Where did the kung fu uniform come from?

[shmuel]

Most pictures I have seen of people training in China show them wearing normal street clothing or else tracksuits and sneakers.

So where did the "uniform" that we see in the west originate from? I am talking about the black trousers, white socks, kung fu shoes/slippers and T-shirt or jacket.

Was this made up to attract more students?

Was it inspired by what Briuce Lee wore in Enter the Dragon?

Why do people in China seem NOT to wear clothes like this while training and instead to favbour normal street clothes?

[meng_mao]

Silken shirts and pants with off color hems or piping, and frog buttons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_%28fastening%29) are derivative of elements of traditional Chinese dress.

The shoes are straight up Chinese. Many of people wear those to this day.

A lot of people in China do enjoy performing Taichi in such outfits. The chief reason why people who train MA casually don't wear this is because they're poor, and have no reason to correlate in their minds the training and some uniform.

[melvin_peebles]

I wear sweats or baggy clothes depending on the class. No silken pajamas for me. Most schools might have an official t-shirt but that's all I've encountered in way of an "official apparel" at the kung fu shools I've been to.

[Ming Loyalist]

blame the movies.

in hong kong in the 60s it was common to wear a t shirt with your sifu's name on it. and loose pants.

the uniform is a big part of what's wrong with kung fu in my opinion (and yes i know the irony in the fact that i say this and still wear it to teach some classes...)

what can i say, it is an easy way to get initial respect from the kids classes (making them do shitloads of sprawls helps with the longterm respect.) i don't wear the uniform for adult classes, just the school shirt.

[Matt Stone]

There are a number of contributing factors to the "Kung Fu Uniform's" modern day use...

First, as displayed http://www.chinesemoods.com/ (here) and http://www.mandarintouch.com/index.php?cPath=2_30&osCsid=18b7f64aaa0b52a37714cd8b5282cf42 (here), what is referred to as a "kung fu uniform" is a variant of traditional Chinese daily wear.

Second, given Hong Kong's influence on the development of Chinese martial arts schools in the US in the 1960s and 1970s, instructors (often non-Chinese) adopted it to appear more authetically Chinese...

In our school, we wear either heavy karategi or a good judogi (black, simply because black wears better and doesn't look dirty, even when it is). We changed to a Japanese style practice uniform because a t-shirt and pants won't survive grappling work. Sweats are similarly weak and inappropriate for heavy training, and unless you are deliberately trying to sweat heavily, they don't make the most compatible training garment around.

Though it's not a formal part of our daily practice, on occasion we'll do some work while wearing street clothes... It only makes sense, since that's what you'll likely be wearing when the mythical mugger attacks you... :5arg:

[Ming Loyalist]

Makes me laugh in general. Both the Japanese and Chinese wore their normal everyday clothes to their training halls. For some reason, we are all wearing THEIR everyday clothes to our training halls.

Shouldn't we be wearing Dockers and Polo shirts???

maybe YOU should be wearing dockers and polo shirts, I should be wearing jeans and a t-shirt and maybe a hoodie.

[Ke?poFist]

maybe YOU should be wearing dockers and polo shirts, I should be wearing jeans and a t-shirt and maybe a hoodie.

I wear sweat pants and a T-shirt. Sometimes a heavy winter coat. I train for the str33t!

[Mr. Mantis]

When I fist started training, I would go to class and work out in whatever I was wearing that day. I was urged to buy sneakers, and eventually I did.

I have never worn the silk. Cotton and polyester blend here. T- shirt, and usually loose black gi pants. Sometimes I would wear the jacket when it's cold in the winter time.

My guess is that I would overheat if I worked out in silk. What I would really like is a leather gi jacket with studs and secret pockets. I love secret pockets. If my house was bigger, I'd have secret passageways in it. If there's one thing I like more than secret pockets, it's secret passageways.

[Ming Loyalist]

the worst part is that i am at work right now and AM in fact wearing a golf shirt and black chino pants (the shame, the shame...)

[Neildo]

I'm wearing a black polo and black dickies right now :(

Last saturday I saw a white chick wearing a gold silk 'frog' button jacket, who then asked if my friends and i wanted to do reiki with her. I frowned and thought 'asianophile' while my friends declined, when she asked me i guess she assumed by the look on my face that my answer would be the same.

[melvin_peebles]

I'd of fucked her.

[meataxe]

What's wrong with wearing a little lycra? (http://www.cannibal.com.au/06/mens-lycra-singlet.html)

[Neildo]

http://www.bullshido.net/gallery/data/500/titolol.jpg

Tito thinks they're fabulous.

[Bang!]

Omar once pointed out that those fancy silks are essentially the version of a tuxedo. You know, from before Chinese people just wore tuxedos.

Example. (http://cdn.compuserve.com/cppops/features/g/gal_chan/i/jackie_chan_tuxedo.jpg)

One would wear them for demonstrations or other formal events. For training, though? Lord, no.

My sifu has been known to mock people for dressing "like Chinese waiters." Bless his heart.

[Neildo]

Best example ever. You are the man.

[sidran]

Omar once pointed out that those fancy silks are essentially the version of a tuxedo. You know, from before Chinese people just wore tuxedos.

Example. (http://cdn.compuserve.com/cppops/features/g/gal_chan/i/jackie_chan_tuxedo.jpg)

One would wear them for demonstrations or other formal events. For training, though? Lord, no.

My sifu has been known to mock people for dressing "like Chinese waiters." Bless his heart.

That's what we do. For training, we just have heavy cotton gi-like pants, shoes, t-shirt, and a sash. Silk stuff is for demonstrations.