[Reimu Hakurei Cosplay] Touhou Project Beijing IDO 15 Convention photos

Inside the exhibition hall of Beijing IDO 15 back in 2016, I smoothed down the red-and-white skirt hem, gripped the gohei wand with its long zigzag paper streamers tightly, and composed my expression under the flashing strobes. Convention venues back then weren't as lavish as they are today, but that bustling, shoulder-to-shoulder energy remains remarkably vivid in my memory even now. This Reimu Hakurei outfit took tremendous effort from textile selection to tailoring. The red bodice and the white lace patchwork along the collar required repeated fitting checks to maintain a crisp, upright silhouette. The sleeves especially—layered with cascading white lace and frills—looked extraordinarily ornate on camera, yet they felt genuinely sweltering to wear. To support the puffiness of such voluminous sleeves, internal lining and structural boning were added so they wouldn't collapse when waving the prop. For the long streamers on the gohei wand, I specifically picked a fabric with a nice weighted drape whose edges could be trimmed into crisp zigzags, ensuring a sharp, clean flutter when swung through the air.

Walking around the halls, I frequently ran into fellow Touhou Project fans. Recognizing this red-and-white shrine maiden look before the artist booths, many came over to snap commemorative photos together. I held that prop the entire time, and because it was quite long, turning around amidst the dense crowds required extreme caution to avoid accidentally bumping into anyone. When taking photos, the photographer and I tested several spots tucked away in the corners of the hall to secure decent angles. Because indoor lighting was rather chaotic with harsh overhead spotlights, we had to rely heavily on powerful flash fills; the white lace sections of the dress suffered a bit of overexposure—a frequent imperfection in early convention photos, yet also a distinctive hallmark of that era.

2016 sounds like yesterday, but thinking about it, it was already a whole decade ago. Over these ten years, convention spaces have expanded, camera gear has grown far more advanced, and post-processing techniques have transformed completely. Back then, cosplaying was driven purely by raw passion; the hair, makeup, and props might have carried a touch of amateur roughness, yet that presence was the most genuine and vibrant. Looking at these photos bearing unmistakable hallmarks of that period, my mind fills with memories of wandering conventions with friends in Beijing, eating boxed lunches together in quiet corners, and complaining about the stuffy air in the hall. To bring this character to life, preparations started weeks ahead, from trimming wigs to pinning hairpieces—overseeing every single detail personally. Looking back now, the crude backdrops and blown-out highlights actually piece together the purest form of happiness.

Convention photos are not only a record of a character, but an archive of one's own youth. The me of today might no longer spend endless hours hand-stitching layers of lace, but that feeling of striving under the spotlight to channel a character's charm stays etched in memory forever. This outfit was later cleaned carefully and hung in my wardrobe; whenever I pull it out, I can still hear the distant clamor of that convention hall and the crisp click of the photographer pressing the shutter.