Helmschmid, Portions of a costume armor

Armor is commonly thought as being a defensive material, to be worn in a dangerous situation, to be purely functional, but ultimately because it transforms the appearance of the person wearing it, armorers took liberties and they devised forms and shapes that would make the person a better person, a more important person. The body seen from this outer shell is perfect. This is one of these armors that breaks away from all of the established standards. It is not an armor that is used for combat. It is an armor that is just meant to be worn in a ceremonial context. The inspiration for it is civilian fashion from the early sixteenth century. The puffed sleeves were pierced, so you could see the shirt underneath, and they only remained popular for about twenty to thirty years, and so this armor is capturing that moment, in Augsburg, about 1525. The gilded parts are etched beneath. There’s an illusion that the bright pieces are sort of floating over a background that is matted, possible moirÊ. When the light was bouncing off the polished surface you would really have the illusion that this was an actual textile. I look at armor as hollow, moving sculptures. These sleeves were meant to rotate and the arm could move freely in them. Each sleeve and each section of the sleeve has its own movement, its own gravity. We have to imagine these being animated, and not at all as popular culture would like us to believe, like a robot, but actually flowing rather freely. It is surprisingly naturalistic. An armor like this was meant to amaze, to dazzle, to demonstrate that the person wearing it is so sophisticated that not only is he wearing the latest fashion in civilian dress but he is of the class of men who wear armor. This is meant to last and yet it is built around volatile parameters: the style of the costume would go out of fashion. The tension between that durability, that eternity, and then on the other hand, the inspiration for it, which captures a moment, so it is wonderfully ephemeral, I think that’s absolutely extraordinary.