This gear—from the wig to the accessories to the weapon—took nearly two months of preparation. The wig is a specially customized light blonde gradient piece. To create a light, fluffy airy feel, just thinning and layering it took a whole afternoon. The makeup deliberately avoids heavy eyeshadow, using a clean base paired with subtle shimmer highlights, aiming to present a visual effect that comes with its own soft-light filter. The outfit itself is a two-piece stitched design. The drape of the inner white slip dress is crucial, so a satin material with a faint luster was selected. The outer orange-pink semi-transparent overskirt was added to increase layering, especially the sleeves at the arms—I adjusted the pattern three times, both to ensure that the shoulder and neck lines would be revealed when raising my arms, and to prevent it from looking bloated due to too much fabric. The golden three-dimensional relief on the waist and abdomen was the most time-consuming part of the entire garment, using shrink plastic and metallic paint stacked layer by layer, showing clear contoured textures under the sun, completely avoiding a cheap look.
However, the most torturous part was still that golden long-handled weapon. Looking like a metallic material, it actually used lightweight plastic and a fiber rod inside, but it still carried a certain weight after adding the complex decorations on the surface. During the shoot, to present the dynamic motion of swinging or charging up power, I maintained a posture of holding one arm high for about ten-odd minutes, leaving my wrist and shoulder so sore that they almost lost all strength. The posture in the third photo, turning sideways to look back, was actually a temporary snapshot captured after I secretly shook out my hand during a break. Fortunately, the final photos were totally worth it. The golden light spots and falling leaf effects added by the photographer in post-processing happened to amplify the reflections on the weapon, making the whole scene look like it came with its own energy field. The lighting at the convention venue was actually very chaotic, with truss lights at the top and surrounding photography lights interfering with each other, resulting in many raw images with reflections on the face. We spent a long time finding angles for the lighting, ultimately choosing side-backlighting to outline the hair contours and using a softbox for frontal fill light, allowing the skin tone to appear even and translucent.
Since the costume colors this time leaned light and bright, to prevent the upper body from looking monotonous, I added a choker with a metal chain and armbands around the neck and wrists, but refrained from using overly rugged styles, still maintaining an elegant tone. The leg straps were meant to break the flatness of the solid-colored dress, and the black-and-gold colored leg loops combined with that pair of sandals featuring rhinestone thin straps on the feet offered a visual extension to the leg lines. Many people have asked if this outfit allows running and jumping. In fact, the outer shawl and hem are flowing; when walking slowly, the skirt hem gently flutters, but if I really run with large strides, it will definitely wrap around my legs. Therefore, all airborne or large movements during the shoot relied on stationary posing combined with post-processing to synthesize the fluttering effects.
Many fellow hobbyists on-site asked me if I was recreating a specific deity or elf. In fact, this design blends sacred elements and a sense of lightness more; you can view it as a combat persona that holds a weapon yet remains soft, rather than a tough-guy style with heavy armor. I prefer using posture and gaze to convey the character's tension, so in the photos, I tried my best to keep my spine straight and my chin slightly tucked, presenting a relaxed yet firm aura.
We also encountered some small episodes during the shooting process, such as accidentally scraping off a small piece of paint from the tip of the weapon, and because the venue was too large, the background clutter and passersby all needed to be completely blurred out in post-processing, retaining only those tall background dancer setups on both sides (actually, they were also specially matched white-toned prop dolls used to highlight the main character's status). All in all, this was a highly complete creative experience—from cutting fabrics and polishing props to communicating camera language with the photographer on-site, every step hit exactly on my own aesthetics. Although what was posted is just a set of photos, only I know the sweat and time invested behind it. I hope this pursuit of gorgeousness can be transmitted to you looking at the photos; at least visually, I am completely satisfied.