reference
Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you’re in diapers, the next day you’re gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house, like a lot of houses. A yard like a lot of other yards. On a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back…with wonder.
(The Wonder Years quotes)
Wallpaper
A life size wallpaper re-creating the kitchen wall of 23 Southey Road, London. ninachakrabarti
Retro Fashion, Nostalgia and national consciousness: Success of a Revived Shoe Brand from Socialist Hungary
text by Fruzsina Müller
A few years ago the global retro fever appeared, which can be observed everywhere from clothes to furniture trends. Meanwhile, there was another phenomenon in the post-communist countries, the east-nostalgia, called “Ostalgie” by the Germans. Perhaps from these two tendencies has the nostalgia evolved in Hungary for products made under state-socialism, which was capitalised upon by some entrepreneurs trying to revive brands from the former system.
In Hungary, the most conspicuous field of retro is clothing, but there are retro trends in commercial design, architecture or the catering trade as well. An example for the last one is the Jaffa cafe in one of the most frequented streets in Budapest. One should not let oneself be deceived by the red leatherette chairs: the assortment of drinks is much wider than under socialism. The approach of Jaffa‘s owner was to give back the “calmness” of the 1960s, when he was a small boy wearing shorts – a kind of personal nostalgia for his own childhood, which possibly could only succeed as a commercial idea with the help of retro fashion. Another cafe and restaurant with retro feeling is called Menza, which was the denotation of school and working place canteens. However, here you can eat for ‘menza’ prices only one kind of dish at lunch time – coffee, drinks and noble foods never known in socialist times are as expensive as in the neighbouring restaurants in the very frequented Liszt Ferenc square in Budapest.
In the “ostalgia“ fever a wide range of products of socialist Hungary were revived, like the ‘legendary’ Traubi, a grape soda drink in a green bottle. Picture books appeared about “those nice 60s” or about the “cult objects of an extinct era”. The most popular (and for a long time the only) Hungarian TV-series, launched in 1987 and set in a newly built housing estate, could be watched again on television. However, the most recent – and seemingly most successful – example of retro fashion is the revival of the ‘Tisza shoes’, a Hungarian brand first produced in the 40s, and now getting the status of a cult object. But before telling the story of the Tisza shoes, let’s clarify the connection of retro and nostalgia.
The most recent retro trend appeared in the US around 2000, trying to call back the memories of dream-America of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, when the economy boomed after the victory of the Second World War. Why the most recent trend? Because the rediscovering of the culture and style of former times is not new: just think about the Renaissance and Classicism. The actual retro trend appeared in the 50s of the 20th century.
While retro stands for a kind of fashion trend, the category nostalgia signs a personal feeling. It was first used in the 1970s in the same meaning as today. Since then, it means more than homesickness but less than a psychological case like depression: rather the concepts of ‘beautiful old time’, childhood and yearning can be connected to it. In our case it is important to know that there is not only personal nostalgia but also a collective one. By seeing images in the public sphere, it is possible for many members of society to feel nostalgia for times of which they did not have any personal experiences. The development of collective nostalgia is very likely when personal lifeways are crossed by a large historical event or sudden change in society that evokes similar fears or answers in the people. This makes them feel nostalgic because they notice how different everything was only a few years before. In Hungary, the system change was obviously an event like that, causing collective nostalgia.
Let’s turn back to the Tisza shoes. The memories about them are varied: many people say they were very sticky because, at that time, everybody wanted western brands. Others claim that they became the favourite shoes of many young people.
The fact is that from 1942 a new shoe factory near to the second biggest river in Hungary, the Tisza, produced house shoes. The later well-known logo, a big T with a strip in the middle of it, appeared in 1971, when the production of sport shoes began. This style of sport shoes was revived in 2003 and since then they have been very popular among young people. There is not much difference between the retro models of Tisza and those of Puma. Only the huge T on the side tells the viewer it’s a Tisza. The popularity can’t be explained by the costs either: Tisza are only slightly cheaper than their Western counterparts. Nevertheless, many young people buy them.
What is the reason for this? How far does nostalgia play a role in the popularity of this brand? Or are there any other reasons? First of all, I wanted to know why exactly this brand was revived and spoke to the entrepreneur László Vidák. Vidák is in his 30s and already has experience in the shoe industry as an importer of fashionable shoes from Great Britain. The idea with the Tisza shoes first came to his mind in 2002. He saw a pair of old Tisza shoes in the street, which evoked memories of his own shoes, the ones he liked very much in his childhood. In May 2003 he opened the first Tisza shop in the centre of Budapest and hoped to find a consumer group who would like to explore an individual product for itself, which
“has a past and isn’t camped up”
He wanted to create a Hungarian product with a Hungarian name, because he trusted in the fact that “most people think that Hungarian products are not sticky any more and that not only the goods from abroad are good”.
His assumption proved correct: Today there are seven brand shops all around Hungary, and the number of them is continuously increasing. Vidák’s strategy builds on the so-called guerilla marketing: there are no advertisements for the products, but attention is aroused with small gifts such as lighters with the logo of Tisza or with sponsoring bands and festivals. Vidák believes that in the case of Tisza “less is more”, because the brand became well-known without forcing it. On the other hand he believes that “good products don’t need any advertisement”.
The new Tisza became popular surfing on the actual retro wave. However, Vidák says there is a significant difference between Tisza and other retro brand styles of the world: “At Tisza, there is a much more serious feeling behind the products. Without communicating it, everybody knows it is a Hungarian product, a Hungarian brand, it is produced and planned here”. Is there any relation between the nostalgia of Tisza and the political, economic and social situation in Hungary? Vidák is not sure: “Once I thought so, but I realised that there isn’t any. I thought the buyers would think about the old sheltered times, when we were living in a very different world with a different value system. However, only a minimal proportion of the buyers choose the product because of that.” Now he sees that not many people think about socialism while buying Tisza shoes because they simply did not experience that era. Most of the buyers are between 14 and 22 years old, so they cannot feel personal nostalgia.
In order to find out the reasons for buying Tisza shoes I talked with a few buyers of this product. Some of them had not been alive when the system collapsed, others were a maximum of 15, so that their occurent positive opinion on Kádárism could be rather a sign of collective nostalgia than a personal one. According to their answers, those young people who choose Tisza do not want to wear mainstream shoes “like the mass”. This brand has become the cohesive force, perhaps the symbol of a certain social group. In connection with retro, most of the people I spoke to think that this fashion played an enormous role in the success of Tisza.
“Older” buyers (between 25-32) tend to connect Tisza with nostalgia for childhood. This can be combined with nostalgia for the Kádár-era, especially for their flavours like “shelter”, “safety” and “order”. On the other hand, these are, irrespective of the political system, traits of a protected childhood. In their imagination, nobody censured the socialist Hungary, nobody said it had been a dictatorship. Moreover, a number of them mentioned what they had seen was the “moderate end”. With the words of a 32-year-old teacher: “I know that the system was insupportable, and I was very happy as a 15-year-old girl that the republic was proclaimed. But:
that was my childhood and I adored it.
I feel by all means nostalgia for it. We were children at the moderate end and that did not seem to be depressing for a child.”
It is very hard to make a clear borderline between nostalgia for childhood and for the system. Certainly, many young people know that it is not appreciated today to talk positively about socialism. A 30-year-old communication manager is not the only one who’s a bit confused when asked about his opinion on Kádárism.: “The feeling about it is ambivalent. I think the most appropriate definition is »the most cheerful shed of the socialist camp«.” This expression is wide-spread in the minds of Hungarian people. It is like a mystical expression, which refers to the weakening dictatorship and the increasing affluence up to the ‘70s that is called “consumer socialism” as well. According to sociologists people’s disappointment in the present (missing existential safety, shelter and well functioning common security) results in the re-evaluation of the Kádár-era in their minds. An example of this is the opinion of a 28-year-old musician about Kádárism: “That was a clown world, in which people were taken for stupid. But there was an order that doesn’t exist any more.”
Most of the younger people have already talked about Kádárism with relatives or friends and have a positive attitude towards it, although most of them are unsure because they feel they do not have the ‘right’ to judge it. Only a 14-year-old girl is willing to tell her opinion about the Kádár-era: “It was politically not the luckiest thing, but in that system it was probably better to be a child. There wasn’t anything like picking at each other at school because someone was wearing the newest Adidas, because everyone was equal… But the same model projected to the whole society must be a bit brutal.” She thinks, that in the former system, people had more social rights, but she can not completely appreciate it as an obviously positive factor.
For the buyers of Tisza the fact that through their Hungarian origin they offer identification seems to play a larger role than nostalgic feelings. The aim of the brand’s owner and the needs of the buyers meet at this point: According to Vidák the revival of Tisza was an initiative for the amplification of national pride. And apparently most of the buyers appreciate that the shoes are manufactured in Hungary. This fact can be inserted into the series of “self-documentation” achievements started by István Bibó, whose characterisation of the small Eastern European countries is astonishingly true still 60 years later. He called the following phenomenon “national materialism” in his 1946 written essay: “the [Eastern European] nations, who were thrown into a fever by constituting themselves, did not notice that the greatness of the achievements of the western nations are composed exactly of the fact that they live their national lives with a self-evident calmness, without willing to show off something as a nation by any means.”
I found this kind of national pride when asking buyers of Tisza shoes. Nearly all of them were impressed of the Hungarian origin of the shoes, some of them even seemed a little bit touched. For a number of persons, Tisza appears as a kind of counterpoint opposed to the multinational sports shoes firms like Adidas or Nike. These buyers talked about a pleasant surprise when reading on the label of the shoes
“Made in Hungary”
For some of the people, Tisza means a refreshing change in the globalised fashion world. The 28-year-old musician would be very happy “if there were many things like Tisza“ and if he “would not see the label »Made in China« everywhere.” An 18-year-old high-school girl answers the question why she opts for the brand Tisza: “I liked it and anyhow, deep in their hearts people feel homesick. After all, it’s a Hungarian product.” The 29-year-old communication manager says it is like the “Hungarian orange, but it is ours”-feeling.
A 14-year-old girl explained: “By choosing Tisza, I protest against the capitalist 80,000 Forint shoes – which are shit, anyway.” With this statement a new aspect appears which refers to the buyer’s consciousness: the support of domestic products against those from abroad.
The opinions were divided as I asked whether Tisza should become available in other countries as well. One part of the people would be proud of a Hungarian product which succeeds abroad, while others protest against the “globalisation” of Tisza.
Some products and brands can be stylized to symbols of whole regions or nations. The owner of the new Tisza recognised the facilities of retro fashion, but only a part of the political messages of this brand met the buyers’ demands. Although the Kádár-era seems to be a living part of the collective memory, still, it is not appreciated as positively as the brand owner had expected. If the choice of the buyers is influenced by positive feelings from the past, then it is mainly a nostalgia for childhood, not for the system. Nevertheless, the other political message of Tisza – the Hungarian origin – found a good way to succeed with the help of the so far unexploited national identity consciousness.
Patriotic feelings in connection with Tisza seem to be stronger than nostalgic ones. This may help Tisza survive the end of the current retro wave.
memory, a code inside fashion
From vintage to 80s, based on many research and individual talks with tutor in the first three months, the answer has emerged finally – I am interest in the topic of fashion and memory (it was inspired by the individual talk with tutor Arjen on last November). Now I am pleasently surprised to meet an special issue – fashion project # 3: on fashion and memory, it just launched this February, the little booklet provides quite some different angles of fashion and memory. Like the quotes below-
In thinking of clothes as passing fashions, we repeat less than half-truth. Bodies come and go; the clothes which have received those bodies survive. They circulate though secondhand shops, through rummage sales, through the Salvation Army; or they are transmitted from parent to child, from sister to sister, from brother to brother, from sister to brother, from lover to lover, from friend to friend.
(Peter Stallybrass, “Worn Worlds: Clothes, Mourning, and the Life of Things” The Yale Review 1993 vol. 81. no. 2, pp. 35-50)
The idea of dedicating an issue of Fashion Projects to the topic of fashion and memory started while reading Peter Stallybrass’s “Worn Worlds: Clothes, Mourning, and the Life of Things,” an engaging and lyrical essay on the author’s remembrance of his late colleague Allon White through the garments White wore.
Stallybrass’s piece elucidates people’s intimate relations with clothes—i.e. their materiality, their smell and creases—and the inextricable relations between clothes and memory. It traces the way in which clothes retain “the history of our bodies.” Wearing White’s jacket at a conference, the author describes the way clothes are able to trigger strong and vivid memories: “He was there in the wrinkles of the elbows, wrinkles that in the technical jargon of sewing are called ‘memory’; he was there in the stains at the very bottom of the jacket; he was there in the smell of the armpits.”
My interest in the topic was then piqued while sitting in on a class on fashion curation taught by Alistair O’ Neil at the London College of Fashion, where a number of students curated a fashion exhibition comprised of used gowns and top hats, their main value resting not in their design or historical relevance to fashion in history, but in their being second (or maybe third or fourth) hand, thus retaining intricate yet irretrievable history in their signs or wear, their stains, their scents. This lyrical exhibition, titled “A Walk in the Wardrobe” and staged in an old and seemingly abandoned space, was a reminder of the importance of reconnecting with the materiality of cloth and clothes.
This issue’s focus on clothes and memory dovetails with attempts to promote sustainability within the fashion industry. It invokes a counter-tendency in contemporary fashion which reinstates the importance of materiality and emotional connections to our garments in the hope to slow down the accelerated cycles of consumption and discard promoted by current fashion models. As Stallybrass points out, moments of emotional connections with clothes and cloth become, in fact, rare in the accelerated rhythm of contemporary societies: “I think this is because, for all our talk of the ‘materialism’ of modern life, attention to material is precisely what is absent. Surrounded by an extraordinary abundance of materials, their value is to be endlessly devalued and replaced.”
The various contributors to Fashion Projects explore this theme in disparate ways.
Sarah Scaturro, textile conservator of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, revisits, together with photographer Keith Price, the museum’s textile collection and her intimate relation with it. She also discusses curatorial practices with Judith Clark, whose exhibition “Malign Muses: When Fashion Turns Back”—based on Caroline Evans’s theories—is an exploration of the complex temporalities of fashion.
Tamsen Schwartzman interviews Tanya Marcuse on her photographic work in fashion archives, while fashion designer Shelly Fox discusses her own design and textiles practice.
Erica Weiner recounts her use of other people’s memories via old photographs and human hair for the making of her jewelry, while fledgling designer Eugenia Yu tells Erin Lindstrom of her collections based on her family memories.
Finally, Lisa Santandrea revisits North America’s industrial past and obsolete technologies, as they remain embodied in knits produced by the now-defunct Ohio Knitting Mills.
A Walk in the Wardrobe
“A Walk in the Wardrobe” is a suggestive exhibit recently organized by the MA in Fashion Curation at the London College of Fashion. (The group that put it together goes by the name Glasscasecuration.) The exhibit, which was unfortunately up for only a week, at the Ada Street gallery, explored the intimate relationship between fashion and memory.
Trying to go beyond the visual, it set out to trigger lost and forgotten memories through the sense of sound and smell. A soundscape comprised of muffled noises—of what seemed to be people walking and rummaging through closets—was paired with bygone scents (the smell of moth and lilac) reminiscent of one’s grandmother’s wardrobe.
The exhibit is comprised of two rooms: One is dedicated to the “masculine” wardrobe, with walls lined by black top hats. The other is dedicated to the “feminine” one, featuring a number of white dresses from different eras hung from the ceiling through a system of fishing wires.
The color of the dresses, combined with the eerie and ghostly quality that empty clothes evoke, seem to perfectly illustrate Peter Stallybrass’s perceptive assessment that: “There is, indeed, a close connection between the magic of lost clothes and the fact that ghosts often step out of closets and wardrobes to appall us, haunt us, perhaps even console us.”
Francesca, March 27th, 2007
一首歌唤醒80后记忆 集体寻找“Li Lei和Han Meimei”
“Jim”和“林涛”们的成长 握不住的梦想
小白（84年生 娱乐主播 ）：“感觉找到了自己曾经的影子。李雷和韩梅梅的故事，又是我们自己的影子，尽管他们是虚拟人物，尽管我们还在期盼李磊和韩梅梅的结合，但是我们自己都知道，他们不过是虚拟人物，编者让林涛当了警察，让Lily去了上海，不过是用另外的方式给了他们归宿，我们随着他们长大，原来，这些日子，已经过去了十多年，十多年啊，弹指一挥间。”
熊熊（80后男生 外贸公司实习）： “那个时候成绩很好，老师们都夸聪明，以为长大了就会自然的有好工作，比别人优秀，后来才知道，自己很平凡，就像芸芸众生一样，做个普通工作，养得起自己而已，如果那个时候我能好好学习英文，我能找到一份好工作吗？走过很多的路，一直告诉自己不怕、不怨、不悔，走到现在，拥有的也是另一种风景，另一种美好。可是，如果真的可以回头，真的可以改变。”
叶子（85年生 中学老师）：“虽然自己现在有一份看似稳定的工作，但是自己曾经最初的梦想却早已不再，现在的职业不过是生活需 要。自己从小爱美，所以那个时候最羡慕那些设计师，还有个小理想做个服装设计师，而现在的我，已离那个梦越来越远，做着普通的工作，朝九晚五，梦想在哪里？”
“李雷“和“韩梅梅”们的爱情 相见不如怀念
80后网友： “韩梅梅的孩子一个叫Han Keke, 一个叫Han Xixi，翻译过来就是——可可，惜惜，分明就是表达了她对不能嫁给Li Lei的可惜与无奈。李雷和韩梅梅的故事告诉我们，最初在一起的两个人，最后一定会分开，初恋不懂爱情，更何况是早恋！”
田园(80后 重庆邮电大学研究生)：“李雷和韩梅梅的故事，讲的就是另一个版本的《十年》，10年之前，我不认识你，你不属于我，10年之后，我们是朋友，还可以问候，只是那种温柔再也找不到拥抱的理由。曾经的那个人，时过境迁，也许只能相见不如怀念。”
网友“下雪的声音”：“不得不感叹一声:原来教科书一直在潜移默化的教导我们， 早恋是美好的,但同时也是不可能走到最后的。看来，我们最初爱的，往往不是我们最终与之在一起的那个人……”
Stella（80后 房地产公司行政人员）：“虽然现在身边不缺对象，但是却没有了当初单纯的那种小美好，曾经傻傻的用明天的天气来猜测那个人是不是喜欢我，也曾经因为擦身而过，他的一个眼神，高兴得一下午上课不打瞌睡……虽然后来还是证明了理想和现实是有差距的，但回忆起当初的忐忑，总是觉得有着一种可爱的美好。那个时候喜欢的男生，5年后说，其实他当年也有些喜欢我，如果和他在一起，现在是怎样的人生？”
网友“明明S妮”：“明天就是我的婚礼，听着这首歌，似乎又回到了从前，歌中的人分明就是我们的生活，太伤感了，因为我们的青春我们的年少再也回不去了。明天就要出嫁了，祝自己结婚快乐！”
“Lucy”和”Lily”们的友谊 天各一方
小豆（85年生 上海外国语大学研究生）：“当年我的英文名字就是Lily啊，一直叫到现在，就因为名字一样，课文中Lily的那段对话永远是我读的，而我当时最好的姐妹就叫lucy，现在都联系不上了，只是知道她结婚了，有个幸福的家，而我现在漂在外地，还没有男朋友，那歌里“Lily去了上海，身边还有了那么多男朋友 ”，呵呵，怎么差那么多？”
Renne(86年生 悉尼大学研究生)：“在国外，一个人找房子、搬家、打暑期工，很辛苦但是却很充实，只是有时候很想朋友和家人，那个时候的朋友一直是生命中最好的朋友，现在已经天各一方，常常在梦里做梦还是中学，大家还在一起聊天、说笑。初中的日子过得最为快乐，自发的喜欢学习，课堂上注意力非常集中，课业轻松。每天放学就和邻居家的小伙伴骑车在回家的路上，谈论课堂上发生的有趣事，讲昨晚看的电视剧，偶尔小八卦一下，谁又喜欢谁了。可是如今小伙伴，有的已为人妇人母，那些喜欢过自己和自己喜欢的人，都已没有了消息，每个人都在自己的生活轨道走远了，或许永远也不会相逢。”
网友“乐园儿”：“听着感触好多啊！永远都回不去的快乐时光。当年和好朋友也讨论过李雷和韩梅梅的情感，还记得当年班主任的陕西英语。当年的小暧昧的我们都已经结婚了有了各自的家，当年一起疯玩的朋友们都在忙碌着。想你们，有空出来聚聚吧。”
网友“aisle”:“令人伤感的不是li lei,han meimei, 而是我们永远远去的少年时光，那段无忧无虑的日子，墙角边那三个低着头不知在看什么的女孩，那个从来也不拉上拉链的书包，大扫除时空气中呛人的尘土味，那片蓝天下曾经微不足道的一切一切，如今却只能在记忆中缅怀。”
心理学家：“李雷和韩梅梅”是一剂舒心针 让80后暂时忘掉现在
而重庆仁格心理咨询所的心理学家赵先生也分析认为，“人为什么容易怀旧，容易感慨，也许是因为现实的不太如意，十多年前，他们只是学生，没有房子的压力，没有老爸老妈的逼迫，没有丈母娘的诸多要求，没有老板的压迫，他们开开心心，只是每天要做做作业，只是每次都要去小组长那里背英语课文，现在，美好不在了，他们都在寻找，但这些，都不如回忆来得温暖，所以，李雷和韩梅梅们给80后一代注入了一剂舒心针，让他们暂时忘记现在，沉浸在美好的回忆中。”
教育专家：他们所怀念的 正是现在得不到的
“80后所在的时代变化太快，他们怀念的正是现在从生活中得不到的。”重庆教育学院教育社会学专业老师何森林向记者说道。“80后的人在学生时代就正好经历了两种不同的文化时代，他们在初中、高中受到的都是学校规范性的教育，做什么事都一板一眼，规规矩矩，老师教导他们要，“团结、友爱、积极向上”。而当他们在大学甚至出社会之后，马上体会到了社会复杂的多元文化，不同的思想和文化落差，让他们极度怀念曾经课本里像韩梅梅、李雷一样好学生的代表人物，怀念他们的善良、可爱和单纯。韩梅梅和李雷的故事，不过只是他们怀念过去的一种载体而已。”何老师同时还指出，“相比60、70后，这一批老一代的人，从小到懂事，他们成长的社会环境几乎没有变过，他们的生活状态几十年也都差不多，所以不会像80后落差感这么强，以至这样集体的去找寻曾经的美好。”
80后经典记忆:Li Lei与Han Meimei
LiLei都这么牛了，HanMeimei却不喜欢他
“那T恤能送我一件吗？”满头银发的刘道义老太太问记者，她今年70岁，退休10年，退休前是人民教育出版社副总编、外语编辑室资深编辑。
刘道义想要的是佐丹奴新推出的Li Lei&Han Meimei(以下简称LH)T恤。这款全球限量发行2000件的T恤，面向高达过亿的潜在用户——从1990年至2000年，10年间使用人教版英语教材的中学生。刘道义是这套教材的中方主编。
这套教材是中学英语教育强化日常情景对话的产物，LH是教科书中的主角，他们负责好好学习,关心他人，书里还有双胞胎Lily、Lucy，英国小子Jim……在众多教科书中，他们陪伴着80后读了6年中学。
T恤只是LH主题产品中的最新一种，其他产品包括：Han Meimei半卧在地、做 性感状的作业本；“亢奋起来”的纸飞机；“三八线”胶带，可以贴在男女课桌之间，也可以贴在父母床中间；“我是狐狸精”、“正确对待男女关系”的贴纸……
LH产品基本以二人的男女关系为中心，他们不是抱着就是亲着——80后回忆、分析当年英语教材，找出了各种LH确有“一腿”的证据，最后大家焦急地成立了“Li Lei都这么牛了，Han Meimei却不喜欢他”小组，以便考据出LH的更多男女关系。
“其实 Li Lei和 Han Meimei从头到尾就没说几句话，”刘道义听说LH的绯闻后，哈哈大笑，“我们当年都很古板，怕学生谈恋爱。”21年前，刘道义和朗文出版集团有限公司的格兰特先生一起，主持了初中英语新教材的编撰工作。编撰持续了3年，1990年开始在北京崇文区、四川成都等八个县市区试用，1993年成为全国(除上海外)通行英语初中教材。
“Han Meimei就是那种小干部”
LH及那套为国内首次与国外出版社合作的中学英语教科书，对于这位退休在家的七旬老人和绘图者王惟震而言，有着80后所不理解的意义。
1981年，刚调进人教社一年的刘道义被人民教育出版社派往英国朗文出版集团考察，没呆几天，她就强烈感觉到：“中国的英语教材要提高质量，必须和外国人合作。”
中国当时刚刚开始改革开放，考察可以，合作基本不可能。
6年后，1987年，英国一家出版公司提出，愿意将人民教育出版社编写的汉语教材引入英国，条件是让他们给中国编英语教材。
人教出版社在邓小平的支持下，迎来了引进外国教材的第一个高潮，人教社最终选了朗文集团为合作方，融入以前的课本所没有的日常交际用语，让学生在丰富的情景对话中掌握单词和语法。
中方和英方各派出一个主编、两三个责任编辑。
教材里的故事由英国人格兰特主创，家庭模式是双方一起研究，最后设计了英国的Green家庭、加拿大的Read家庭；美国的King和Smith四个家庭，四个家庭加上中国的LH，故事就开始了。
课本里 Han Meimei和Jim、Li Lei和Jim等不断重复着相同的问候，“How are you？”“Fine，thank you，and you？”
有不少人都怀疑自己患上了“and you”综合征。觉得不这样说，就“简直没办法跟外国人展开交流”。
刘道义告诉记者，Li Lei和Han Meimei是中方编撰组起的名字，不是某位编撰者为了“纪念那个谁”，而纯粹为了便于刚开始学英语的中学生发音：“Li Lei总比Li Ming guang要好发音吧。”
之所以叫Meimei，也因为觉得“中国人也是喜欢起两个字的，把名double一下，就是小名了，这样比较好听”。
教材绘制者王惟震家里珍藏的3幅《英语》挂画，教材里人物形象基本原则是：中国人严谨，外国人开放 （图片由王惟震提供）
刘说，Lily和 Lucy，还有那一不小心就念成“烂玻璃”的Polly等外国名，都是朗文的编撰者格兰特起的，也是故意用最普通、最好念的名字。
比起名字难得多的则是对“形象”的把握。
教材里以图画为主，每篇课文都有至少两三幅图画讲述新单词和新句子，形象全部由中方操刀，今年快70岁的王惟震就是当年的主画人。
“Li Lei形象好，是一个很自立的、很有信心、很坚定、很正派、很有责任心的小男孩”，王惟震连说了五个“很”，新版教材被要求赋予每个人物以性格，所以Li Lei理所当然地是一个小平头的标准形象。王惟震给LinTao戴上眼镜，让Lily和Lucy扎一头漂亮的金发，让Jim脸上长点雀斑，因为歪戴 棒球帽，Jim还是当年小男生的模仿对象。王惟震说，这是从国外乐队海报上获得的灵感，那个时代“直接接触国外事物的机会太少”。
王惟震画得很慢，慢得让编辑抓狂。“画的时候就得小心，不能给孩子传授任何不良的东西。”王惟震也有自己的道理。
Han Meimei是王惟震最“小心”的形象：齐耳短发，一脸严肃，校服领口最高一颗扣子从没打开过。“就是那种小干部的形象，比较乖，功课也要好，也有责任心，愿意为大家做事”。后来Han Meimei直接被网友称为“妇女干部”。
王惟震第一次听到时，甚至有些委屈：“1990年代很多学校的女学生还不可以留长发，也不让扎马尾。”
尽管如此，谨慎的王惟震还是决定至少让MissGao出点“格”。“那个时候老师给孩子的第一印象应该是朴实”，但这位女老师，身材高挑，不但穿着裙子，还烫着卷发，颇有女人味，被当年的中学生叫作“迷死高”。
画好后，为保险起见，王惟震专门请示了领导，他没有想到领导只说了一个字：“行！”
新教材编撰从1987年启动，1990年编完初中阶段教材，在地方试用三年后，于1993年推向全国。
江苏无锡南长街实验小学英语老师田勤萍认为这套教材“很好很时髦”，当年的学生最喜欢Lily和Lucy，关系好的女生常常两两配对，宣称：“We are twins.”今天很多80后给自己取的英文名，很多也都是当年教科书的名字：Kate、Jim、Lily、Lucy。
课本用了7年，2000年人教社推出英语教材修订版，原来1000词掌握600词的要求已经过于低了，需要新版本提升难度。Li Lei和Han Meimei退出了90后的视野。“后来改成多套教材并用后，很多人还留恋原来这套。”刘道义说。
亢奋起来
“Miss Gao再高一些，头再大一些就更好了。”王惟震眯起眼睛，盯着T恤有点遗憾地说。
T恤的设计者叫蔡凯。1981年生，2005年辞掉大学美术老师的工作，从武汉漂到北京。这款“看在1300美金份上”接下的设计，由于被要求多次修改，图案变得“不够邪恶”，他不厌其烦地在网上劝告粉丝，等他推出自己设计制作的T恤再买。
2006年8月的一个中午，蔡凯坐在工作室发呆，突然问起一个生于1983年的同事，你还记得LH吗？“不就是初中课本上那对男女么？”同事头也没抬，“网上已经在讨论了。”
上网一搜索，蔡凯被“雷”(震惊)到了。许多人正在编排LH的故事，故事中不但他俩“有一腿”，而且还有扑朔迷离的N角恋——Li Lei和英国来的Jim都喜欢Han Meimei，但Han Meimei和Lucy都喜欢Li Lei。
他们拿出了一些最经典的佐证：一次Han Meimei问Li Lei借尺子，身后的Jim“神情复杂”地瞪着Li Lei，目光中“夹杂着妒忌和羡慕”。身旁的Lucy则“委屈地低下了头”，眼眶里已“满是泪花”……而在户外摘 苹果那一课里，Han Meimei边在树上摘果果，边和底下的Li Lei“眉来眼去”，害得Jim着急地大喊：“Be careful！”
但到了初一下学期——他们认为——Li Lei开始移情别恋，爱上了Lucy，因为课本上的对话变为以Li Lei和Twins为主角的居多。而Han Meimei也被默默注视自己一个学期之久的Jim所感动，两人幸福得像花儿一样开……
除了LH恋情大猜想之外，当年这套教科书里的所有人物，还包括那只叫Polly的鹦鹉，统统被翻出来八卦了一遍。
被网络打破了班级和城市的地理界限后，当年的中学生们得以分享很多曾经以为自己独有其实却有普遍性的经验。他们兴奋地发现，原来好多人都容易把Polly发音为“玻璃”，一位有才的老兄当年念“I’m Polly”时，总念成“烂玻璃”。1990年代末期就读中学的孩子更有才，把“Come and see my family”唱成“肯德基 my family”，还把Han Meimei翻译成“韩美眉”。他们发现，烫卷发、穿裙子、胸部颇具规模的MissGao曾被他们不约而同地评为“最有女人味的老师”，人称“迷死高”。
“大家像是找到了组织，尽情地晒当年的回忆，与集体记忆相关的主题产品会很有市场。”蔡凯说。
2006年10月，在《城市画报》举办的创意市集上，蔡凯和同事将网络时代造就的课本文化引入商业领域。他不喜欢课本上的LH形象，因此改造了他们。“我以前讨厌的LiIei和Han Meimei都改头换面，重新做人了。”
当印有LH大头像和相拥照的作业本、贴纸往摊上铺开，立马惹来厚厚一圈围观者。这些印刷质量粗糙，标价10块钱一本、50块钱一套、总共200套的作业本，两天之内被抢购一空。几乎每个围上来的年轻人都会眼睛一亮，发出尖叫，“天哪！这不是Li Lei和Han Meimei吗？！”
2007年，已经决定辞职做独立设计师的蔡凯推出了LH第二代产品，还参加了当年的大声展。“我很兴奋，这是我破坏青春期生活方式的一个好机会。我设计了5个产品，每个产品都有我上初中时的回忆、不满和隐忍。”他说。这套包括尺子、三八线、情书、检讨书和贴纸在内的办公室用品，无论从质量还是设计上，远比一年前更时尚，进一步淡化了他们身上的80后青春期印记。
“网络把我们的结集单位无限放大了，一个个创意被网络聚集起来后，像通了电一样强大闪亮起来。”蔡凯说。
许多90后也成了LH的粉丝。一个刚上初一的小男孩，在蔡凯的淘宝铺子里买了一卷三八线，号称要贴在老爸老妈的床的中间。一位上海中学女生，一口气买下所有贴纸，准备把印有“很黄很暴力”的贴纸贴在手机背面。
蔡凯出现在各种时尚休闲类杂志的机会也多了起来。2008年4月，佐丹奴香港总公司开始征集一年一度的“没有陌生人的世界”主题T恤设计，他们邀请蔡凯以LH为形象，设计其中的一款情侣装。带着他业已申请注册 商标的LH和80后的青春期集体记忆，蔡凯在时尚经济产业开发上渐走渐宽。
此时，另四个80后的“TheLi Lei&Han Meimei’s”乐队正好成立一周年。2007年8月30日，当他们站在MAO——这个云集国内知名摇滚乐队的舞台上，一脸青涩地唱起“Polly之歌”时，台下见惯大场面的滚迷们发出一片尖叫，“真牛X，这支歌都能被你们翻出来！”
当年那套英语教科书里选刊了很多歌曲，都是朗文出版公司的格兰特创作的，其中就包括“Polly之歌”。 这个“对音乐也不是特别擅长”的英国人的音乐作品并不被刘道义等中方教材编撰者欣赏，“因为不好听”。当初用这些歌曲，只是因为用它们就没有版权问题。而如今，它重出江湖，并且大受欢迎。此外，LH乐队还计划将教科书中的所有曲子重新翻唱。
主唱Icier还给乐队名作了注脚：它是对中学英语的怀念、致敬及反抗。其实，这个毕业于 清华大学英语系的25岁女孩和她的三个成员念初中时，在表面上中规中矩，一点也不“反抗”，他们都乖乖地穿着和Han Meimei差不多的校服，或是理着Li Lei一样的小平头；了不起学着Jim的模样，把头上的棒球帽稍微歪到一边；中学毕业后，都顺利考入国内和香港一流名校。“就是因为以前想坏，但没机会坏，坏不起来，现在就补偿一下，坏一点。”Icier说。
找到组织
一次偶然的机会，蔡凯在网上认识了杨柳，她就是那篇分析LH之间“有一腿”、流传最广的帖子的作者。在蔡凯看来，这名香港大学新闻系2004级本科生属于超级闷骚型——每次考试都拿第一，每次比赛都拿名次，高考后拿全奖去香港念书，今年再拿全奖，将赴美读Master。可比起其他若干年后才追忆似水年华的同龄人，这个1986年出生的女孩在初中时就开始YY(意淫)两人的关系了，在她的教科书里，Li Lei被她画成了印度人，而坐在 Han Meimei后面的Jim被涂鸦成复仇之神。她老早就“看出”，一直暗恋着Han Meimei的Jim，对总是找她借尺子的Li Lei怀恨在心。
到香港读大学后，杨柳发现这个有着丰富历史沉淀的繁华都市，充满凝固了光阴的记忆，比如一家叫G.O.D的连锁店，专卖怀旧产品——毛时代的痰盂、果盘，1980年代风行全国的大白兔奶糖，最近还推出了一款避孕套，上面印着过去商家最爱打的广告：“居家旅行必备”。产品很贵，买的人不少。
在一次社会学课上，杨柳发现集体回忆其实早已是社会学的一个研究分支。
集体记忆(collective memory)最早是法国社会学家莫里斯·霍布瓦赫(Maurice Halbwachs)提出的，他认为：集体记忆是社会建构出来的观念，它并非某种神秘的群体心灵，而是一群人对于过去的记忆。
不同的社会群体会有完全不同的、专属他们的集体记忆，这个集体记忆对50后来说是“红袖章”，对60后而言是“李铁梅”，对70后，是“阿童木”、“机器猫”。
对于阅历尚浅、成长环境逐渐多元与宽松的中国80后而言，陪伴着他们一同成长的Li Lei和Han Meimei就成了他们缅怀青春的载体。这个载体并无灾难与伦理的沉重负担，由于多少来自于一个压抑和单调的教育气氛，被这代人补偿性的“使坏”冲动颠覆与娱乐过后，才开始认真地怀念。
1990年代后，集体回忆在香港开始广泛应用，2006年11月香港政府清拆被认为有集体回忆的爱丁堡广场码头，甚至引发了香港人反对者的游行、抗议。以致于2007年1月，香港政府提出了将集体回忆作为“是否清拆香港历史建筑”的参考因素之一。
这两年，杨柳先后目睹香港因拆除皇后码头和天星码头，引发了港人集体抗议风潮。这些已丧失了使用价值的殖民时期老建筑，和90后不再认识的LH一样，对于相伴成长的一代人而言，意义非凡。“对于我们这代人来说，每个人的中学时代都不一样，但却共同拥有一个Li Lei和Han Meimei。”
今年6月1日，LH乐队参加了一场连台演出，当天的音乐主题是“让我们荡起双桨”。又一代人的青春将成往事，80后们开始回忆了。一个乐队演唱了一首“回到红白机时代”。那是一种流行于上世纪90年代、如今已被网游淘汰掉了的游戏机。曲子算不得动听，和Polly之歌差不多简单，甚至还有些粗糙。但全场人像是被喷了催化剂，尖叫、扭摆、泪奔，闹得一塌糊涂。
“为什么这些带着破坏力和颠覆性的产品那么有市场？”蔡凯说，“因为我们大家正在今天这个语境中对待那段回忆，正在消费其中的落差。一些变化发生得太快太猛，而一些记忆过了十几年仍然留在那里。”
蔡凯正忙着推出更“邪恶”的新产品，包括T恤、单肩书包，还有情趣内裤——把Li Lei和Han Meimei的大头像分别印在私处，屁股后面印上英文字样：“打我”、“咬我”等等。至少在他这里，LH将不可挽回地长大。他将推出一系列环保主题产品，因为据网友考证，Li Lei和Han Meimei生于1978年，今年已经30岁，步入而立之年了，“该让他们严肃点，承担起社会责任了。” (本文来源：环球时报 )
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