My brother put me on to this web site:

The Greek Phalanx: Recreating the Hoplite

Under the tab Impression Elements are photojournalistic articles documenting the process that the author and others went through to re-create the armor and accoutrements of Archaic to Classical period Greek warriors.

I read the Archaic Bell Cuirass page, and can I say, I was impressed. This man is Hephaistos. We are talking months of work to get the cuirass (“breastplate” to an amateur like me, though I’m sure there is a difference) into the right shape. Then, he wore it and discovered how it works on the battlefield, which in turn yields some theories about how battle was carried out in the era when this style of cuirass was popular.

As so often happens, the Bell Cuirass (Archaic) only looks simpler than the Muscle Cuirass (Classical). Turns out, it is much harder to make. Its fastenings, too, are simple and elegant in design, harder to make than the fastenings for the Muscle Cuirass, but easier to use. So we have the older artifact being more what we would call “advanced,” and requiring more skill to fashion. Score another point for ancient people.

One last observation: My first glimpse of the Bell Cuirass gave me strong Spanish Conquistador vibes. Apparently, the flared collar and cinched, flared waist in men’s armor has been in fashion more than once throughout history.

Anyway, I highly recommend this web page. Up to now, my perusal of re-created ancient clothing perhaps leaned too much towards female clothing.