崇高的地位。
And the average person used fashion as a way to challenge authority or to climb the social ladder.
普通人将时尚作为挑战权威或攀登社会阶梯的一种方式。
