This is a review of considerations for civilian dress for basic self defense in most areas. Be advised some of these suggestions may be illegal where you live, follow all laws when dressing defensively.

The goal of this article is to re-think basic aspects of normal street clothes and minimize any possible negative aspects of normal street clothes for purposes of self defense.

An important consideration to this task is understanding your own personal Threat Matrix. A Threat Matrix is the likely risks you personally have to face in your day to day life. Are you an ordinary citizen in a middle income neighborhood? Are you a working man or women in a rougher part of town? A high profile business or media personality? You will all have slightly different most likely threatening scenarios and you need to plan your wardrobe (notice the beginning of the word, it says war!) accordingly. With the knowledge that a violent incident is likely to be launched within two seconds time, you need to build up a plan of action from that first second onwards that gives you the highest probability of survival