[Cheshire Cosplay] Elegant Cat Girl of Azur Lane: Headpats for the New Year Bring Good Fortune

This time I cosplayed Cheshire at the Naihuangbao ACG Expo. From makeup setting to shooting and walking around the convention floor, the entire process was more exhausting than imagined, yet exceptionally fulfilling. The design details of this outfit are vast; the halter-neck modified qipao cut places high demands on body fit. The semi-sheer printed fabric across the chest required repeated pleat adjustments to drape naturally. While the frog button and metal clasp at the collar are beautiful, they restrict neck mobility once fastened, so every turn and head tilt during shooting required finding the right angle beforehand. What conflicted me most was the massive flower crown on my head—a white ruffled brim with two giant red flowers on the sides, plus tassels. It carried significant weight and left pressure marks on my scalp after wearing it for a while, but to recreate that gorgeous yet playful character feel, I toughed it out and kept it on the entire time.

The wig features a grey-silver base tone with cyan highlights, with fine shimmer glitter intentionally added into the hair strands. Under the convention hall's overhead lights, it reflected twinkling flecks of light, which, paired with blue contact lenses, gave my gaze a lively feline aura. During shooting, photographer @原po was especially skilled at capturing these soft expressions; rather than making me strike exaggerated poses, he had me interact naturally with a white-and-gold patterned folding fan—such as half-covering my face, lightly resting it on my shoulder, or even simulating a headpat on myself, perfectly echoing the "Headpat the cat on New Year, leave all worries behind" meme mentioned in the post title. The white plush trim around the fan in the first picture is actually a detachable decoration that I intentionally wrapped around my wrist to look like an extension of cat paws. Combined with the delicate gold bangle on my wrist, it exhibited great texture under lighting, capturing ideal moments for Anime-style photography.

Speaking of the lower body outfit, the golden floral embroidery on the long red skirt represents the heavy craftsmanship of this garment. Although machine-embroidered, its 3D depth is prominent. The inner skirt consists of multi-layered white tulle that sways fluffily when walking; to maintain this silhouette, a very rigid petticoat was worn underneath. My favorite part is the white thigh-high stockings, exposing just a section at the skirt's edge to visually elongate leg lines. However, with heavy foot traffic at comic cons, it's easy to get stepped on or snagged while walking, so I intentionally picked a relatively less crowded vehicle exhibit area as the background. The white SUV and dark car in the background paired surprisingly well; the cool metal car bodies highlighted the red costume brightly without stealing the spotlight when blurred out with a wide aperture.

Two sets of poses were shot this time: one holding the fan with one hand and extending the arm slightly forward to reveal shoulder, neck, and collarbone lines (the cover shot), and the other holding the fan with both hands joined at the chest for a more dignified look. I personally preferred the side-angle shot, but considering overall composition and demeanor, I still felt the half-body fan-holding shot worked best as the cover because the direct eye contact with the camera and the contrast between the subtle smile and blue eyes were extremely captivating.

The temperature on convention day was actually quite low, with the venue's air conditioning blowing cold air. Although the plush arm sleeves and long white plush shawl looked warm, I barely wore the long shawl during actual shooting to avoid looking bulky, relying only on wrist sleeves and plush accents around the fan for decoration. Luckily, indoor lighting was ample, and the photographer used a reflector to fill face light, resulting in very clear, translucent skin tones without appearing sickly pale from the chill.

Compared to other characters I've cosplayed in the past, Cheshire's setting carries a lazy yet lively temperament. Thus, during shooting, I deliberately slowed down my movement pace and kept my breathing steady, allowing the shutter to capture moments that weren't stiffly frozen, but rather felt like an accidental glance back on a leisurely afternoon. I am very satisfied with these Convention photos from the expo. Though the headpiece was heavy and the clothes were tight, seeing the refined contrast of red and white in the finished photos made all the hard work feel completely worth it. Next, I will organize some behind-the-scenes clips from different angles, but for this Cosplay sharing post, I'll focus on these three most polished final photos first.