Susan Pevensie

in Prince Caspian

 

Cuirass

Worn with the Night Raid Outfit and Battle Outfit

Cuirass: (kwi-rass)—a cuirass is armor consisting of two parts, a breast and backpiece fastened together at the sides by means of straps and buckles. Historically, it was originally made of leather, which is where its name originates, but was later made with metal.

Construction

The main part of the cuirass is a leather, rather mottled and aged looking, with red undertones and brown over it. It's two pieces, front and back, probably of molded, hardened leather (called cuir boilli). Molding and hardening leather is generally done by soaking the leather in water, or boiling it, and letting it dry on a mold. However, the bust and waist may be backed with some metal pieces, as the leather seems to wrinkle some, particulary in this image, from just below the bust to just above the "belt," but the bust and waist areas are very smooth and stiff.

It fully laces up the sides with a dark leather cord, through about eight rivets up each side it pulls together (thus, sixteen on the left, sixteen on the right). The leather cords hang past the end of the lacing by several inches.

All the edges of the cuirass are finished with the same leather, chainstitched down.

There's a border at the top of the cuirass of embossed daffodils: alternating a daffodil blossom, then two stems, then a blossom again. The flower-ends of the stems are pointed down.

Straps

The straps seem to be more of a design feature than to be of practical use. They're mostly dyed a reddish brownish color, some more red than others. Most are riveted at the front, and they curve around back, over the lacing, to tie with leather cord at the back in different places, either to itself, or to straps that are riveted to the back.

There are two main horizontal straps, one large belt (1) that extends off the bottom edge of the cuirass, and a strap at the bust that extends from underneath the left side of the bust to up over the right side (2). Both are riveted on in some places, possibly glued or otherwise attached in others, and both extend around the back and attach with leather points.

The center piece of the large waist belt (1) has a large medallion in a tarnished silver color, with shapes radiating out like petals or rays that make it look like it's either shaped like a daffodil, or perhaps a sun. Also, from larger images, it appears that the medallion is tied around with pieces of twine or fabric. The pieces to either side of it also have small medallions, similarly shaped.

The center piece of the strap at the bust also has a couple of medallions. The center one is similar to the largest belt medallion—it's a tarnished silver color, also with twine wrapped around it. Then there are two small gold pieces, one to each side, wrapped a little with some leather cord.

There are also many straps that cross and go under the main two horizontal straps. Two, one brown and one red, over her right shoulder, one red over her left shoulder, cross over and attach at the back. Some extend off the edge of the cuirass: notice the two underneath the large waist belt (1) that show below the edge at the center part. Also, the strap that goes over her left shoulder extends down to her right side and off the cuirass.

 



Promotional and Production Shots


also high res



Shootastic High-Res Images



Enormously High-Res Promotional Shots



Promotional



Movie Surfers Clip



High-Res Trailer #1 Screencaps