I am currently wearing a mix of kingdom armor (boots, gloves, bandana), Fine gerkin (vest), and a lizard (pants). Gave up a bit of an HP bonus when I switch my vest out, but the added DEF is worth it, besides, the Shield earrings make up for the missing HP from the vest. And goodness was all that Kingdom stuff expensive. I paid anywhere from 15k-16k for EACH piece of the armor.
Darnit, I finally got this and it looks exactly like a Leather Vest on my character. Everyone's going to think I'm skimping on my armor even though I'm sinking tens of thousands into it.