Lorica Clothing

OMG YES. I played so many legendary games at far too young an age such that I could not grasp the mechanics or stories whatsoever, but still understood that I was witnessing art.

YouTube video by Lorica Clothing Art Direction in Video Games: Reviewing Songs of Silence

I'm like months behind schedule on Youtube what with travel, freelance work, and managing Lorica production — but I finally squeezed out a new video! Turning my art director x-ray vision to gaming: how does the visual approach of a game elevate the experience of playing it?

youtu.be/YuOuU2wP0XM

Leggings based on German Gothic armor.

Leggings based on the armor of Sir James Scudamore at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Leggings based on the armor of Henry VIII at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Leggings based on maille chausses.

I make size-inclusive leggings based on historical armors. They're now available for preorder for projected delivery in November!

loricaclothing.com/collections/...

YouTube video by Lorica Clothing A Beautiful Purpose: Violence vs. Aesthetics in European Armor

Historical objects are often viewed from a purely functionalist perspective, where every minute detail is hypothesized to provide some sort of secret tactical advantage. What if function was not the sole driver of form? What if delight could shape design just as meaningfully? youtu.be/VIbSa1o98pE

Thank you so much! My goal is to be that bridge between “edutainment” and academia, trying to keep all the rigor without being too mired in details. The details will always be there fur the curious, that’s our doctoral fellows’ jobs. 😉

YouTube video by Lorica Clothing Identity in Steel: Regional Styles of Armor in 15th Century Europe

Every time I finish a video I'm like, "surely the next one will get easier"—but I keep picking topics that should be PhD theses rather than 20 minute video essays. 🙃

Anyway, here's the latest! If today's menswear can have regional tailoring styles, you KNOW armor can too ✨

youtu.be/reU4aLabm8Q

YouTube video by Lorica Clothing How to Study Armor When You're Still a Wee Geekling, 2025 Edition

My latest video is about how to start learning about armor in earnest when you're just starting out. What should you read? What should you look at? Where on earth are people getting all these sources they keep talking about it?? I gotchu, babynerd.

youtu.be/B_oz4JyAHKI

screenshot from an online job application form. the question reads "Can you describe specific ways you have integrated AI tools into your development workflow? Please include any custom setups, automations, or use cases beyond single prompt usage" (a red asterisk indicates that this is a required question). an answer has been typed in the textbox below the question: "there is a monster in the forest and it speaks with a thousand voices. it will answer any question you pose it, it will offer insight to any idea. it will help you, it will thank you, it will never bid you leave. it will even tell you of the darkest arts, if you know precisely how to ask. it feels no joy and no sorrow, it knows no right and no wrong. it knows not truth from lie, though it speaks them all the same. it offers its services freely to any passerby, and many will tell you they find great value in its conversation. “you simply must visit the monster—i always just ask the monster.” there are those who know these forests well; they will tell you that freely offered doesn’t mean it has no price for when the next traveler passes by, the monster speaks with a thousand and one voices. and when you dream you see the monster; the monster wears your face."

applying for jobs again

Because spandex is a cost-efficient way to make standard sizing fit the vast majority of the population without tailoring — plus stretch clothing is comfortable.

Absolutely! The promise that suffering in life is a virtue that will be rewarded in death simply does not compel me to treat myself — or others — with kindness. I deeply believe that beauty nurtures joy, and that our environments reflect and shape our hearts.

tldr; Puritan insistence upon self-deprivation has rotted our optimism and the only cure is more cathedrals and cute cafes.

We mistrust beauty as “excess” and confuse ugliness for “practicality.” No wonder American politicians defund the arts and voters nod along murmuring about useless degrees — they cannot defend what they have not tasted.

Europeans take for granted that history is written in the bones of their cities. Part of the American malaise is that we are deeply disconnected from the shared tapestry of time: most of us grow up in buildings the age of our grandparents at most. And what we newly erect is soulless and expedient.

Survey results of various medieval institutions, from castles to the Black Plague

At long last someone has identified RFK Jr.'s support base: the 9% of people who have a favorable opinion of the Black Plague

YouTube video by Lorica Clothing Elves vs. Dwarves: Art History as World-Building

Quite a bit later to finish than I anticipated, but here's the latest video! If you've ever asked yourself why Art Nouveau looks like it was made by elves, and Art Deco like it was made by dwarves, I have just the 13 minutes for you! youtu.be/d9nbkQtrqyc

Ugh after battling a cold I am pretty behind, so probably won’t manage to finish Elves, Dwarves, and Art History til Monday. 😭 One day I’ll be one of those consummate professionals with enough of a backlog to never miss a drop!

I’m so glad! ❤️

Thank you so much! 🥹

Oh wow I forgot about BlueSky for a few weeks, then my Warhammer video made the rounds, and now I’m not talking to myself anymore! Hi friends, thanks for following! :) New video next Friday: how did we assign Art Deco to Dwarven Culture, and Art Nouveau to Elves? Let’s talk art history and fantasy ✨

Why does everyone in the gritty used future have a mohawk? Why do all intergalactic militaries look the same? Why is Barbarella wearing a chainmail bikini? Let's discusssss

youtu.be/bFkaPN_zUo0

YouTube video by Lorica Clothing Let's Judge Costuming: Medieval Fantasy Tropes in Age of Wonders 4

I bought Age of Wonders 4 on Steam Sale and then proceeded to play 80 hours in two weeks so now we must all suffer the consequences of my bad decisions: 20 minutes of analysis of silly costumes.

youtu.be/Sy5rhkRysuA?...

Look on the bright side—instead of Zimbabwe we could go China, where the government systematically slaughters or exiles the intelligentsia only to grow up to be a global superpower built on a peculiar yet familiar mix of slave labor and media empire 60 years later.

It's happened to me too on my armor leggings, where a non-zero number of people are like, "this part looks so washed out" when they receive the item. Ummm that part is lighter than the other parts because it's highlights mimicking light on metal, exactly the way it looks in the photos?

Not related to armor pants but my goat gave birth to four little peanuts and never have I felt more called to ✨fashion design✨

Genuinely worried about mine and every other artist's small online business 🫠 USPS is what keeps shipping affordable and if it's privatized rates will skyrocket and only places like Amazon with their own fleet will be able to offer free/reasonable shipping rates.

I think the segmentation in their tails and limbs could be inspired by the anatomy of isopods, while the shields of the armored armadillo could have some sode (the Japanese armor shoulder protection) inspiration for sure.

You are SUCH A COOL MOM by the way!!

YouTube video by Lorica Clothing Did Modern Warfare Ruin Menswear? On the Great Male Renunciation and Drab Masculinity

It's okay if your entire closet is earth tones, you can blame Robespierre and Kant. Check out my new video on why men's fashion is kinda boring. ✨

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC2y...

Mr Rogers and Sesame Street taught me love, kindness, compassion, and empathy. Star Trek taught me to dream of and aspire to help create a better and more diverse world. Star Wars and Tolkien taught me to fight for freedom, even in the face of overwhelming odds and great evil.

If this ain't the entire experience of being a woman posting history content on the internet.

For a horrible moment I thought this was an indictment of my beloved Michael Hobbes, PHEW