As for the vest, a lot depends on your height. Take me for example. I am 6'4" and I had a vest made to my measurements, but once I had all the armor on, there was about 3 inches of vest underneath the ab plate. I would recommend talking to memebers of your garrison to see if they will let it fly as is before you get it tailored. When I submitted my pics for approval, I tucked about 2 inches of the vest underneath to get it to look better. I let my garrison advisor know about the vest. I sent my vest to Arkady last week for her to master it a bit and I should have it back next week.