In Europe, Masks Were Fashionable—and Scandalous昔日欧洲的面具：时尚又藏污

Masks have been used by many of the world’s cultures， from Asia to Africa， for many purposes， from the holy to the medical to the mundane. At times， mask wearing has been embraced as fashionable， much like in 16th-century Europe when wealthy women covered their faces and shielded their complexions from prying eyes and the hot sun.

从亚洲到非洲，出于宗教、医疗和世俗等多种目的，世界上许多文化都使用了面具。有时，佩戴面具被认为是一种时尚，就像16世纪的欧洲，当时有钱人家的妇女会遮住脸，避免容貌被窥视和受烈日伤害。

At this time in history， pale skin was a sign of high status; sun-kissed skin suggested not health and vitality as it does now， but rather the necessity and drudgery of working outside. In order to achieve the lightest complexion， untouched by freckles and sunburn， upper-class women started wearing facial coverings to shield their faces from sun， wind， and dust. The appearance of smooth， pale skin was often further exaggerated with heavy white makeup.

在这个历史时期，苍白的皮肤是显赫地位的象征。被阳光亲吻成小麦色的皮肤不像现在这样表示健康和活力，而是意味着户外劳作的必要和辛苦。为使面部肤色尽可能白皙，没有雀斑和晒斑，上层社会女性开始佩戴面具，保护脸部免受阳光、风和灰尘侵害。光滑、苍白的皮肤再配上厚重的白色妆容，常常显得愈发夸张。

The first masks consisted of forms of black velvet that covered the top half of the face （in France this type of mask was called a loup， or wolf， because it frightened children）. A vizard， covered the entire face. Rather than fastened around the back of the head， some vizards were held in place by having the wearer clench in her teeth a bead attached to the inside of the mask. Other vizards could be carried like fans and held in front of the face to hide the wearer’s visage.

最早的面具由黑色天鹅绒制成，遮住脸的上半部（在法国，这种面罩叫“卢普”，意思是狼，因为它会吓着孩子）。另有一种“维萨德”面具，可遮住整张脸。这种面具有些不是系在头后固定，而是由佩戴者用牙咬住附在面具内侧的一粒珠子；还有些可以像扇子一样拿着举在脸前遮住佩戴者的面容。

Because the vizard covered the whole face， moralists took issue with it. In 1583 Puritan social reformer Philip Stubbes had this to say about the full-face mask in The Anatomie of Abuses： “[I]f a man that knew not their guise before， should chaunce to meet one of them， hee would thinke hee met a monster or a deuil， for face hee can see none.” Vizard wearers “prophane the name of God，” he concluded， and “liue in al kinde of voluptuousnes and pleasure.”

由于“维萨德”盖住了整张脸，道德家对此提出异议。1583年，清教徒社会改革家菲利普·斯塔布斯在《陋习之剖析》中对这种全脸面具评论说：“人未见此伪饰者，一旦遇之，必视同魔鬼怪物，盖因不得见其形貌也。”他最后说，佩戴者有“亵渎上帝”之嫌，并“沉迷于淫欲享乐”。

The play’s the thing

戏如其事

Part of that pleasure was found in the theater， which became fashionable in European capitals during the 17th and 18th centuries. In his diary Samuel Pepys1 describes a trip to the Theatre Royal in June 1663：

有些乐事出自剧院。17和18世纪时，剧院开始在欧洲大都市流行。塞缪尔·佩皮斯在其日记中描述了1663年6月的皇家剧院之旅：

Here I saw my Lord Falconbridge， and his Lady， my Lady Mary Cromwell， who looks as well as I have known her， and well clad： but when the House began to fill she put on her vizard， and so kept it on all the play; which of late is become a great fashion among the ladies， which hides their whole face.

在此处，我看到了福尔康布里奇大人和夫人，还有玛丽·克伦威尔夫人，她一如既往地美丽端庄、衣着得体，但当观众多起来时，她戴上了维萨德面具，直到剧终——这是近来在女士间流行的一大时尚，可以遮住整个面孔。

Wearing a mask to the theater was a way “to protect a woman’s modesty，” notes Will Pritchard， associate professor of English at Lewis & Clark College. Because plays at the time could be full of off-color language and double entendres2， it was considered that a “proper” lady required a mask to shield her from a spectator’s gaze.

刘易斯克拉克学院的英语副教授威尔·普里查德指出，佩戴面具去剧院是“保护女性端庄”的一种方式。因为当时的戏剧可能充斥着下流脏话和带有猥亵内涵的双关语，所以人们认为，“举止得体”的淑女需要佩戴面具，遮挡众人目光。

Outside the theater， the mask provided a degree of freedom in daily life that did not exist before， making it possible for a woman to go to market or church unescorted by a man. An unmasked woman risked causing a scandal by venturing out in public without a chaperone3.

在剧场外，面具也为日常生活带来前所未有的自由，女性得以在没有男性陪同的情况下独自去集市或教堂。不戴面具的女性若无人陪同在公开场合露面，可能有引发丑闻的风险。

Along with bringing women a measure of independence—which greatly contributed to its popularity—the mask offered a dimension of mystery and illusion by hiding a person’s face. In The Careless Lovers， a 1673 comedy by the English writer Edward Ravenscroft， a character says， “Under the Vizard the Wife goes to the Play， Ball， or Masquerade undiscover’d to her Husband ... the Daughter or Neece unperceiv’d by her Relations.”

面具不仅给女性带来一定程度的独立——这大大促进了它的流行——同时也通过遮盖面容带来一种神秘和错觉。在英国作家爱德华·雷文斯克罗夫特1673年所作喜剧《粗心的恋人》中，有个角色说：“妻子戴着面具去剧院、参加舞会或化妆舞会，丈夫都没发现……女儿、侄女等一众亲戚也无知无觉。”

Going incognito

隐藏身份

Scholar of French culture Joan DeJean observes that in many late 17th-century depictions of French noblewomen， they “toy with their masks.” Unlike in other major European capitals， “only in Paris ... did an otherwise quotidian4 practice evolve into an elabor- ate and often flirtatious ritual” in which women would playfully hide and reveal themselves. In Paris the term incognito5， borrowed from an Italian word， was first used in the early 17th century to describe the more stylish aspects of wearing masks： “It was there that the phenomenon of masking began to spread beyond personages of the highest rank，” writes DeJean.