Womens' Wear

Back home on the west coast of Canada, I rarely think about what the female Jiu-Jitsu people are wearing. That is because it is pretty much exactly what the male folks wear, and worn in exactly the same way.

In LA, for my last 3 yearly visits the situation was pretty much exactly the same as at home.

The only noticeable difference is that both at home and in LA the women were classier than the guys in one particular aspect.

Gi pants these days are almost all low-rise, which means that a lot of underpants get shown off to the world, at least by the guys. Absolutely all of the women either wear higher-rise style pants, or wear a rashguard that is tucked in properly to cover things when the gi jacket gets out of whack, which it always does.

I have seen hundreds of mens' underpants displayed on the mat, but never, ever those of any woman, until this year.

In LA 2017, a large percentage of the women are wearing the low-risers, and without having a rashguard tucked in. The result; underpants on display.

With the men, this has meant bright colours, and sometimes a print, and often a manufacturer's name in big letters. With the women it was mostly solid black, but on one occasion that sticks in my mind it was a print of little bunnies.

In Arizona, I haven't noticed this trend, as until this year I there have never been any women on the mat to train with. This year there are lots.

I haven't noticed the underpants thing, but they have a very distinctive style of wearing their Jiu-Jitsu uniforms that I've not run into anywhere before.

Gi jackets tend to gape open at the neck, sometimes to the waist. Men don't seem to worry about this, but always straighten things up when the opportunity occurs. Women, in my experience, have always been more concerned about the gap displayed, and take even more care about avoiding it.

The Arizona ladies do not. They have embraced the gap. Most wear smaller jacket sizes so that their uniform is never fully closed. Most do not wear normal full-coverage rashguards underneath. They wear girlie-style tshirts that display a hint of cleavage. They also do nothing about closing things up when their jacket is gaping, unlike the men.

I find this all very weird.