I am working on developing a character who is a martial artist with background in ballet and gymnastics. Most of her fighting would be street-level, against gangs and stuff. But she's also very feminine and I'm kind of thinking dresses like a hipster. I know lots of films and comics portray female fighters in very impractical clothing. But what kind of feminine clothes could someone actually get away with wearing in a fight? Would a short skirt and leggings work? What about shoes and tops?
Let’s start with the clothes because that’s the question we get lessfrequently. Most media presents women in combat as a sex object, and not inpractical gear. That, includes your suggestion above. You’re still talkingabout, “how can I make my character look good?” The best thing for yourcharacter would be the kind of clothing you’d wear while working in anindustrial environment, or something patterned off combat fatigues.
Heavy fabric that will take some scrapes and save you from a few cuts isworth far more than looking cute. You can save looking cute for a time whenpeople aren’t trying to turn you into people-paste.
Work boots or sneakers. Something that can get a firm grip on the ground.Work boots will provide a little more protection, so that’s a bonus. Steeltoed boots will protect against someone from stomping on her foot.
Long pants. Either jeans or work khakis are the best options. When it’s thedifference between bruising a knee and scraping it open in dirty water thatsome drunk was just puking into and fighting off a nasty infection, fashionloses out.
A work shirt or a leather jacket. Again, it won’t protect against the blowsshe’s taking, but it will provide a little protection. An insulatedjacket will make parrying unarmed strikes a little less unpleasant. Withoutone, you can easily end up with bruises along the leading edge of the arm, against the bone. Awinter coat will provide enough padding to save you from that. It’s not armor,but it does help.
Anything that dangles or flows, and won’t pull free if tugged, is aliability, and should be avoided. I don’t care how awesome your leather trenchcoat looks, if someone gets their hands on it you’re screwed. This includes skirts(both on long coats, dresses, and as an independent article) and ties. Policewear clip-ons for this specific reason. Giving your character a scarf becauseit looks cool is a terrible idea for a fighter.
Makeup is out. The last thing you need in a fight is one more thing to getin your eyes. Fighting, or any physical exertion, will make you sweat. Sweatingwill get your makeup running and into your eyes, blinding you.
Piercings and jewelry are another bad idea. Most piercings become potentialhandles for an opponent to latch onto and pull. Most of the time, these are buriedin soft, nerve-rich tissue, which will hurt like hell and bleed when torn.
Necklaces are another convenient handle, with a very inconvenient littlequestion. Will the necklace fail before your trachea? If the answer is yes,than it has the potential of being a distracting interlude while you strugglefor breath, and your attacker recovers theirs. If the answer is no, you just wrappedan improvised garrote around your neck.
Now, if a situation comes up, your character is wearing whatever they werewearing. But if they’re going out deliberately provoking a situation, then theyneed to be treating it seriously, and dress appropriately.
Also, fights will wreck your clothes. Most clothes, especially women’sfashion, aren’t designed to be durable. Thin fabric will snag and tear easily.So, if you’re putting your character in a skirt and leggings, expect those tobe in tatters after any serious abuse. Anyone who’s getting into combatregularly, especially if they dress frivolously, will find their wardrobegetting strained very quickly.
Which brings up a really serious question: if your character is going into adangerous situation where people will be trying to trying to seriously harm, orkill, her; why the hell would she care how sexy she looks?
How botched are her priorities?
Looking cute is more important that living? What!?
Your character needs to prioritize her survival over the ego boost fromlooking good.
If you’ve never taken a psychology course, this will seem like a weird non-sequitur,but let’s talk about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for a moment. This will helpyou set your character’s priorities.
There are five tiers of needs. Each one must to be provided for before youcan consider the one above it. You can’t skip one, and rush down the list towhere you want to be. If one of these fails, everything above it drops offuntil you can deal with it.
The lowest tier is Survival: food, water, sleep, things you cannot dowithout or you will die.
The second tier is Security: safety from imminent harm, not beingmurdered by crazed cultists, thugs, or in a writer’s arbitrary fit of pique.
The middle tier is Belonging: This can be summed up as: not beingalone in the world. Finding support from family, friends, or loved ones.
The fourth tier is Esteem: This is about finding acceptance in agroup beyond your immediate family, and having a place in the world. Findingvalue in yourself and from others.
The fifth, and highest, tier is Self-Actualization: this is the needfor intellectual or creative endeavors. I’d be doing it a disservice to call ithobbies, but to some extent, that’s the idea.
Here’s the thing. Dressing to look good, and feel good about yourself is Esteem.On its own, that’s fine. But, dealing with people who are trying to kill you isa Security issue. If your Security is threatened, it doesn’tmatter if you have family, self-esteem or a creative outlet. You willdie, if you don’t deal with that problem immediately.
There’s a legitimate possibility that can have a character whose prioritiesare completely scrambled. People like that exist. But, intrying to present a competent combatant, you need to set aside the idea thatyour character is dressing to feel good about themselves. They need to dressfor the job at hand. Or, as a writer, acknowledge that this is a characterflaw, and probably should be addressed in the text.
And, yes, being perceived as feminine is an esteem tier need. I’ll be backto this in a minute.
Ballet and Gymnastics will not make you a better fighter.
Either one can help with physical conditioning. And, as anyone who’s takenballet can tell you, it is a fantastic workout. But, it’s not going tohelp you fight.
They can help you become a better entertainer. So, if your character is aTV/Film stunt actor, cross training in either isn’t out of the question. But,as I just said, looking good is far less important than surviving a fight.
There’s an edge case, if your character is a prize fighter, then they are an entertainer. So training ineither could be helpful, because they will be evaluated on how good they lookin the ring in addition to their ability to fight.
Jean-Claude Van Damme is a good example of this. He’s a fantastic martialartist, and an entertainer. His ballet training helps make his techniques lookamazing, but it doesn’t make them more effective.
We’ve actually talked about this a lot, andnothing has really changed.
But, that’s not why you picked ballet and gymnastics. You chose them becauseyou wanted to affirm your character’s femininity. Why gymnastics is consideredfeminine is a mystery for another day. But, the idea is flawed; your characteris not automatically less feminine if she practices eskrima and parkour. In that case, she’d be far better prepared to deal with, and escape attackers.
You don’t need to remind us that your character is feminine constantly. No, seriously,don’t. It’s demeaning to say a character stops being feminine because shetreats as a combat serious threat. Women can fight. They just need to approachit seriously, just like everyone else.
Train to deal with people that mean you harm, or you mean to harm. Be preparedto kill them, or not, depending on your morals and ethics, not your gender.
When facing the risk of combat, dress for it. No, not a cute outfit (or a suitand tie, for that matter). Dress like you would if you were going to work in acombat zone or in an industrial facility. Clothing that won’t kill you if itgets caught in heavy machinery, and that won’t break the bank if it’sdestroyed. Clothes that will protect you from minor cuts and scrapes, becauseyou will be getting those without it.
It doesn’t make you less feminine. It just means you’re approaching asituation from the perspective of someone who can accurately assess the dangersaround them, and is prepared to deal with them. You know; competently.
Finally, and I really need to stress this, your femininity is less importantthan survival. You can clean up, look cute, and present yourself however youwant when you’re not facing physical threats.
