I too think it unlikely he wore it all the way from Bree as any damage to his cloak or stray movement might reveal even a glimpse of it which would attract unwanted attention and call into question his disguise as a common rogue.
Also, Anthony’s sensible observations about Imladris being a place safe enough to remove armor and ceremonial display at the feast seem to ring true. Furthermore, if he were going to change into nice duds to impress the scholar’s daughter, it would probably have been elven robes or suchlike.
I think it more likely that this is a vision of his true nature, an insight or revelation. Seeing the inner form not the accidental substance, as it were. In the same small-V vision he sees the rightness of Elrond in his chair in the hall of fire amid tales and music and the bit about trees receiving summer light. We also get the beauty of Arwen and her penetrating gaze. We also see something true about Aragorn: his lordliness. We might also see this as connecting him with Earendil whose fancy gear has been so recently described and we were told chapters ago that he is a scion of Earendil’s line so this ties a bow on that fact.
I’m more interested in actual elven mail. How is the actual article distinguished from plain mail of Mannish origin (Dunedain, Middle Men, etc)? How is it not visually confused with Dwarf mail which the text specifically mentions a few times. I believe Dwarves were the only ones to make metal mesh but they made ring mail too. Was elven mail linked with rings in a different pattern or perhaps they had a whole other mail method (scale, etc). That would certainly have a distinctive look. Perhaps I’m taking the nomenclature too literally.
