Fighting in long dress

Questions to the ladies (and maybe to Adam):
How do you fight while wearing long dress or robes? Do you make some special type of dress, or use some special way of handling it, or whatever else? Because fighting in a long dress is bloody unconvenient, it wraps around you, your blade get stuck in it, people step on it, etc.
But the dresses look so wonderful!
So, can anyone share the experience of how to performe this style of fighting?
This can actually be an issue of fighting when wearing a cape too. Capes are even more wrapy then the dresses.

If you make a bodice and a long skirt with a shorter petticoat under it then when the fighting starts, you can tear the skirt off and fight sword and “cloak”. the shorter petticoat will be less inconvenient than the longer skirt…

…and we’ll get to see your ankles :wink:

[quote=“Aiwe”]Questions to the ladies (and maybe to Adam):
[/quote]

2 suggestions.

  1. Be Elven royalty because then your dress or robe will never get in the way or get dirty.

  2. Change to a really, really short skirt - and hey presto no problem (and a whole lot of new friends)

If you’re wearing a skirt, make sure it’s a really big skirt so you can run if you have to.

I mostly avoided combat in a long dress, especially since I was prone to tripping over my own hem. If there’s a trick to successful combat in a dress, I haven’t just stumbled upon it.

Keep your hem to no longer than ankle length (that’s good advice for anyone, actually, it stops it dragging around in mud) and definitely no trains.

When you get into a fight, tuck a section of the skirt through your belt. It looks styly, especially if you have a contrasting petticoat, and your ease of movement is much improved. It’s still not as good as trousers, though.

Pick it up.

You dont need a truckload of clearence just enough so that you dont catch the hem when moving your feet.

this works as well

Chantelle has done a lot of fighting in a long dress, and Anthea has done a number of display fights in a long dress.

next training try fighting in a long dress

Tuck your dress/skirt into your belt/sash/girdle. I have fought this way successfully in tourneys.

Make a bunch approx 1/3 of the way down the front of your skirt over your lead leg and pull it up under your belt. If your skirt is particularly full, you may need to tuck both sides. The further down you bunch your skirt, the higher your hem will end up.

This is a very traditional way of dealing with long skirts, and sometimes dresses were worn this way when not required to show a decorative underdress. Unfortunately, this does not help with moving backwards, but forward and sideways are good, so be aggressive and learn to dodge :wink: .

This is really quick and easy to do, and will give you an approx 30cm clearance in approx 1 second, which is heaps for movement, but still leaves you more that ampple for modesty, depending on the roleplaying of your male opponents, you may even get an advantage as the pause to leer at your ankles! :laughing:

If the description is unclear, let me know and I will send you an image of me fighting this way (if I can remember where it is).

I have a 1/2 circle cloak, and don’t have issues fighting in it except when I use a staff (although I can cope if I need to). For sword-play, just toss it back over your shoulders. A well designed cloak will not choke you if you do this.

I don’t recommend fighting in a long narrow skirt - just stand back and let the guys earn their keep if you really want to wear this type of outfit.