Eager to know what the next big thing in luxury will be? I am utterly¹ convinced that digital talent will be as important to fashion and luxury as design talent. As digital collides with the fashion and luxury world, we must look ahead and drive a shift in education and training to meet demand for these digital skills. I don’t think it is a stretch to say that coding will soon be as important as reading and writing.

想知道奢侈品行业接下来会发生什么划时代事件吗？我有充足理由相信：对时尚界及奢侈品界来说，数据技术人才将与设计师同等重要。随着数据技术与时尚及奢侈品界“激烈碰撞”，我们必须未雨绸缪，转向相关教育及培训，以便满足未来对网络技术的需要。我的意思并不是说编码与阅读及写作同等重要。

In the future, I expect that the game-changers in fashion and luxury will be tech-driven entrepreneurs, much as Elon Musk² has become a pioneer in the automotive world.

我预计，改变时尚及奢侈品界未来格局的人将是那些用科技武装起来的企业家，这与埃隆?马斯克(Elon Musk)成为汽车业的引领者如出一辙。

Just look at social media pioneers such as Eva Chen, who leads fashion partnerships³ at Instagram. Her expertise⁴ at the convergence of social commerce and fashion has harnessed the power of Instagram and created a personal brand that resonates across all corners of the fashion community.

诸位看一下陈怡桦(Eva Chen)之类的网红，她目前是Instagram时尚合作总监。她在社交媒体商业化运作与融合时尚方面的专长就是充分利用了Instagram的超凡影响力，并创造了在时尚圈各个角落引发强烈反响的个性时尚风格。

We need to move beyond the idea that the creatives can fill their digital gaps simply by occasionally pulling in the tech experts. That’s not going to build a solid future. What’s needed are tech-savvy fashionistas and digital luxury artisans who are uniquely able to meld the two distinct worlds. In our world, creative collaboration⁵ is natural; we need the same easy collaboration that can cross over to the digital innovators.

我们必须超越原有的观念：设计师只需时不时聘请科技专家就可以填补自己的所谓“数字鸿沟”，这样做，无法顺势打造出“稳固江山”。我们需要精通科技的时尚达人以及熟知数据技术的奢侈品打造者：他们能绝无仅有地实现网络科技与时尚这两个截然不同的行当的珠联璧合。在当今世界，创意领域的协作司空见惯，我们希望数码技术革新者同样能实现彼此顺畅的合作关系。

I have always believed this was possible. And our experience at the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group (YNAP) is proof that the two elements can tilt⁶ the industry. When I invented the online fashion and lifestyle store Yoox in 1999, e-commerce was in its infancy⁷ and I had very few contacts within the fashion industry. I had an MBA from Columbia University and was determined⁸ to be the first to construct a digital fashion industry. Designers from Giorgio Armani to Valentino opened their doors and listened to my pitch. These visionaries understood their future was online.

我始终认为数码科技与时尚界的合作是可能的。我们创建Yoox Net-a-Porter Group集团(YNAP)的成功经验就是明证：两大奢侈品电商的合作能颠覆时尚行业的原有格局。我1999年创办时尚与生活品网店Yoox时，电商正处于起步阶段，我在时尚业界也是人生地不熟。拿到哥伦比亚大学(Columbia University)的工商管理硕士(MBA)后，自己就立志要成为创建数码时尚产业的第一人。阿玛尼(Giorgio Armani)以及华伦天奴(Valentino)等时尚巨擎的设计师欢迎我，倾听我的宏伟蓝图。这些有远见卓识的人明白，他们的未来在电商。

Today, YNAP (Yoox merged⁹ with Net-a-Porter in 2015) employs 1,000 digital innovators in the UK and Italy, making it possible to adapt to a fast-changing fashion market and tap into trends. We will add hundreds more tech jobs in the near future. We just inaugurated our new Tech Hub in London’s White City area, which is now home to a team pushing the boundaries of mobile technology and artificial intelligence in the luxury space.

如今，YNAP（Yoox与Net-a-Porter于2015年合并）在英国及意大利雇佣了1000位数码创新精英，所以能顺应瞬息万变的时尚界并充分利用上述趋向。在不久的将来，我们将增加成百上千的技术岗位。我们在伦敦White City新建的科技中心(Tech Hub)刚刚启用，这儿如今是移动科技与人工智能应用于奢侈品行业的团队研发中心。

We also recently teamed up with Imperial College London to teach children in west London the basics of coding, with particular emphasis on training girls aged eight to 14. It’s the latest in our education initiatives for primary and secondary schools as well as universities, both in the UK and Italy.

我们最近联手伦敦帝国理工学院(Imperial College London)，教授西伦敦的孩子最基本的编码技术，重点是培训8-14岁的女孩。除了支持大学外，这是我们对英国与意大利中小学校采取的最新教育培训举措。

Over 700 children will have the opportunity to attend free weekly classes taught by students from Imperial’s Department of Computing¹⁰, who will be remunerated for their teaching time, using a curriculum that has been carefully designed alongside our developers. We’ve worked directly with local schools and each student will be able to follow a course for up to three terms. The children will learn JavaScript, build their own games and apps, and gain problem-solving skills in a creative environment.

超过700名孩子每周可参加帝国理工学院计算机系学生（为此将获得相应酬劳）教授的免费课程，全部课程由他们与我们的研发人员精心设计。我们还直接与西伦敦本地学校合作，每个学生能学长达三个学期的培训课程。孩子们将在极富创造性的环境中学习JavaScript语言、编写自己的游戏与应用软件以及学会解决问题的实际技能。

This initiative is part of a project, CodeLab, that aims to tackle the lack of gender¹¹ equality within the technology industry. As a company committed to equal opportunities, with women making up half of our 200 top managers and executive leaders — and being paid approximately 14 per cent more than the company’s senior executive average in 2016 — we want to help create a pipeline¹² of future female tech talent.

上述培训是旨在解决科技界种族不平等的CodeLab项目的部分内容。我们集团致力于实现男女工作机会平等（女性员工占到我们全部200位行政高管的一半，而且其2016年薪水比公司高管平均水平高出约14%），希望为源源不断培养未来女性科技精英生力军贡献一份力量。

The fact is, there simply aren’t enough women working in tech today. It’s a problem that Silicon¹³ Valley has been slow to address seriously. Industry data suggests that women make up an average of just 17 per cent of the tech workforce¹⁴ in big technology companies. A lack of diversity is never good and tech is missing out.

而实际情况是：科技界女性从业者十分有限。硅谷(Silicon Valley)对此问题一直消极拖沓。业界数据表明：在大型科技类公司中，女性平均只占全部技术员工的17%。员工缺乏多样性永远是弊大于利，科技界正在一天天错失良机。

So where do we look for inspiration as to how digital and design flair¹⁵ can benefit each other? Italy’s heritage in fashion and luxury provides an important lesson for the future. Over the centuries, we have developed a symbiotic¹⁶ system that combines creativity with a skilled manufacturing base — it’s this pairing that can make magic. Now, that perfect mix of dreaming and doing must include the digital artists of the future.

因此，我们应从哪儿寻求策略，才能让数码技术与设计才华相得益彰？意大利在时尚及奢侈品界的优良传统给未来出路提供了重要启示。过去几百年里，意大利人成功培育了设计与成熟制造基地的互惠互利制度——正是这种共生关系造就了意大利时尚业的神奇故事。如今，这种想象力与实干的完美结合必须纳入未来的数码科技人才。

This possibility should fire the imagination of anyone looking at a creative career in luxury. Digital has added an entirely¹⁷ new dimension to the creative process. It enables unlimited¹⁸ and unimagined means of expression. It can combine the material with the immaterial. Just as important, it brings us closer to the customer than was possible before.

上述可能性应该能点燃每个志在从事奢侈品设计者的激情。数码技术已给整个设计增添了全新维度，它能实现意想不到与无限的设计，能让有形物与无形物集于一体。同样重要的是：它能让我们比以往任何时候都更加接近消费者。

So let’s make sure we provide our next Coco Chanel with plenty of digital talent. She’ll be trend-spotting on the street and on the web. Big data, artificial intelligence and virtual reality will be as important to her as design, materials and craftsmanship¹⁹. She’ll expect no less of her team.

因此，让我们务必为下一个可可?香奈儿(Coco Chanel)培养大量的数码技术人才。她定会在大街小巷以及网络上发现这些潮流趋向。大数据、人工智能以及虚拟技术会与设计风格、面料以及做工一样至关重要。她也会对自己的员工有更高期望。