Politics, you might argue, doesn’t have much to do with fashion. Well, instead it does. Slogans on fashionable T-shirts can reveal what we think about different issues, spelling out messages against wars, governments and corporations.
At February’s London Fashion Week, Vivienne Westwood showcased Guantánamo protest knickers from Agent Provocateur. The orange pants with “Fair Trial My Arse” emblazoned across the derrière, were created in collaboration with legal action charity Reprieve as a reaction against the Case of the Contraband Underpants.
So, there you go, you can be political and fashionable at the same time. Now, I hate Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. I have written extensively about and against him when he was in power between 2001 and 2005. In fact, in those years, you could wake up every day and easily find something new to write about him: his media empire, conflict of interests and "customised" laws; corruption charges and Mafia allegations, the Italian economy constantly plunging, Berlusconi’s internationally embarrassing gaffes, his fake hair and plastic smile. There was just no end to the Berlusconi-related topics and, believe me, writing about him, was much better than writing about fashion and style. After all, trends change every few months, but the Prime Minister was able to provide endless fun on a daily basis.
I studied Berlusconi’s look for a long time, intrigued by the fact that the Prime Minister’s body seemed to “expand” in a rather peculiar way. Ordinary people’s fat deposits on particular areas such as the belly. But in Berlusconi’s case it was the area around his shoulders and chest that kept on constantly expanding and thickening. Hmmm, I wondered, was it just padded shoulders, a return of the power-dressing trend? Or maybe he was wearing a kevlar jacket or his ego was growing and growing? Ah, the mysteries of life.
Between 2001 and 2005 I often wore a red T-shirt that spelt out “I didn’t vote for
Berlusconi” in five European languages. The T-shirt was actually a present from my brother who probably envisaged it was rather wise to move around Europe with such an item of clothing to avoid being laughed/spat at/beaten up every time you introduced yourself to somebody saying “Hi, I’m Italian”.
After Prodi went to power, I decided not to throw away the T-shirt, just in case Berlusconi would be back one day. Unfortunately, the T-shirt has become fashionable again after April’s Italian elections when Il Cavaliere came back in power with the most right-wing government in Italy since the Second World War.
Just a few months after winning the elections, Berlusconi is revealing once again his real face: the Italian government introduced yesterday an amendment that suspends trials of crimes allegedly committed before June 2002 which carry a sentence of less than 10 years. If passed, the measure will therefore suspend for one year two trials involving Berlusconi and British lawyer David Mills (in one trial the Prime Minister and Mills are accused of financial wrongdoing; in another Berlusconi is accused of bribing Mills to give favourable testimony).
Opposition politicians dubbed it the “Save the Prime Minister” law, which is rather correct as Berlusconi seems to be constantly engaged in a private crusade against magistrates that he sees as crazy communists and Satanic figures fighting against him, the innocent and anointed one. Berlusconi also stated that this is an amendment that favours all Italian citizens, but I can’t see how such decision could benefit us when most of the citizens do not have a crime record.
This is the true nature of Berlusconi’s politics, producing governments based on private needs and a state of (personal) emergency. Bending the rules in his favour, breaking them to save his arse that he wipes everyday with the Italian Constitution are by now common rules in his government.
Besides, what’s so urgent about this amendment when average Italians struggle to get till the end of the month with the wages they get, young people are unemployed or stuck in crap jobs and Naples is submerged by oceans of rubbish?
Yet that’s not all: Berlusconi has also approved last week a bill reining in magistrates’ use of telephone taps. It will still be possible to use telephone intercepts for major crimes involving terrorism or the Mafia, but the practice will not be available for cases where the maximum prison sentence is under 10 years. There will be a time limit of three months per individual target, and editors and journalists who publish the transcripts will face fines and up to three years’ imprisonment. Phone taps helped shedding light on the kidnapping of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar, uncovered financial and football match-fixing scandal, the exchange of sexual favours between politicians and aspiring actresses and helped capturing Mafia bosses. Berlusconi’s aim is to save once again his ass as magistrates in Naples are investigating him for trying to bring down Prodi’s government with an investigation that heavily relies on telephone intercepts.
As if this weren’t enough, 2,500 soldiers will also be made available to bolster police patrols in some Italian cities. Well, at least, we aren’t sending them to get killed in Afghanistan or Iraq (we are only turning them into Fascist squads, it’s different).
Well, actually while typing down all this, I realised that my T-shirt is rather limited: I should add a few more languages to it. For all those Italians who already have one: don’t forget to bring it on holiday with you wherever you go to this summer. It might turn out to be the most indispensable item of clothing.
A final appeal to designers Viktor & Rolf: could you please do one of your "NO" spongy 3D trench coats for Berlusconi? On his coat you should write down "BIG EGO".