Here's something for you action folks: a shirt of metal mesh (I haven't figured out how to create an actual chain mail mesh yet in Blender).
To fit it, you only need to slide Proportions and Muscularity to 100%, and Height and Weight to 60%.
I'm using the 1.1 Female Muscular Mesh proxy.
Here are the object and material files:
http://www.geekopolis.ca/wavefront/chainMeshShirt1_264a.obj
http://www.geekopolis.ca/wavefront/chainMeshShirt1_264a.mtl
Now here is a chain mesh garment (still not chain mail) using Dupliverts. I've subdivided the shirt mesh, and parented it to a simple torus, which I rotate (in the Duplivert panel).
Note how close it looks to chain mail; this is probably good enough for a graphic novel, but not a close-up animation.
Okay, now I've got it. This is much easier. Using a cut-out piece of a wavefront export, create a duplicate version with a MultiRes level of one. Then parent it to a torus--I'm using a very small, simple one--and then make the duplicate objects real.
Finally join all the chain mail rings. The next problem is a much greater one--that of rigging it without distorted the rings--but let's enjoy how far we've come.
If your workstation is powerful enough, you can try the wavefront object yourself:
http://www.geekopolis.ca/wavefront/chainMailBodice1.obj
http://www.geekopolis.ca/wavefront/chainMailBodice1.mtl
Now, there is a way to animate this, but it is pretty terrifying. It's all about committing to a 'geek lost weekend'.
Each frame can have its own Duplivert, and then exported as Vertex Keyframe Animation. Ouch!
Be that as it may, here is a short animation:
https://youtu.be/WjHoAydqnlQ