Lorica Laethes Surfsuit with Long Sleeves

FINAL SALE. NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES. Designed by our friends at Lorica Clothing, the Laethes design is based on the breastplate by Fillipo Negroli (c. 1532-1535), made for Guidobaldo della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. This gorgeous armor features two bat-like wings that flank the torso, finely covered with scales and wildly glaring eyes. There are many interpretations of the decoration, some saying it resembles Virgil's description of the goddess Fame:

a vast, fearful monster, with a watchful eye meticulously set under every feather which grows on her, and for every one of them a tongue in a mouth which is loud of speech and an ear ever alert
-Aeneid 4.181-83

Other interpretations note that it may be based on the dragonhide armor of the Islamic warrior Rodomonte, which was covered in eyes like the wings of a seraph.

Inscribed on the plaque in the center of the sternum is the Latin phrase "NVLLA BIBAM LAETHES OBLIVIA FLVMINE IN IPSO," roughly translating to "May I not drink of Lethe, for in this river lies oblivion." In Greek mythology, once spirits of the dead arrived in the underworld they would drink from the river Lethe to forget their past lives and also allow the living to forget them. But the breastplate instead proclaims, "I do not want to forget who I was while I was alive, and I do not want others to forget me: my life is indelible."

100% polyester with SPF 50+ protection surfsuit with long sleeves and easy on/off zipper.

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