Japan tailor reveals secrets behind smooth Aso look

Japan's newly appointed prime minister, Taro Aso, is beset by problems from the sagging economy to food safety scares, but creased trousers need never be among them.

Domestic media hungry for tidbits of information about the dapper new leader of Japan's main ruling party have zoomed in on his unusual suit trousers, which are made with tiny lead weights sewn into their hems to help them hang properly.

"It's something that's often done with ladies' clothes, to put little weights in the hem, but it's highly unusual for gentlemen's outfits," Aso's tailor Seiichiro Moriwaki said in a telephone interview.

The 76-year-old Tokyo tailor has been making suits for Aso since he was a student at the exclusive Gakushuin University more than 40 years ago.

The idea for the weights came up in a discussion between the two, but it never caught on with other customers, Moriwaki said. "We do it just for him."

It's a trick also used by French design house, Chanel, who traditionally put a narrow chain in the hem of women's jackets.

Aso, 68, was born into a wealthy family of politicians and Japanese TV channels have been focusing on his luxurious lifestyle, with huge family lands on the southernmost main island of Kyushu and a large home in an exclusive part of Tokyo.

"He likes English-style suits, because he studied in London," Moriwaki said.

English tailoring has a long history in Japan, where one of the words for suit, "sebiro," some say derives from Savile Row, a street in London known for its bespoke suitmakers.

日本新任首相麻生太郎可能会受到国内经济减退和食品安全等一系列问题的困扰，但他应该从来不用担心自己的裤子会起皱。

这位穿戴讲究的日本自民党（日本第一大党）新任总裁引起了国内媒体的极大兴趣，近日他穿的西裤竟然也没逃过媒体的眼睛。据说麻生的裤子有些特别，由于他的裤脚边内缝入了微量铅坠，所以显得特别挺。

麻生的裁缝森胁清一郎在一次电话采访中说：“在衣边加铅坠的方法常用于女装，但在男装中却很少见。”

今年76岁的森胁裁缝40多年前就开始为麻生做衣服，当时麻生还是学习院大学的一名学生。

森胁说，在裤边加重的想法是他和麻生一起讨论出来的，但他们给其他顾客做衣服从不采取这种做法，“只有他的衣服这样处理”。
法国时尚名牌夏奈尔也常用这种方法处理服装，他们通常会在女士夹克衫的衣边里缝入一段窄窄的链子。

68岁的麻生太郎出生于一个富有的政治家庭，他奢华的生活方式一直是日本电视媒体关注的焦点，麻生在日本最南端的九州岛拥有大片私人土地，而且在东京高档住宅区有一幢大别墅。

森胁说：“他喜欢英式西服，主要是因为他在伦敦留学过。”

英式裁剪在日本历史悠久，日语中sebiro（男士西服）这个词，就源自伦敦的Savile Row 街（“高级绅士服街”），这条街道十分著名，街上的裁缝店专为达官贵人订做西服。

Vocabulary:
creased:弄皱的
dapper:整洁的；衣冠楚楚的