Today I finally took out this Japanese server Lawson collaboration outfit of La Pluma from Arknights for a shoot. Honestly, the outfit has an immense amount of detail, requiring a bit of patience to put on properly.
The top is a vibrant, saturated bright blue blouse tied with a white necktie ribbon at the collar, adorned with abundant white ruffled frills across the chest, neckline, and shoulders, offering a wonderful fabric drape. The sleeves are loose and long, finished with light blue-and-white vertical striped cuff panels that look visually refreshing. For the bottom, I wore a high-waisted white tiered skirt featuring two round blue buttons on the waistband and blue piping running along the hemline. The wig is a short muted blue cut with grey undertones, styled with an intentional tuft of cowlick (ahoge) on top. To fit the character's temperament, I wore pale yellowish-green colored contacts, slightly extended the eyeliner, swept crimson eyeshadow over the outer corners, and finished with peach lip gloss to cultivate that calm, aloof gaze.
We picked an indoor café seating area with decent ambient lighting. In the first shot, I stood in profile with my left hand resting gently near my neck to accentuate the necktie ribbon and lateral seams, turning my head slightly toward the lens with a hint of cool detachment in my eyes. The second shot was a more relaxed pose—leaning against a round glass table with an anterior tilt to highlight the skirt drape and waist buttons. It was shot in landscape orientation, so you might have to tilt your neck a bit haha.
Actually, the biggest headache wasn't dressing or posing, but color grading in post-production. The specific blue of this garment is notoriously finicky under varied lighting: brightening it too much turns it fluorescent, while crushing it dark sacrifices that crisp, clean texture. I experimented with several color presets but felt the tonal separation never looked quite right. In the end, I chose to preserve most of the raw color tones without heavy filtering, keeping the saturation natural. Blue and white outfit combinations are truly tricky to grade into translucent layers under indoor lights—I kind of ran out of ideas, so I hope you enjoy it anyway.
Every time I attend an expo for Convention photos or do an on-location shoot, my state of mind oscillates between exhaustion and sheer joy. Walking around in this outfit turned quite a few heads. Constantly hitching up the skirt to move around was cumbersome, but seeing the final images makes every second worth it. That wraps up this set for now; I'll dive back into grading techniques for this blue-and-white scheme when time permits.