I purchased Dwarven Plate and there is no image with it, my character was in his regular clothes.
Two thoughts here:
1) The current version is "very" sensitive about swapping items and armor that have different skins. My suggestion is to "fully" remove (put in inventory)the current item, and then replace it with the new item. If you just drop it on top of the current item, skins completely disappear or they default to the base (non-magical) skin.
2) Dwarven plate "will" appear on a woman, "not" on men (for me).
Hope this helps!
I have no women proficient in heavy armor to test, but both my male dwarf and male human have no model with Dwarven Plate. The model they have is that with no armor equipped.
Yeah, men will have no model, but women look great... it is the same armor model as worn by the older woman who swore you in as deputies. Bluish tint, with a cool book over the shoulder... very cool for a Cleric (Life or MOTIL feat) or Fighter (Spellblade).