Abbey Lee KershawLondon knit wear designer,
Bella Freud, regularly combines film and fashion to showcase her work and this year Freud worked with BAFTA award winning director, Martina Amati, to launch her autumn/winter 2011 collection with the short film, ‘Submission’. Martina is a Roger Gracie white belt and she set out to create an innovative piece using a jiu jitsu theme, in particular a women in BJJ theme. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a part of this project along

with three ladies from Roger Gracie Academy Katherine Hill, Joanna Ziovronowicz and Lauren Toleikis. We provided background sparring work and helped prepare the professional talent to execute their choreography. Big respect to the actors who made a huge effort to do their BJJ moves correctly; we all know jits is not an easy thing to do and even with years of experience filmed action will show up flaws, much less after a only few days’ intensive learning. Bella included some way cute wrestling-inspired knitted knee and elbow pads along with fabulous knitted jumpers and body suits in her collection and while fun and fruity I’d caution that training partners in sequin trousers will leave your skin looking like a cat’s been at it (especially if you’re not wearing much yourself!). So, in an unexpected twist, I’ve joined Britney Spears and Marge Simpson as women showcasing BJJ in mainstream media; well, at least artsy niche media. Check it out!

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