Combat in gowns

Rechan

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I found a really helpful twitter thread discussing swordfighting in various dresses/gowns. Thought folks here might find it helpful.

(I wasn't sure whether to put this in the Research, Historical Fiction, Romance subforums or here, but figured posting it in all of them would get me in trouble.)
 

rwm4768

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I'll have to read that. I usually have my characters fight in more practical clothes, but I suppose they could end up in a gown if the bad guys crash a wedding or something.
 

Rechan

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I'll have to read that. I usually have my characters fight in more practical clothes, but I suppose they could end up in a gown if the bad guys crash a wedding or something.

Fancy masquerade ball battle go!
 

Layla Nahar

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Welp. I'm have a lady who will fight in a gown.

Cool!
 

Aggy B.

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And a lot of non-Western clothing has skirts/robes/coats/etc that are longer. Didn't the Romans only start wear a form of pants after they went more north and into the British Isles and found the folks there wore them because it was too cold for just a tunic? They (trousers) weren't considered practical due to ease of movement, but because they kept your private bits from freezing.
 

themindstream

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I don't think a tunic to the knees is ever something people have assumed might be problematic in a sword fight, though it raises the question whether that's because of who was wearing them. Robes, I'm not sure. Anything like a toga with lots of drapy fabric I would assume to be problematic. Japanese martial artists (including ancient ones) often wear a hakama, big blousy pants that could be mistaken for a skirt by the uneducated modern observer; the length is said to help hide foot movements that might serve as a tell.
 

snafu1056

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The expression "gird your loins" actually comes from the old practice of pulling up a long robe or skirt and tying it off around the groin and waist in order to free the legs up for movement. This is what many robe-wearing people did when there was fighting or work to be done. Slits up the side of a robe also free up the legs. If I had to fight wearing a gown I'd rip that sucker up the sides first.
 

themindstream

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The expression "gird your loins" actually comes from the old practice of pulling up a long robe or skirt and tying it off around the groin and waist in order to free the legs up for movement. This is what many robe-wearing people did when there was fighting or work to be done.

That's cool to know! I never thought to look it up; I assumed it meant something like putting on leg armor (greaves).
 

snafu1056

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Yeah, the "loins" part would give you that impression.

There's even a handy chart

loins_zpsddrrj1bx.jpg