[Da Qiao cosplay] Honor of Kings Flash Plan, Sharing a School Style Pleated Skirt Outfit

Participating in the Honor of Kings Flash Plan shoot required a lot of thought in designing the entire outfit. Although this school-style uniform visually gives off a relaxed and youthful feel, getting the details right demanded high coordination between makeup, styling, and photography. Today, I'll share the behind-the-scenes preparations and shoot highlights for this Da Qiao cosplay in detail.

Let's start with the outfit. The uniform-style jacket chosen was a light grey cropped blazer. This color was actually quite hard to find; to match the character setting, we compared various fabrics and ultimately selected a material with a structured stiffness. This ensured crisp shoulder lines without looking bulky. The jacket's cuff turn-ups and tie uniformly used dark navy blue, which, along with the gold buttons on the white shirt, created nice color contrast. The high-waisted plaid pleated skirt on the lower half was a highlight—featuring a dark blue base with crisscrossing plaid lines, it wasn't just an off-the-shelf fabric. It was specially designed with a tapered waist, accompanied by gold star metal buckles and horizontal decorative straps at the waistband, maxing out the overall sense of detail in this pleated skirt outfit.

For the makeup, the focus was on shaping the eyes' expression. To recreate those bright, translucent eyes, I wore bright blue contact lenses. This was actually a bit of a challenge because blue contacts demand high cleanliness in eye makeup; if the eyeshadow blending isn't clean enough, the makeup easily looks muddy. So I chose very sheer, translucent base colors, focusing on highlighting the eyelashes and eyeliner to make the eyes look more spirited. Styling the wig was also a major task, especially the ahoge on the forehead. To keep it perky yet naturally curled, I used styling products repeatedly before going on camera, balancing wind resistance without making it look overly stiff. Those two long braids were also hand-braided for a long time to ensure fullness and texture, with the hair clip fastened on the right side to balance visuals without looking overly cluttered.

Regarding props, besides the inherent elements of the costume, I specially wore a black over-ear headset with a microphone. This microphone added a fun esports or operator vibe to the overall look, giving the originally simple uniform styling a dynamic association with "initiating the Flash Plan." During shooting, the photographer controlled the lighting exceptionally well; lighting in a shadowless studio with a pure white background actually exposes details most easily, so costume neatness and wig fluffiness had to be spot-on.

As for pose design, I didn't want to strike overly rigid postures. Facing the camera, I preferred to show a confident, vivid feel. In the first photo, I tried a side-profile salute with fingers lightly touching my temple, a gesture that nicely expresses playfulness. The leaning-forward peace sign in the second photo was my own improvisation; shots with strong perspective like this really test posture, as one must account for arm length, body weight shifting, and ensuring the pleated skirt hem looks attractive on camera. The final photo returned to a front-facing standing posture with hands behind my back, which actually tested aura the most—requiring a steady gaze to carry the crispness of the School style cosplay. For these pose sets, we repeatedly adjusted positions and lighting angles in the studio.

In terms of overall post-processing, I leaned toward preserving the original raw photo texture without over-smoothing skin to distortion. Instead, we enhanced the fabric texture of the uniform and the layering of the skirt hem, allowing Da Qiao's capable and youthful aura to be genuinely conveyed. I hope this share provides some reference for friends who enjoy similar School style cosplay; thorough preparation will surely lead to high-quality final shots.