[Flandre Scarlet Cosplay] The Scarlet Devil of Touhou Project, Guangzhou Firefly ACG Expo convention photo drop

During the New Year's Day period at the Guangzhou Firefly ACG Expo, I brought these Cosplay convention photos of Flandre Scarlet's Touhou fanon look.

A lot of thought went into this look from design to the final output, especially the crystal rig on the back and the layering of the skirt hem. The headpiece is a white lace ruffled mob cap, combined with a huge red rose on the side, which heavily helped shape the overall silhouette. The colored contacts selected were custom red ones; under the venue's environment with many spotlights, the catchlights in the eyes could easily pop out, beautifully presenting the character's playfulness and a bit of mystery.

The main body of the costume is a gothic-style dress in red, black, and white. A large amount of red flowers and lace are stacked on the front chest, concentrating the visual focus immensely. The waist features a black tight corset with a criss-cross lace-up design, which not only visually cinched the waistline but also added a three-dimensional structural sense to the garment. The sleeve section used semi-transparent white tulle combined with an off-the-shoulder design, keeping the upper body's skin exposure restrained, just revealing the details of the neckline and shoulders.

幕下 skirt hem design on the lower body is one of the visual highlights of this costume. The high-low silhouette is extremely exaggerated; the front is a short puffy skirt with black and white lace bags that feels very agile when walking, paired with over-the-knee lace socks featuring a black hollowed-out heart pattern and black thick-soled lace-up leather shoes, beautifully elongating the leg lines. The trailing train in the back is composed of multiple layers of interleaved red and white dot-textured tulle, and the lower hem is sewn with intricate white lace trim. When spread out, it has a massive volume, making it highly eye-catching at the venue.

Since this is a Touhou fanon version, a lot of work was put into the props. The black curved metal rig on the back paired with suspended colorful geometric crystals is the highlight of this styling. The crystals come in various colors like red, yellow, green, purple, and blue, refracting different color effects under the intense lighting of the exhibition hall. The red apple prop held in hand adds a touch of fairy tale fun to the slightly gorgeous and dark look, keeping the overall atmosphere from being too oppressive.

On the convention floor, because the skirt hem was long and the rig on the back carried a certain weight, moving around required a bit of attention to balance. Poses like standing on one leg or squatting and sitting down place high demands on the support and neatening of the costume. These photos are thanks to the photographer @店长DD, who managed to find the right camera positions and angles amidst the noisy convention crowds and mixed lighting. Photos 3 and 4 adopted low-angle shots, beautifully capturing the layers of the skirt hem and the lines of the legs, and the composition has great tension. The standing pose in Photo 1 features a more classic symmetrical composition, displaying the overall effect of the entire gear.

In terms of makeup, to coordinate with the blonde hair and red eyes, the base makeup was clean and fair, and the eye makeup deepened the layers of reddish-brown tones, with elongated eyeliner paired with fake eyelashes to make the eyes look more spirited. For the bangs, light wisps were retained to avoid looking heavy, keeping the facial contours clearer.

Overall, this convention photo shooting experience at the Guangzhou Firefly ACG Expo was very pleasant. Although wearing a heavy large skirt hem and thick-soled shoes all day at the hall was physically exhausting, being able to restore the details of this Touhou fanon look and seeing the satisfying results of layering images makes it all worth it. Every anime convention is an opportunity for communication and learning, and walking through the crowd in this costume allowed me to feel everyone's passion for the character, which was a very special experience.