Savate being demonstrated in a very old photograph. Savate, which literally means “Old Shoe”, is the French form of kickboxing, and its methods, in its street fighting, no-holds barred form, with a strong emphasis on low kicks, were capable, without weapons, of defeating the many vicious bandits who roamed early 20th century Paris, typically carrying knives and even tiny, concealed guns, fighting as dirty as could be… yet these men were no match for savate.Bruce Lee was influenced by savate, and the stories of early savate masters challenging the worst cutthroats of Paris just to clean up the streets (and for practice… remind you of Batman Begins?) and none of the leading practitioners coming out the worse for wear in these encounters, would indicate that, though it’s relatively civilized in its sport form, in its self-defense form it’s on the level of Krav Maga, Muay Boran, combat sambo and Okinawan Te (the more self-defense based core of Karate) for pure practicality, rather than mere sport, style or exercise. #Savate#martial arts#vintage#mens fashion#biceps #black and white #French footfighting