It's a sad, shameful world where a woman has to wear special clothes to feel safe from would be predators, but I can't fault the fashion industry for trying to offer their customers a bit of comfort. Ican fault them when they go off the deep end, like Aya Tsukioka with her almost comical “urban camouflage,” however.

“You might find a bit of armor useful when you become queen,” Cersei Lannister recently told a female rival on Game of Thrones. But her advice could just as easily apply to women from all walks of life -- particularly now, in the aftermath of a series of high-profile sexual assaults around the world. In a reflex response to the quest for a societal aegis, a number of contemporary clothing designers have found armor (or a variation thereof) useful as a form of protection for women. Most recently, three Indian engineering students designed a bra even more kick-ass than the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms’s chest plate. (Read More)