The final photos for this Concerto of Flowing Light set finally arrived today, and seeing the pictures made me feel that all the earlier hard work paid off. As a long-time fan of Luo Tianyi, I cosplayed the Concerto of Flowing Light version this time. The craftsmanship of this outfit is truly solid, but it certainly gave me a huge challenge.
Let's start with the clothes. This dress is definitely heavy-duty level. The upper body features off-the-shoulder white tulle paired with intricate gold metal patterns. These metal pieces test the pattern tailoring thoroughly, and wearing them requires great care; if movements are too large, they easily get stuck. What amazed me the most is the skirt hem: the inner layer is blue sequined fabric covered with a layer of white light gauze. When walking, the light and shadow intersect, giving it a strong stage feel. The golden metal frames around the waist and skirt hem have a strong three-dimensional sense, but their weight cannot be underestimated either. To support this skirt, I wore several layers of petticoats inside, and paired my legs with white strapped sock covers, making the overall visual presentation much more harmonious.
The staff in my hand is also a heavyweight prop. The golden hollow patterns are very delicate, and holding it gives a heavy sense of realism. To lift it in front of the lens, I even practiced arm strength privately, otherwise, my hands would really shake by the end of the shoot. Regarding the wig, Luo Tianyi's iconic blue hair required a lot of styling. I used hair wax and styling spray in advance to pull out layers in the hair strands, and the huge bow on top of the head along with the neighboring floral accessories were fixed on piece by piece for fear of them falling off during the studio shoot.
The venue for this studio shoot matched exceptionally well; we chose a studio with European-style carved white pillars and stained glass windows. The lighting engineer was very professional, using the blue and yellow light filtering through the colored glass as background light, while the main light hit my side, completely bringing out the reflections of the sequins on the skirt and the metal pieces. To fit the theme of Concerto of Flowing Light, I prepared a few different states. For example, closing my eyes and slightly lifting my head, as if feeling the moment of flowing music; and looking straight into the lens, showing Luo Tianyi's confident and elegant aura. Although posing under the lights wearing such heavy clothing consumes a lot of physical energy, and standing for a long time wearing white stockings makes my legs sore, the moment the photographer shouted that the shots came out well, half of the fatigue instantly vanished. The metal pieces felt a bit cold against the skin at first, but after getting used to it, it was actually easier to get into character.
In terms of action design, to showcase the gorgeousness of this costume, I tried my best to stretch out the lines of my arms and skirt hem. The gripping posture of the staff was adjusted many times to look light while maintaining the character's aura. During the shooting process, the team constantly helped organize the skirt hem and wig to ensure every detail of the frame was in place. From makeup and styling to set design, finishing this set of photos smoothly couldn't have happened without the effort of everyone on the team. Seeing everyone gathering around the screen to like and comment, this genuine sense of accomplishment is irreplaceable. I will try more challenging stylings in the future.