鳩山政権を振り返る（３） ― 鳩山ファッション ― sartorial criminality

鳩山政権を振り返るというテーマでお送りしております今週、第3回目は、国内外を問わずマスコミに度々取り上げられもした、その奇抜なファッションセンスについてです。（テレビを持たない私が知っているくらいですから、その話題性はかなりだと思います。）

私を含む多くの日本人の英単語リストに今まで知らなかった1語増やすのに貢献し、今やすっかり定着した感のある、"loopy"という単語が話題になったのは、The Washington Post紙のコラムでした。下記は同紙のコラムからの引用です。


We've gotten several phone calls from Japanese reporters about Wednesday's resignation of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama after just eight months in office. The reporters implied that a mid-April Loop column -- the one dubbing him "the biggest loser" at President Obama's nuclear summit and referring to him as "hapless" and "increasingly loopy" -- somehow hastened his departure.

Seriously, now. We have photographic evidence that blatant sartorial criminality was without question the proximate cause of his demise -- okay, in addition to that dispute with Washington over the U.S. military base in Okinawa. A photo taken April 4, 10 days before the column in question appeared, shows the prime minister at what was described as a "meet the people" barbecue decked out in a 1980s multicolored shirt.
(Al Kamen. Hatoyama Didn't Dress for Success. The Washington Post. June 5, 2010.)


"sartorial criminality"と断じられる鳩山ファッション、詳細説明は以下にありますが、皆さんも記憶に新しい、首相官邸で一般国民を招いて行われたバーベキューでの、“あのシャツ”です。


The checkered shirt has one yellow sleeve and one blue one, a red front, a purple back, and green cuffs. Hatoyama wore a black turtleneck underneath. The outfit prompted a prominent fashion critic to wonder in print whether there was "anyone able to stop him wearing such a thing." (In this country, that shirt alone would have been grounds for impeachment.) "His ideas and philosophy are old," the critic wrote in a national magazine. "Japan is facing a crisis, and we can't overcome it with a prime minister like this."
(ibid.)


ちなみに他紙では、（安売りの）ウォルマートでも（あんなシャツは）売らない、と言われているくらい、アメリカ人にとっては酷いファッションセンスだそうです。


Harsh criticism of it in Japan ranged from "Is anyone able to stop him from wearing such a thing?" to "Walmart wouldn't even take it."
(Tian Wei. A Tale of Bad Fashion Choices and US Influence. Global Times. June 6, 2010.)


ファッションセンスが政権寿命を縮めたとは聞いたことがありません。"sartorial criminality"とは、まさしく“服飾上”（sartorial）の“犯罪行為”（criminality）ということですが・・・。