I think your idea is nonetheless worth pursuing, Winterclaw.  While not historically/technically "correct" for chain mail, it would still make an interesting and useful "flexible" armor, perhaps an elvish work (wrought in BB's mithril), or a sci-fi underlayment made of composite/carbon fiber.

     If applied to a garment, I'd make the interstitial spaces transparent;  if applied as a second skin, use the alpha as a discriminator and make the interstitial spaces look like underlying cloth.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5