Muay Thai shorts have been making frequent appearances in the fashion world recently, and not everyone is happy about it.
Most notably, they appeared in Versace’s Fall/Winter 2019 collection. Models strutted down the catwalk in what Versace called ‘silk boxer shorts’ paired with blazers.
It wasn’t just models, though. Muay Thai fighters donned the shorts while sharing the catwalk with the likes of Imaan Hammam. One of them, Bampara Kouyate, has fought several times in Thailand and won a WMF title in 2017.
Versace isn’t the only brand to have produced Muay Thai shorts for fashion. Guess followed suit with their Guess x J Balvin collection earlier this year. It includes ‘Thai logo shorts’ which are priced at $99 a pair.
Muay Thai shorts have been seen in Japanese fashion, too. Here are a few examples from TokyoFashion.com.
Japanese brand Nigo also released a range of Muay Thai shorts under the Human Made collection, which includes pockets. Pharrell Williams, who has collaborated with the brand, has been seen wearing them in several social media posts.
Other artists in the music industry have been sporting Muay Thai shorts, too. Missy Elliott was ahead of the game. In 2015, she had her backup dancers wear Muay Thai shorts in the video for WTF (Where They From) (spot them at 1:40). Last year, Janelle Monae also wore them in her music video for Pynk (at 2:56).
When Selena Gomez performed at a Bangkok concert in 2016, she also wore a pair of Raja shorts onstage.
A viral video from rapper 6IX9INE also featured a woman wearing a pair of Top King Muay Thai shorts on a shopping trip.
Muay Thai Fashion in Thailand
It’s not just foreigners who are donning Muay Thai apparel for fashion. It’s happening in Thailand, too. Performers in Drag Race Thailand have been spotted wearing them on multiple occasions. First, Filipino contestant Jaja wore them for a Beautiful Boxer-inspired look in season 1.
In season 2, the show went a step further by having several contestants incorporate Muay Thai into their outfits for a music video, which involved a dance routine in the Asiatique ring on Bangkok’s riverfront.
Then, Thai fashion stylist and editor Shun Watanabe used Muay Thai shorts in a shoot with drag superstar Pangina Heals. In these photos, G-strings peeked out from underneath the shorts.
Now, Muay Thai fashion is expanding beyond just shorts. The sport has also inspired a collection of jackets, t-shirts, bags and pants by Roots of Fight, a brand that ‘celebrates the improbable achievements of today’s most legendary athletes’.
The Response
Some of these garments have stirred up controversy with Muay Thai fans online. Commenters complained that by producing Muay Thai shorts for fashion, foreign designers are somehow being disrespectful to the sport.
On an Instagram post by Versace, one user called it “cultural appropriation at its finest”, adding that “as someone who wears these shorts to train in the martial art of Muay Thai”, they found it “insulting and so disrespectful”. Another said that Versace should at least name the shorts ‘Thai boxing shorts’ to “show some respect to the culture they got this idea from”. They seemed to have overlooked the fact that Versace had real Muay Thai fighters wear them on the catwalk as a way of doing just that.
In response to the Muay Thai-inspired range by Guess, one commenter remarked that the brand was “tainting tradition”. While it’s true that some brands are appropriating aspects of Thai culture for fashion, you’re more likely to see this from Muay Thai brands than Versace or Guess. Take these shorts from French company Wicked One, for example.
This design replicates sak yant images in an apparent attempt to celebrate them, and several other Muay Thai brands have created similar styles. However, placing symbols like these on shorts could be seen as inappropriate by some.
In Thai culture, the head is considered to be the most sacred part of the body, while the feet are the dirtiest. That’s why touching anyone on the top of the head or pointing your feet in their direction are generally big no-no’s in Thailand. It’s also why sacred objects like mongkol, prajiet and amulets must always be kept in high places. This same principle applies to imagery, and for that reason, placing sacred images below the waist is deemed offensive. When a British fighter wore these shorts to my gym, one Thai trainer shook his head and politely explained to her that he disapproved. With the language barrier, ‘Buddha’ and ‘no’ were some of the only words he could use to do so, but he made his point clear. As Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu wrote in a post about sak yant, certain sak yant can be placed below the waist. However, those depicting holy symbols or deities must always be placed on the upper body. “For this reason, location of the part of the body is important”, she says. The sak yant design on these shorts doesn’t feature a deity, but was still met by approval by this trainer. This goes to show that opinions on this can be divided, even among Thailand’s Muay Thai community. While I was working at Decathlon Thailand’s Muay Thai brand, we received a couple of comments taking issue with a shorts design that had ‘waikru’ in Thai written across the front, expressing that it was disrespectful to put this word in the crotch area. My Thai colleagues dismissed these comments as extremely old-fashioned and conservative.
In 2018, Sylvie gave an example of an unintentionally inappropriate Muay Thai shorts design produced by an unnamed Italian company, explaining its misuse of Thai symbols. “Thai culture note: the head is holy, feet are profane, so anything below the waist is not a position of respect”, she wrote. “A mongkol goes on the head, the highest point; the national flag flies above the head and represents the people (red), religion (white) and the King (blue). These shorts are beautiful but without intention are very disrespectful to the very points of Thainess they are attempting to celebrate”.
This principle is especially important where Buddha images are concerned. The Knowing Buddha Organization outlines this in a list of do’s and don’ts on Buddha. Here’s one item from the list:
Mongkol Muay Thai fight gear also use a mongkol image on their shorts, incorporated into the logo and placed across the front. When noticing a pair hanging in the gym during a training session, I asked my trainer what he thought of this design and placement. He laughed and shook his head. “It’s not ok”, he said, going on to explain that he disapproved of the use of the mongkol image in this way.
MMA gear manufacturer Hayabusa Fight used the Garuda emblem — Thailand’s official royal seal — on a pair of Muay Thai shorts. This image can be seen on bank notes, on government buildings and documents, and at temples. It shouldn’t be used for any kind of decoration, but placing it across the crotch area can be seen as particularly innapropriate.
In some countries, we may think nothing of putting a flag on a pair of shorts or shoes, likely assuming it’s an act of partiotism. However, this could have the opposite effect in Thailand. Last year, there was outrage on Thai social media over a picture posted on the Vogue Paris Facebook page, which showed a model wearing a pair of shoes featuring the same colours as the Thai flag. Reports stated that if anyone had made or worn the shoes in Thailand, they could face a fine of up to 2,000B, or even a prison sentence of up to a year. So, while the appearance of Muay Thai shorts on the catwalk hasn’t received a public backlash in Thailand (the negative responses seemed to only come from foreign Muay Thai fans), the specific usage of certain Thai imagery has.
While use of sacred or national symbols can be tricky, not everyone in Thailand finds it problematic. A collaboration between Bangkok fashion brands Fuxury and 24 Kilates illustrates that. Together, they worked with Twins on their ‘Muhay Thai’ collection in a nod to the roots of the sport. However, their promotional photos include shots of a model with a large image of Garuda tattooed on his chest, and appearing to place the mongkol on the floor.
The controversy over designer Muay Thai shorts begs the question — Are these brands any different from the international Muay Thai brands producing their own training shorts for profit? After all, many of the designs we see in the gym, even in Thailand, aren’t as traditional as we might assume. Designs and attitudes have changed considerably over the years, and as they continue to do so, it looks as though we’ll see more variations in Muay Thai fashion.
Cover photo credit: Shun Watanabe
Follow Under the Ropes
0 Comments