I believe the movie was Spartacus (1960) with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. In an early scene, the trainer of the gladiators is showing the new recruits how to kill an opponent. Using a large paintbrush, he dabs on color in three spots, explaining these are the three most vulnerable places on the body. With a cruel switch he cuts at the throat, the belly, and the knees. Why do I mention this? Because if you look at Red Sonja’s steel mail bikini you’ll see it covers none of these.
Red Sonja was created in 1973, not as an adaptation of a Robert E Howard character, but as an amalgam of Howard’s Sonya of Rogotino, CL Moore’s Jirel of Joiry, and just plenty of sexy ’70s goodness. And who am I to argue with the commercial results of selling sexy babes to fan boys everywhere?
Read the rest:
https://www.michaelmay.online/2015/12/sword-and-sorcery-cliche-no-2-barbarian.html
In point of fact chainmail bikinis may be more realistic than many people believe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iw_RD_h6bc