When I carved these bra cups from jeweller’s wax years ago, I didn’t plan on putting ribbons in them, but the spacing between metal worked out as if they were always meant to be there. The cups are cast in bronze and plated with 24k gold, while the ribbon is polyester. As much as I love delicate silk ribbon, I thought that stiffer, synthetic would be a more appropriate choice to combine with metal, because metal is hard and polyester is more durable than silk.
There are many functionality and wearability considerations that need to be taken into account when designing functional costuming, especially when working with something as rigid and unforgiving as metal. It’s a challenge to achieve a good balance of form and function, without giving up too much of either. I guess that could be said for many things in life.