As Below, So Above

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And have her armoured shoes (”sabatons”) got HEELS?

The real reason, of course, is Rule of Sexy, perhaps coupled with a private commission’s requirement or an art director’s instruction to tastefully show some skin.

Now that’s out of the way, IMO this off-the-shoulder-and-cleavage rig would be better both looks-wise and realistically without the leg-armour, gauntlets and elbow-guards (”couters”) and only one forearm-guard (”vambrace”) on her left forearm.

A 17th-century “elbow-gauntlet” with its built-in finger plating would do the business nicely.

She wouldn’t even need her shield unless leaning on it is a necessary part of the picture composition, because a bridle gauntlet was intended for wear alone, like so.

*****

The problem for me in that illustration is knowing how plate armour goes together. Every piece attaches to every other piece, and then to a foundation garment (”arming doublet”) - which is why people in well-fitted and correctly worn plate are so nimble; plenty of examples of that on YouTube.

In this picture, the shoulder-armour (”pauldron”) which caps the arm-protection, and the arming doublet to which it all connects, are both missing. It means that, as Lady Off-The-Shoulder stands now, most of the metal on her arms is trying to work down against her wrists.

With nothing to keep it in place, it will shift back towards her body whenever she raises her arms above the horizontal. This could prove inconvenient if her concentration needs to be focussed elsewhere, for instance defending herself against someone with a weapon intending mischief.

Oddly enough the pic just above her (copied below) has everything right, suggesting an artistic decision rather than lack of knowledge - and that of course may bring things back to the requirements of a commission.

This pic even shows the laces (”points”) at hip-height to help support the weight of leg-armour, though some styles of real-life armour preferred a kind of garter / suspender belt worn under the doublet. Either way, it’s something else Lady Off-The-Shoulder lacks.

Incidentally, arming-doublets often / usually had patches of mail sewn onto the areas that wouldn’t be covered by plate, like so.

Along with the excellence of the art, most of them having correct details are why the pic of Lady Off-The-Shoulder is a little bit jarring.

Well, jarring to me; YMMV and probably does…

;->

*****

Here are replica arm-harnesses by Ukrainian company Armstreet, showing how things join to each other and the arming-doublet by laces (one of the laces for the leg-armour is just visible) as well as to the wearer ‘s limbs by straps.

I prefer using in-period historical art when possible, but (1) I couldn’t find any; (2) these photos show clearly what I’m on about; (3) the art is realism-flavoured fantasy and so are the photos. 

This first one is a classic demonstration of why upper-arm plates (”rerebraces”) don’t work with an off-the-shoulder blouse (or indeed an off-the-shoulder anything).

The rest show similar armour, completed with pauldrons on top.

I don’t think the lack of an open-and-off-the-shoulder blouse makes this model look any less feminine but, once again, if Lady Off-The-Shoulder was commissioned that way, then that’s the way she was going to be painted. :->

(More Armstreet pics at this link. )

Finally, here’s a video of the armour in the first photo being put on.

- filter your searches like you would on a library website or in an online catalogue

- don’t post placeholders, fic searches, or recommendations as fics. DON’T! It’s against ao3 TOS

- there is no algorithm. ao3 sorts by date posted/updated unless you filter with specific search criteria

- ao3 is a non profit. that means it doesn’t sell ads to make money — it only survives on donations. this is why it can show you so many fics without ever flashing an ad or pop up at you!

- report fics that break TOS when you see them (I.e., placeholder fics, searches) to help other users navigate better

- the tag “dead dove, do not eat” doesn’t equate to gore/awfulness automatically. it is a complementary tag that enhances current tags. E.g., if the fic is tagged “gore” and “dead dove, do not eat” the author really wants you to mind the gore tag

- most fandoms have a variation of “no beta, we die like (x character)” and they all link back to the “No beta” tag

- publishing a new fic sometimes means it won’t show up in the fandom/pairing tag for a few minutes

- subscribers receive update emails at different times, depending on when you update/publish your fic. there’s no good way to predict when an e-mail will be sent — it can be in 30 seconds, or two hours later

- some fics are restricted by authors to those with ao3 accounts only. if you see a blue lock in the upper right corner, that fic is only visible to logged in ao3 users

- you can block commenters now! this didn’t use to be a thing

- if your fic includes original character/s or reader insert or y/n or etc, then TAG THOSE IN THE CHARACTER TAGS. Not just in the relationship tags!! They are characters in the story, so include them in the character tags. Failing to do so means people who want to find fics with those tags won’t be able to, and people who want to exclude fics with those tags won’t be able to.

- NEVER EVER EVER ADD A LINK TO A PATREON OR KO-FEE ACCOUNT OR ETC. Ao3’s entire legal protection hinges on the fact that no one is making money from fics. If you start commissioning fics or linking to a monetary platform, you are in breach of the Ao3 terms, risking legal action, and risking ao3 as a whole. There are loads of authors/companies who WILL sue if they think you’re making money off their intellectual property.

there are no best times to post but generally sunday and monday are a good zone for traffic

you must double check and make sure the publication date matches the day a chapter is posted or it won’t show up on the first page of updates. sometimes you have to physically edit the posting date multiple times for this to be fixed.

on that note: artificially editing your publication date so your fic shows up at the top when you haven’t added a chapter is the dickest of moves and will make you a pariah. do not do this. yes everyone will notice.

editing existing chapters doesn’t count as updating a fic and won’t change the publication date.

ao3 usually adds weird spaces after italics if you copy and paste in your writing pre-formatted. it doesn’t add these until after you’ve saved a draft or posted so you have to re-edit.

check the “add space after paragraph” option in your word precessor of choice to avoid having to delete an extra space between all your paragraphs on ao3.

when you add a second chapter to a one chapter fic, your original start/end authors notes will now be appended onto the notes of every chapter unless you move them to the now extant first chapter notes sections. this is confusing, but you’ll see what i mean.

to post on anon: add your fic to the anonymous (anonymous) collection. it’ll take up to fifteen to minutes to show in the tag once posted. it’ll show up (to you) as AUTHOR NAME: fic title. no one else sees it this way. it will never show up on your own dashboard unless you go to your stats page. if you ever de-anon, all your subs will get an email about it as if it were just posted.

if you update multiple fics at once, ao3 will group the updates into one email.

to transfer a fic to a new ao3 account: make a new account, make the new account a co-author, remove the old account as co-author.

you cannot mention money changing hands for fic on ao3, ever. don’t say commissions. say a fic was requested if you must say anything. your fic can get taken down for this.

reply to comments or never complain about engagement in fandom.

per that: EVERY TIME YOU EDIT A COMMENT, THE AUTHOR GETS A NEW COPY OF YOUR COMMENT IN THEIR EMAIL. we can see all the edits. be aware.

tagging is both a warning and an enticement, do so accordingly. you really don’t need to tag things that fall outside that unless you want to.

on that note: please don’t do the “short fics for 300 different fandoms in one fic” thing. no one wants to scroll past that. i mean you can but it just makes it harder for people to find the thing you’ve written that they want to read.

if you are really bad at summaries just think of it as a movie tag line and don’t say you’re bad at summaries. don’t neg your own fic.