But let’s set some things straight first: armor is done primarily to be protective. It sure helps if the design makes the wearer intimidating enough to make the opponents surrender right away, but at its core it was invented as a physical barrier between a person and whatever or whoever threatens their life or health.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for decorative armor in the history. Highly ornamented muscle cuirass (male equivalent of boobplate) was designed to impress and worn by high-standing officers during non-battle special occasions, like parades.
That said, in the world of fiction the distinction between purely functional and decorative armor is not necessary. It’s not real, and unless the setting of choice is gritty life-like naturalism, the armor (and any other design) needs just to be believable, not realistic. We commented on it before.
This is where those two bingo squares come in. Fictional worlds, especially the more fantastic ones, can be stylized, sometimes even to ridiculous degree, as long as all of the world is consistent with its level of stylization. That’s why it’s not inherently bad to have people fight monsters in G-strings… It just needs to all make sense within its own narrative and preferably not be gendered (which basically never happens).
“um starfire’s powers are fueled by the sun that’s why she has to wear skimpy clothes” hey u know who else’s powers are fueled by the sun? superman. come on clark time for that toothfloss speedo chop chop
Bikini Armor Battle Damage always took being as professional as possible as its big priority, and with 3k + followers it is expected to maintain a regular blog schedule, which I can not do on my own (real-life stuff).
With that in mind, from now on I share moderating duties in here with wincenworks who’s been a friend to the cause for a long time and with whom I co-moderate Disqus comments on eschergirls.
Given how people generally seemed to like my previous female armor post (save for one comment that argued that criticizing the depiction of warrior women wearing these and stating that in real life warrior women wouldn’t wear anything like that and that these are highly sexualized is slut-shaming of fictional characters), I’m happy to present part two. Originally it was going to be about torso armor, but several people asked for butts. Now, I hadn’t given thought to butts as much, because unlike boobs, that are depicted as existing almost separately from the entire body, butts are more often incorporated into the rest of the outfit.
The most interesting thing about these images (for me) was my own entirely positive initial reaction.
At first glance, I thought it might be a cute little guide to styles of burlesque underpants. (I got a good laugh out of the flavour text beside a depiction of what is essentially a fancy merkin: “Where is the point of disappearance?” ..and chuckled at mentions of crystal and magic jewels.) Reading on, and considering the artist’s own understandably sarcastic statements, I can see it’s actually intended as playful criticism of costumes designed to unnecessarily hypersexualize female characters in sci-fi and fantasy media (comic books, video games, movies, art, whatnot). I have a bit of a nerdy background, so of course the satirical aspect of these drawings struck a chord with me, (and I wholeheartedly agree with what’s being said,) but on the other hand I am an actual seamstress for actual strippers; my clients specifically request cheeky windows, plunging necklines, and short hems that show off some t&a; mystery (“how does it stay up/on?” or “how did it just come off?”) is alluring; properties like fabric transparency and movement are essential to the art of the tease. That flowing long loincloth is an oldschool bump ‘n’ grind panel skirt, for goodness’ sake.
If a real or fictional character’s purpose or motivation, whether onstage or in a comic book, is to actively bare herself and seduce her audience for whatever reason, then YES, go forth and dress that character in designs like these! This sort of costuming IS appropriate for those who choose to reveal their bodies.. it IS NOT appropriate for questing, fighting crime, keeping warm, protecting vital organs from bullets or lasers or spears or maces, flying a spaceship, wrestling dinosaurs, whatever. I’m a big fan of form following function, (for example, while a full-body unitard may be revealing in its way, it would also be totally appropriate when a heroic person of any gender must streamline themselves to move quickly through water or air – I don’t get annoyed by stuff like that,) but when there’s visual dissonance between a superheroine’s costume and the feats she performs while wearing it, coupled with a shameless attempt to make her outfit needlessly revealing and titillating, it irritates me. When an exotic dancer or burlesque entertainer’s attire is cleverly or beautifully revealing and titillating, I nod my head and think “well done” ..because stripping is her superpower, and form follows function in every sense.
That was very well said, thank you 🙂
That post got ten million times better when a person who tailors costumes for strippers and exotic dancers added her thoughts on booty “armor”. Took the liberty of bolding crucial parts.
