DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION

I would imagine that the majority of you who are reading this are practising martial artists. Out of those of you who that are, I would dare say that a high percentage wear specific attire to train in. Whether it be a traditional Gi of some sort, or merely just comfortable clothing that allows ease of movement and practicality whilst training. Basically, you will wear what you, or your instructor, deem appropriate for the type of activity you will be covering. What I want to do is try to explain how the clothing you are wearing has an effect upon your mindset with regard to handling a real physical engagement. It is my opinion that the type of clothing you dress in will have an effect on how you will feel on a psychological level.

In all fairness, with the exception of people who are seriously 'reality' minded in their martial arts pursuits, many practitioners have never attempted a training session in their 'regular', everyday clothing. Ultimately, it is during our 'everyday' activities that we will likely face the threat of an attack of some sort. There are some very important issue that can, and really should be, addressed concerning this topic. During the course of this text I hope to elaborate and highlight many of these factors.

First of all, let's look at the kind of dress (not that I'm trying to say that many martial artist of secret cross-dresser), that you wear to train in. If your system is a 'traditional' type, maybe, Karate, Judo, Kung Fu or Jiu-Jitsu, then you are likely to wear some type Gi. Even those who train on a more informal level, will still wear suitable clothing and footwear. Obviously it makes sense to dress in a way that makes training as comfortable and practical as possible. Now, here's the point that many people seem to overlook, and please bear in mind that I'm looking at this from a realistic perspective. If you are going to be attacked, unless you always dress in a Gi or tracksuit and trainers, the clothing you will have on will probably alter the range and comfort of movement that you will have. Therefore, not only will your selection of applications be effected, but also your overall mindset will be disturbed. This in turn will dramatically influence the outcome of the incident you are facing.

The type of clothing that people wear during a normal day is usually function specific, i.e. to suit a certain purpose such as employment duties (uniform/safety wear), or for a particular leisure activities (sport/pastime). Apart from that, people dress in a certain manner for social activities, which, in most people's cases, is where they become most vulnerable from confrontation. More often than not, we dress to express the type of mood we are in, although this can be influenced a great deal by the social settings we are intending to be part of. Certain social functions require a 'dress code'. This could be anything from not allowing patrons wearing training shoes into the establishment, through to having to abide by stricter rules of dress (shirt sleeve length, trousers not jeans, etc). In order to cut the scale of possibilities down, and to make a general point, I'm going to focus my example, I shall use a social 'night life' environment to illustrate my reasoning.

If you were meant to go out at an evening, but wasn't particularly looking forwards to it, then you might not make a considerable effort in getting ready for it. By this I mean that you may dress down slightly for the occasion, wearing a more casual selection of clothes as opposed to putting on your 'Sunday best'. From the other extreme, it may be that you feel it necessary to make a real effort, or are excited about the event you are going to attend. If this is the case, then you will care more about how you are going to present yourself, maybe even going to the extent of buying a complete new outfit. If your attire is of what you class as casual status, then you will be fairly comfortable, feeling at ease with yourself. If you have gone to a lot of effort in your appearance, then you are likely to be concerned with maintaining a high level of presentation. I know myself, that if I were wearing jeans and T-shirt, that I wouldn't be overly upset if I was to spill something on them for example. However, if the clothing was something that I had saved for weeks towards buying, a designer label for instance, and was then to inadvertently damage them, I would be quite annoyed with myself about it. You can see just from this that already your mindset and your resulting behaviour can be effected by the clothing you have on. If we look at the clothing you would normally wear for a training session, it will probably be specific for the activity you are doing. You wouldn't wear a £80 designer shirt to do Tachiwaza (Judo standing work) in and expect it to stand up to treatment it would receive. Common sense would dictate that you would wear a proper Gi for practise. If we now relate this to a street environment, when someone mistakes your Yves St. Laurent shirt, which incidentally you have had to save for several weeks to be able to afford, for a competition Judo Gi and tries to throws you for a perfect ippon, you will not look favourably upon this individual.

As you can already see, the clothing you wear can, and will, make you feel different. From this perspective it is easy to understand how a confrontation can develop through someone accidentally spilling a drink on somebody's shirt or trousers, some people become incensed if their clothing becomes marked or damaged. Things all too often get out of hand, usually resulting in the outcome proving a damn sight more costly than the garment in question.

Now to look at the clothing issue from another perspective. Using the same example, i.e, giving your clothing 'personal value' recognition, when you are confronted by a threat you may well be influenced in a negative way because of this. Let me explain. Due to the way you feel about your clothing you could be lead to supplicate to your assailant for fear of 'damaging' your treasured garments, neglecting the fact that you are likely to receive actual physical damage as a result. To put something like this before your personal safety is extremely foolish and could well prove more costly in the end. Remember, in many instances an attack will prevail regardless of how 'co-operative' you are with your antagonist. In actual fact you are more likely to secure yourself a beating by appearing to be intimidated or even accommodating. It's fair comment to be cautious so as not to inadvertently damage your clothing, but to place a greater emphasis on it than your survival is another matter. I know that many of you will be reading this and thinking that such a notion is ludicrous. But it's true. I witnessed on many an occasion, whilst working on the door, cases where people have made reference to "I don't want any trouble, this is an expensive shirt", or when someone has hold of them, pleading, "don't rip my coat, it cost me a fortune". In most of these cases they got belted or their clothes damaged anyway. With regards to some, I can't help but think that the attention they drew to their dress led their attacker to focus their efforts towards it in order to exploit their victims concerns.

Where ladies are concerned it is probably even more evident as to how the clothing issue effects reactive behaviour in a threatening environment. If a women is dressed in a certain way, then they are going to attract varying degrees of attention to themselves dependant upon the perception given off (and obviously how it is perceived). If we take another look at how a lady would dress to train in, compared to how they might dress to go nightclubbing, then I think there would be more than a slight difference. If the clothing they have chosen is of a 'skimpy' or tight fitting nature, then immediately their ability to fight is effected. Ultimately, this will have an impact upon their confidence to face a threat or risk of violence. A female would be more than a little concerned to end up revealing more of their anatomy than they already are in what they a wearing. So therefore, it is logical to presume that should a fight ensue that the fitting of the clothing and the body coverage of the material will be altered. The thought of giving everyone around a viewing of 'tomorrows washing' will cause many to resist implementing a physical response to a threat. If successful in managing the situation in this way then nothing is lost (or displayed). However, if the predicament is one of an intense, serious nature, then accepting that it is inevitable for this to occur in order to survive must be accepted. From another angle, if the attire is particularly 'flimsy', an assailant may not feel that an attempt to restrain their victim by grabbing it as a viable option. They feel that they would have little control, whereas, if the clothing was substantial, it would serve their purpose to 'get a grip' of the material.

The thought of becoming exposed in the process of being assaulted often sub-consciously causes a woman to 'freeze'. Even if the individual in question is trained in a particular discipline of combat. The 'feeling' that is generated is quite unique and powerful. I know that I personally would be rather put off at the prospect at having to fight without any clothes on. Add to this situation the sound of your clothing being ripped. It is understandable that a female victim would be caught in a 'panic freeze' under these extremes. On the other hand, I know that there are many ladies who, in those circumstances would probably become incensed by such events, turning to their animal instinct for survival, and completely turning the situation around. The burning issue here though is that until actually in that predicament, it is difficult to say exactly how a person would react. Even from a man's perspective, it is almost impossible to say how an individual would respond to a focussed attack. Most people would like to think that they would do this or that and come out the other side unscathed. Even the trained exponent can't be 100% sure about their performance. A great deal will depend on the 'mood' we are in at the time of the situation, the individuals psychological structure, their preconditioned strategies and perception of the events leading up to the attack as well as a number of other factors.

The type of footwear alone can have a dramatic impact upon an individuals psyche with regard to handling a violent incident. Again, if we compare the type of footwear worn during a training session to that worn on a social occasion. Most practising martial artists will either wear shoes with appropriate grip (trainers, ring boots, etc) or train bare-foot. Try holding off an ensuing fight up in order to get your shoes off in a club. You would either get battered whilst trying to get them off (not to mention the strange looks) and if you did manage to, you'd end up cutting your feet to shreds. How many of you train on a wet floor. Not many I'd dare say. When a fight kicks off in a club there is nearly always an amount of drink that is either already on the floor or get spilt as a result of the action. Where your sure footing gone then? How do you set your stance to deliver your precision strike? How do you keep your balance whilst trying to deliver a forceful kick? On that type of surface, with leather soled shoes. You stand more chance of ending up on your arse than attaining your objective. Just the feeling that you do not have a firm footing can blow a hole in your confidence big enough to get a bus through. The same type of things apply to the ladies. Many of them don some type of heeled shoe or boot. Immediately their balance has been impaired. The higher the heel, the greater the effect on their stability. Running becomes very difficult, increasing the chances of a stumble and significantly altering the outcome of the confrontation.

Through applying strategic psychology some of these issues can be turned around (a topic that I will address at a later date). It must be noted that the psychological implications connected with this subject are many and complex, but hopefully the point has been illustrated. Attention to the attire and how it effects your personality as well as your ability should not be dismissed. We are living in a potentially hostile environment, one that, through necessity, requires us to take certain precautions, yet this an area that if all too often overlooked.

Written by Dave Briggs, June, 2000.