@quousque submitted: 

The recent post about armor that is unrealistic due to decorations but still looks like armor and doesn’t sexualize the wearer made me think of submitting this (well, that, and I’m pretty proud of it). This is me in a set of armor I made for a recent LARP event in the Colorado mountains. 

The plot guys wanted to have an appearance from a character called the Phoenix, which, up until now, had always been referred to as male. Every other character who has significant amounts of power in the universe of the game was also male, a fact which didn’t occur to the plot guys until I mentioned it and asked to be the Phoenix. 

They said yes, and this is the result. It’s an impractical suit of armor because of the extra pointy bits and the helmet, not because it’s female armor. 

When I initially designed the suit, I designed it for a man, and the only change I made when I found out I was going to be wearing it was shaping the breastplate to accommodate my boobs. I’m also wearing about 4 inches of warm jackets and other layers beneath it, because it was damn cold out. 

Women in armor can look badass and intimidating without emphasizing their shape. The fact that the eyes glow probably helped, too.

Very nice!  Another great example of creative liberties and stylistic choices that result in pure awesome.

I think a lot of developers could learn a lot not just from talking to cosplayers but also seeing what people in LARPing are doing – since the same principles apply: The people who make and wear the outfits get a very important perspective.

– wincenworks