I think they look attached to the cross-harness he's wearing, but not the armor itself. My question is, why do we keep seeing this cross-harness thing (It's even on the Dovahkiin wallpaper here in the forums) despite the different armors?
2 possible answers to your questionment.
1: it is the art direction who decided that this is how they want most armors to look like because it looks much more nordish
2: pauldrons might be separated but the real item could be harness it self (2 pauldrons as 1 item) just like gloves and boots are 1 set of items