我曾问过本书的作者：“为什么把书起名叫‘活色生香’？听上去好像和女人有关系！”

I once asked the author of the book:”Why you named it living colours? Sounds like something about women!”

作者回答我：“事实上，从某个角度来说，你说对了。这本书会告诉你一个中国女设计师如何用一种传统的、几乎消失的老布料设计礼服的故事。不过，这本书里的‘女人’故事，本质上是关于喜欢这些设计的女人们——当设计师创造出非凡的设计时，展现的是她个人的才华，但当一群群女人们跑进她的设计室，只是为了得到那些用老布料做的礼服的时候，那就是另一个故事了：一个关于设计理念的故事。”

Ariel,the author answered:”Well, in some ways,you’re right. This book will show you stories about a Chinese Woman Designer,and her designs about a kind of traditional fabric which once nearly disappear.But the truly stories about ‘women’ in this book, it’s about those women who like the designs——when a designer made something gorgeous,it showed the real talent of the designer;but how about bunches of women filed into the studio just for some dresses made of old fashion fabrics? Then that would be a story about the concept of those fascinated designs.”

该书是晚礼服设计与地方特色文化的完美结合。另一方面，它还融合了摄影技术。

This book is the perfect marriage of haute couture dresses and locally characteristic cultural . On the other hand, it embodies photography too.

书中展示了超过70款的服装设计，近百幅彩图，包括围绕香云纱面料的设计，以及选美舞台的高端定制。

It portrays more than 70 incredible pieces and almost 100 colour graphs, including dresses designed for gambiered Canton silk and dresses designed for Beauty Pageant.

通过阐述设计理念的字里行间你还可以瞥见一个中国设计师的设计历程。事实上，有时候，成为一个优秀设计师的路并不好走。

You may also find out some clues about experiences of a Chinese fashion designer. Sometimes the right path to be an outstanding designer in China is not the easiest one.

不过，正如作者所言：心里有光，我们便能勇敢地迈入黑暗中。

But just as the author puts it:” We have light in heart when we brave the darkness.”