[Aventurine The Fugue cosplay] Honkai: Star Rail x JDB Collaboration Lantern Festival Duo

I've finally finished editing and released this photoset for the Lantern Festival and Honkai: Star Rail JDB collaboration! This time, it's a duo project for Aventurine and The Fugue completed in partnership with my teammate @ShiyuMsxp. I previously received many questions from friends asking how this look packed with New Year vibes was achieved, so today I'll use this finished photoset to chat about some details and thoughts from preparation to shooting.

Let's first talk about our respective costumes. The biggest highlight of this Aventurine outfit is the red Chinese stand-up collar top paired with a black and white fur collar. Its satin texture on the surface reflects a beautiful luster under the lights. I tried my best to restore the official festive skin atmosphere with the frog buttons at the neckline, the small pendant on the chest, and the trim along the sleeves. The orange goggles on top of the head serve as the finishing touch, preserving the character's original iconic elements while making the entire look appear more casual and lively. For accessories, I chose a red colored-glaze bracelet, which coordinates beautifully with the overall red and gold color palette. The blue tassels at the hem and waist, the gold-bordered belt, combined with the black cape on the back, create a wonderful dynamic effect when moving.

The Fugue's styling offers another kind of magnificence. Once those beast ears with black-and-white tipped fur and the long black tail are put on, the character's recognition emerges instantly. Her red velvet off-the-shoulder dress features a highly form-fitting cut, where the 3D large flower decoration on the chest and the high-slit design of the skirt hem blend elegance and the festive vibe just right. Paired with a white pearl necklace and a black faux-fur shawl, during the shoot, a slight turn of the body or fanning open her folding fan pushes the atmospheric feel straight to the max.

When shooting this set, our prop preparation was very abundant. In the first picture, the massive golden sycee she cradled and my red envelopes served as the absolute visual centers. The reflective texture on the golden sycee's surface is highly realistic, holding a truly heavy sense of wealth in hand. In the third picture, the two New Year scrolls we specially customized—with calligraphy for "May wealth flow in from all over" and "Happy New Year" paired with gold-lettered borders—combined with the red lanterns hanging high behind us and traditional Chinese knots, brought out the New Year flavor to its fullest. In the fourth picture, the two of us held our hat and folding fan respectively, making relatively relaxed dynamic snapshots in front of the lens. Meanwhile, that black plush tail behind her swept sideways from time to time, adding lots of fun interaction to the shoot.

In fact, the theme of this JDB collaboration series is exactly to combine the temperament of game characters with the festive atmosphere of traditional holidays. During the early lighting setup, we utilized a key light with a warm color temperature, paired with the red and white tulle curtains behind us, allowing the overall frame to present a soft festive light feel. This high-saturation red and gold color scheme heavily tests post-production color grading; if the colors are too vibrant, it will look messy, and if too dark, it becomes dull. We spent a lot of thought during correction to balance the relationship between skin tones and environmental colors for this New Year cosplay.

Every time we shoot this kind of cosplay with Chinese style elements, it's actually not just about putting the clothes on the body, but more about trying to understand the characters' states under this festive theme. Aventurine's cynical chic paired with the blessing of red envelopes, and The Fugue's charming agility paired with the symbolism of the sycee—we hope that through this Chinese style duo photoset, friends who love the characters and the game can feel that accompanying sense of New Year good luck. Although the shooting process was exhausting, everyone felt it was entirely worth it the moment the photos came out. Special thanks again to the photographer and support crew during the shoot; without them, it would have been truly difficult to capture these details so precisely.