Was the leather muscled curiass of the later times sexier?

[caiusbeerquitius]

A lot of monumental evidence reveals no armor. But I'd assume that the majority of Late Roman close infantry. Wore some type of leather or textile undergarment beneath their chain mail.

These kinds of sources (monumental, pictorial etc. ) are basically useless for such questions, if not subjected to classical archaeological methods in advance. Sad, but true.
What one may see as a picture of a Roman soldier may very well be a painted copy of the statue of Mars Ultor in Rome, e.g. and as such have no value for military equipment questions, since convetntional art. Just to bring an example.