20 Images of Women in Practical Armor

[Buster's Uncle]

20 Images of Women in Practical Armor
GeeksterInk
By Andrew DeWitt via FanBread  /  July 30, 2015 



Medieval armor rules. I think we can all agree on that. There's something majestic and just plain awesome about seeing a full set of handcrafted chainmail or magical fantasy plate armor and imagining yourself as a total battle-hardened badass. But guess what, fellas? Ladies like to imagine themselves doing heroic feats of dopeness as well but for a long time their only representation in fantasy novels, films and comics was as some saucy tart with impossible cleavage, stuffed into a hilariously impractical chainmail bikini. Well, times are "a changing" and strong fighting women are coming to the forefront of pop culture. Embrace the power with this gallery of women in armor that would allow them the previously elusive ability of not running around a battlefield in a thong.



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photo by Olaf Winter




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All the chainmail's real, though the links in the last are ludicrously large.  The fourth pic is just a rubber suit with shoulder armor and some fake crap over it.

I considered just posting this in the Babe thread.

[Rusty Edge]

I'm fine with the new thread.

[Buster's Uncle]

I figured it'd get more play this way, and our wimminz might actually look...

[Eadee]

Nice
Haven't seen many ladies in such heavy armor on a LARP. There are a few who really do run around in those ridiculous chainmail-bikini-style but most women I met tend to play roles that do not rely heavily on melee combat (mages, rangers, healers, assasins). So medevial dresses and leather armor are the most common outfit I saw there. Also a reasonable chainmail here and there but when it comes to plating, I can't remember seeing any besides ones covering arms below ellbows and / or legs below the knee.

[Valka]

I figured it'd get more play this way, and our wimminz might actually look...

What, all three of us? 

The fourth from the top is from one of the Joan of Arc movies. That's Leelee Sobieski in the photo.

The chainmail bikini thing... well, I consider Larry Elmore to be one of the best of the AD&D artists, but he's very fond of putting his female subjects into the most ridiculously revealing outfits. It doesn't even have to be a fighter - a cleric, elf, or mage who runs around showing cleavage and bare midriffs, which are exactly the places most likely to be fatal if stuck with anything sharp is not someone I'd feel safe adventuring with. They're apt to get killed at a really inconvenient moment.

As for RL chainmail bikinis, one of the people who shared my hotel room at a Calgary SF convention decided to wear a chainmail bikini all weekend. She opted for no underwear (or at least it was skimpy enough that it couldn't be seen), and collected an entourage of guys who followed her around all weekend... including into our hotel room at 4 am.

At one point on Saturday afternoon some of us opted to go across the street to grab some food at Arby's, and we wore our costumes. There were four of us, and I'm pretty sure the reason one guy stopped in the middle of the intersection to stare at us wasn't due to my costume (Majipoori court dress; I was dressed head to toe in a long green medieval-style gown with white and gold trim and a matching headdress and veil). Thank goodness no car accidents happened, but my roommate nearly had one on the way to the restaurant. The chainmail bikini was in danger of falling off, and all she had with her to use as a cover was a thin cape.

[Buster's Uncle]

Four, but you're the only one who participates much...

I stopped going out in my renfair working clothes early on -nobody ever saw me in a costume, and I think the distinction was part of my success- 'cause I'll freak out the squares when I'm getting paid to, though I did sometimes get seen pumping gas in tights on my way home.

[Rusty Edge]

Chain mail bikini with no underwear?
That reminds me of a medallion on a chain I brought home from Corinth. It was a replica Alexander the Great coin. I wore it all the time. Thing is, it was quite the heat conductor. If it were exposed to radiant heat, or cold air, that thing get  really uncomfortable really fast. Painful even.

[Buster's Uncle]

I never made a chainmail bikini.  -I think much of the trick would be trying to make it self-supporting; I've seen some at refairs actually along the lines of a bikini, which is how you naturally think of it, but the trick that would actually work on some vaguely practical level a lady could move around in would be more of a sleeveless halter with full shoulder coverage and a boob window in front.  The loincloth part would have sort of a granny waist.

The Red Sonya look not only doesn't work as armor; a woman with a chest worth showing off couldn't even move around in it, but would still look pretty good in my configuration, and the non-zero armor value would be a lot higher.  I'll try to get around to making and posting a crude drawing of what just designed itself in my head...

[vonbach]

Chain mail bikini with no underwear?

Ouch that would be painful. I'm curious how long a woman could
even wear amor like that. Its exhausting to wear.

[Valka]

She managed for at least half the weekend, and finally got dressed in normal clothes on Sunday.

This wasn't the only time she wore this outfit; hopefully she added underwear for the Thanksgiving weekend convention. That was the one where we ended up sharing the hotel with a political leadership convention, and honestly, we were treated better the year we shared the hotel with a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses!

[Buster's Uncle]

I feel another project thread and some ferocious blisters coming on...

Okay, I'm made several camails over the years - they're not too big or tough to do, not that heavy, and they look incredibly cool as a costume piece.



That's Buster's, now - I used to keep it with my renfair gear in case I wanted to add just a touch of armor to my look for a gag or a new character.  When the show's a thousand miles from home, you have to be prepared or do without.

That one has a neck hole that's the absolute minimum I can reasonably get it on and of - and I need to turn it sideways to do that (it has a bit of an oblong shape because of where I concentrated the row expansion links).

I don't have the one I did it with anymore -rennies are scum- but it's a simple matter to extend the neck-hole upwards semi-cylindrically, turning it into a camail-gorget.  You need to leave the front open and lace it for that to work.  It looks even cooler with a collar added.

-And THERE is where the design that sprung from my head like Pallas Athena this morning began:  (Click on her to see full size w/o the black.)

[Dio]

I presently enjoy the armor of the sixth photo even though it appears to have unnecessary adornment.

[Buster's Uncle]

Good to know I made such an impression.   Continuing on my design...




-This is bad armor, but the best practical design I've ever seen for the sexy warrior woman look, and at least the neck and shoulders are sensibly protected.

It should be worn over a sports bra altered to have a chest window, possibly with a pushup bra sewn in for good measure.  Chainmail doesn't weigh nothin' and a girl ought to take good care of the girls.

I tried to give a sense of depth in the drawing, but the chest window is to be a simple straight-edge diamond shape, blunter angle in the bottom.

Note the red bows.  The neck has to be open and laced, and since the intent is sexy, big loud-colored bows tied make a virtue of it.  The bottom of the top may or may not need to be open, but it needs two rows of ribbon/string to snug it under the bust and hug the ribs - chainmail is very forgiving about fit running downhill, but it wants to hang straight below the widest point, which doesn't look hot or flatter the form; and tapering it downwards/inward at that point would make it impossible-to-almost to get the shoulders through, so more lacing and another bow.

From the waist to the hips is a shape chainmail will hug nicely, and chainmail hangs wider on wider people and longer on skinny people, as a guest who is considerably taller and thinner than me found out in February when he put on a mail shirt I made to fit me.  But threading and tying off at the waist will make it even more one-size-fits-all, and a BIG red bow on one hip says "this comes right off".  (The lady's sword, however, says "BE POLITE, KNUCKLEHEAD.")


I can't help it - I have to make this thing.  I just don't know what I'll do for a bikini-body shape to do fittings on and work the bugs out - and take pictures to show...

[Dio]

I noticed the model in your drawing contains hair with a red-orange (ginger) color. The less than modestly clad model from BUncle's imagination strikes again .

[Buster's Uncle]

I was drawing on a silhouette, and it looked better if I made the front and back of the head obvious with the hair, and chainmail bikini is Red Sonja's signature thing, so red hair - I wanted to make it a long, tousled mane, but need to show the design more...