[Remilia Scarlet Cosplay] Afternoon Tea Party of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the Record of the Western Ocean

It has been a long time since I seriously cosplayed a character from Touhou Project. Taking advantage of some free time, the very first thing that came to my mind was to include the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia Scarlet, into my recent shooting schedule. Since wrapping up my busy schedule at the end of last year, I've barely touched studio lights or makeup brushes for the past six months, so when I picked up the wig and accessories again, my movements felt a bit clumsy.

For this styling, I did not choose an overly traditional Gothic style, but instead coordinated a black gown featuring large pink-purple patterns based on my own understanding of the Touhou Project fanon character setup. The Rococo prints on the skirt hem present a classical oil painting texture under the warm yellow lights. Combined with a massive amount of black lace and the pearl chains at the neckline, the overall silhouette looks magnificent yet carries a touch of dark fairy tale ambiance. The dark cloth flower on the side of the black lace bonnet atop my head serves as the visual balance point of the entire look, neutralizing the oppressiveness of black and enriching the overall layers.

In terms of makeup, to restore the traits of the vampire young mistress, the base makeup deliberately emphasized a bit of a cold white tone, while the eye makeup discarded the conventional large-area eyeshadow, shifting instead to using lines to outline the sharpness of the eyes. Of course, the most core visual anchor is still that pair of red colored contact lenses. To make them look natural and translucent, I specifically adjusted the wearing angle of the lenses before the shoot, ensuring that while the gaze expresses the character's unique languidness and nobility, it wouldn't look overly rigid. Wearing the light blue short layered wig was more challenging for my head shape than imagined, and it took a lot of effort to fix and style the bangs.

The venue for this shoot was chosen at the Record of the Western Ocean. This real-scene venue naturally carries a very rich old-style European charm; the solid wood carved cabinets, retro armchairs, and those gentle textures of old furniture fit the classical luxury temperament of the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion perfectly. During the shoot, I only brought a simple small tea set as a prop. The photographer, Teacher Sen Mei, knows exactly how to utilize the light and shadow transition between natural light and indoor warm light. She had me sit on that deep brown wooden chair holding the teacup, with my eyes not needing to intentionally chase the lens, but instead enjoying the atmosphere of this exact moment.

To be honest, when facing the lens, I still felt a bit unable to regain that past feeling. However, because the lace and material of this dress were enough to support the shoot's atmosphere, even when doing small actions like holding a saucer or slowly turning my head to the side, it was very easy to yield great prints under Teacher Sen Mei's lens. I was a bit nervous at the beginning of the shoot, but Teacher Sen Mei kept communicating with me about the composition and light positions, quickly getting me into the character state. When looking at this photo during image exporting after finishing the shoot, I felt that all the energy spent on the styling beforehand was totally worth it.

In this fast-paced era, being able to spend an entire afternoon sitting peacefully in a retro room at the Record of the Western Ocean, imagining myself as that young mistress enjoying black tea after a siesta, is an exceptionally relaxing thing. Although I haven't seriously prepared a cosplay photoshoot for half a year, as long as I see a picture like this that satisfies myself and is approved by the photographer, I feel that even if I don't update frequently, as long as every shoot maintains respect for the character and the styling, that is meaningful enough.