At a certain point in his journey through life, young Matteo found himself lost. He just couldn't remember where he was going. He looked for signs around him, and found no answers; he racked his brain, but it was empty. Then he looked at himself and found the light. His sweatshirt was indeed emblazoned with a guiding word "VENETO" and he suddenly remembered, he was on his way to visit the Veneto region, located somewhere in the North-East of Italy.
Laugh or cry about this description that's probably how the mind of the current Italian Minister for Interior Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini mind worked when he was just a representative of the far right Italian party Lega Nord (Northern League, now The League). At the time when appearing in public or campaigning for the Lega, Salvini always opted for shirts and sweats that featured slogans (often against Europe...) or names of regions he was visiting.
Geography not being a strong point for the League representatives (in 2014 at the time of the Scottish independence referendum, the League announced a group of its members was going to Hamburg, no actually to Strasbourg, no, no to Edinburgh to support nationalists - to this day we still don't know if they ever managed to get the correct plane to their destination...), the tops acted as a rudimental orienteering system for Salvini. Fair enough, some of us use GPS devices, others opt for their clothes. But then something happened to Salvini's wardrobe. Something terrible and with a fascist twist added.
After forming the most right wing government of Italian history with Luigi Di Maio (from the populist Five Star Movement), Matteo Salvini was stylistically lost.
For a short period of time he tried suits at times accessorised with rosary beads and gospel books (often improperly employed at political rallies to prove the masses he is a genuine catholic...), but he must have reckoned formal wear made him look like all other politicians. Besides, formal wear does not usually include slogans that can help you finding your way when you're completely lost.
So, after months of confusion about Italian politics, migration policies, and (above all) his wardrobe, Salvini was blessed by an inspiration - uniforms.
Mind you, he wasn't a pioneer in this as the Duce Benito Mussolini was the real precursor of uniformed fashion in Italy and actually understood that fashion could be used as a way to promote and enforce political power.
In the mid-'30s Fascism dictated austerity and promoted autarchy in Italy, controlling consumption habits, promoting self-sufficiency in textile production and fashion design, and establishing the Ente Nazionale della Moda (National Fashion Board) and the Ente Tessile Nazionale (National Textile Body).
So, while when it came to migrants Salvini sorted out the situation by closing ports, and leaving rescue ships with migrants stranded at sea, for what regards his wardrobe, he started opting for a series of uniforms.
His Twitter account and social media soon became packed with posts showing the Interior Minister in different attires - look that's a Police jacket and T-shirt!, A Protezione Civile (Civil Defence Organisation) polo! And look at this Firefighters' suit, without forgetting the jacket of the Barracellare local police from Sardinia, and a random shirt of the Giulianova soccer team top (there's regional elections in the Abruzzo region, so he had to show some kind of support to the locals, you see - by the way, the team complained saying their shirt is "sacred" and they don't want it to be used for political aims...).
There are actually two corps Salvini doesn't seem too happy about: the Guardia di Finanza (Tax Police) because of the investigations around the 49 million euros of state financing embezzled by the League, and the Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard), as according to Salvini, they help migrants stranded at sea.
Salvini's multiple uniformed styles spawned an online game, Salvinification, you click, spin and get Salvini in all sorts of different attires - Carabiniere, Pope, manga or videogame character, and you can even unblock Salvini Tax Police Officer (but to get on with the game you will have to 49 million euros...).
Mind you there are some variations on Salvini's Twitter page: in between posts showing his #OOTD (Outfit Of The Day) there are pics of food. The healthiest thing he has eaten so far is a yoghurt (obviously made in the North of Italy – Salvini despises the South, except when people from the South vote for him); the unhealthiest food Nutella, but then again that's a very popular product and attracts people's likes and votes. In between yoghurt and Nutella there's pastries, pasta, pizza, mozzarella and tomatoes (on Twitter people take the piss out of him calling the Minister #felpapig - a pun on the Peppa Pig character - "felpa" in Italian means "sweatshirt"; pig is a reference to the fact that he seems to eat and behave like a pig).
At times you wonder what's the difference between Salvini and a style blog/account by an influencer à la Blonde Salad, after all both post their #OOTD and both occasionally rave and rant about genuinely Italian meals.
Detached from reality and lost in his wardrobe, at times Salvini tweets about migrants in derisive tones, posting pictures of bare chested men on ships arriving from Libya, claiming it's not as cold as they claim if they are semi-naked (maybe their tops are wet? Maybe they don't have clothes?), while his supporters point out migrants often wear soccer top by popular sport brands (well, they probably get them when charities export our discarded clothes to Africa...), so they probably have money.
But there is something deeply disturbing about Salvini's endless cosplaying game: Salvini uses these uniforms like Melania Trump employed the "I don't really care, do you?" jacket – as a weapon of mass distraction. You talk about the uniforms and forget about the contents of his politics, his aggressive language, his arrogant and defiant smile.
And the more you talk about the uniforms, the more ordinary people want their picture taken at rallies with Salvini, who has turned into an unlikely uniformed hero for all those people scared about migrants but not realising that blaming everything that goes bad in Italy on migrants won't make their lives better.
In a way Salvini is not doing anything new: Berlusconi before him would don workwear vests and safety helmets and claim he was a presidente operaio (worker-president) or distribute to G8 leaders a Belstaff jacket designed in the style of a uniform signed by himself, yet the current Minister of the Interior seems to have taken things further, on an entirely new level.
Some people love Salvini's uniforms, call him a hero and profess he is their captain and queue to take selfies with him at political rallies; others simply hate and despise him, but the point is, that distracted by his looks, we don't know what are his plans. In fact he doesn't really have any plans (he wants to stop illegal migration, but it seems he mainly wants to stop people arriving from Africa by boat and never said anything about young women who may be arriving by car, bus or plane from Eastern Europe and may end up working in the streets as prostitutes - maybe he welcomes that type of migration?).
In the US Democratic Women opted to wear at the State of the Union on Tuesday suffragette white in a symbolic way as a message of optimism and to remind people they will do their duty and keep on fighting for people's rights; Salvini wears uniforms for his own propaganda, to prove himself he has finally found a place and purpose in life and to intimidate other people (he donned a Police jacket inside Montecitorio, the Chamber of Deputies, where it is not allowed to do so, almost to prove the Parliament he can do whatever he likes).
The most shocking thing about his uniforms though is the fact that they are illegal: according to Art. 498 of the Italian Penal Code it is illegal to wear a public official's uniform or badges. The fines for transgression range from €154 to €929 and some corps have already protested about Salvini's style choices - from the firefighters' union and the Italian Alpini Association to the Sardinian Barracellari.
Hilariously, at the end of January one of the trade union representing the police forces announced the government cut funds for the uniforms of the new police officers entering in service from 13th February, so while Salvini shows off multiple versions of Police shirts and jackets, young cadets may not actually even get those uniforms.
Yet Salvini justifies his fashion choices (because that's what they are) - these are presents and he's proud of wearing them to support the authorities (as proud of a dictator clad in military uniform, we may add).
Will Salvini's style evolve at some point? Will King Giorgio (Armani) give him a suit? Or will Miuccia (Prada) teach him the principles of ugly chic?
Truth is, deep down we just don't care if his style will ever evolve, but we'd like him to pass and be forgotten before Italy devolves. The sooner people will wake up from this fascist slumber, the sooner Salvini will be lost again in this complex world and will have to go back to his orienteering sweats.
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