I was thinking that your mod could use your skin and then the armor instead of the flat pane of ugly (sorry for the opinion). So it would get the User's skin then render it at a certain angle, Then apply the "armor layer" at the same angle.
For Example:
Then For another example(with Full quantum(note its a little messed up because i set it as my actual skin))
Let me know what you think!
PS if the images aren't working just right click and Copy Image URL.