> I wonder where the stereotype of scantily-clad leather-fetish armor for barbarians actually comes from, given its extreme prevalence in modern culture and com

> I wonder where the stereotype of scantily-clad leather-fetish armor for barbarians actually comes from, given its extreme prevalence in modern culture and complete absence in actual historical cultures. I think it developed roughly like this: it probably somehow is rooted the "othering" that is fundamental to the "scientific" racism that was used to justify slavery and colonialism[0]. Leathers, furs and plain nakedness would fit there as a convenient stereotype of primitive cultures, compared to woven cloth which implies the use of technology and being refined. That gives us the (inaccurate) rough leathers vs woven colorful clothes contrast, representing primitive savages vs sophisticated civilizations. Caveat: that is the most speculative part - I might be projecting modern stereotypes to a time before they were established, but it sounds like a sensible starting point to me. If that holds up, then after that stereotype is established we enter Romanticism. People longing back to imagined pre-industrial times when things were pure and good (note that thanks to Tolkien this is also deeply, deeply embedded into the DNA of fantasy - Sauron and his orcs represented industrialism). We get the stereotype of the noble savage[1], which endured all the way to a fairly recent movie about giant blue natives on other planets[2] (not to be confused with that other movie about savage planets and blue giants[3], but anyway). This was and still is hugely problematic, btw. Even if you don't include the anti-industrial vibes, you still have the glorification of a mythological collective past. That was a big part of 19th century propaganda used to sell the idea of nation states to people who historically did not belong together at all. Same with justifying the use of military force to unite people into one country. You can probably guess where that ended up. Spoiler: Godwin's law applies - which I think also makes it clear why it's Tolkien's depiction of "Sauron = industrialization = bad, Elves = nature = good" is not quite so simplistic and easy to reject either, since the theme also is a reaction to WWI and WWII. Anyway, this is probably also where revealing skin really started becoming a thing: nakedness has a long history of implying innocence in art, and as a contrast also emphasizes vulnerability being violated by civilization. So suddenly being simple, barely clothed and primitive is "good". And then we get to what everyone else has pointed out: pulp stories and sexy fantasy. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film) [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet