AD&D (2e) is a lot more restrictive about giving out magical items at all. The standard rules even explicitly rule out shops for magic equipment. Unless you're using some pre-rolled characters for a specific setting, you start the game with standard equipment only. But even if you stick to non-magical items, adventurers are much more likely to pick up "exotic" items along the way. While on the quest to find the Jewel of Arugandha, they stumble through an ocean journey with several ports along the way, then a desert setting, a foreign city with little contact to the outside world and finally a jungle setting with the lost temple of Xanu-Ri before heading back with lots of gold to spend. When they return, they will have picked up foreign ideas, new concepts and a taste for exotic spices. Maybe they've merely brought more durable backpacks, swords made of better steel or clothing that is cut more comfortably or better suited for their combat style than their old robes. To the local villagers they may not necessarily look as cool as they think, though. Add flashy magic effects and you end up with a hoard of running jokes, because I have yet to adapt armor dyes to 2nd edition rules.
Wildshape is a 5e-thing, so I have no idea how it exactly works in tabletop D&D. In 2e, druids use a variation of the Shapechange spell that explicitly states only clothing and one item held in each hand transforms into the new shape. An AC bonus from a shield you're not holding surely doesn't make sense, unless it's like a stable area effect. But, there are items, at least one of them a dagger, which will give you an ability buff merely through skin contact or being on the body. These can then lead to better AC, ThAC0 or whatever. As for the huge chain mail shrink-fitting for a halfling or gnome, that would depend on the item and its specific enchantments. Some will only fit dwarves, other can be used from anything from a kobold up to an ogre. Again, 2e is a different game from 5e, although some naming conventions remain. The systems aren't compatible.
