[Xishi cosplay] Honor of Kings Mermaid's Song 'Melting Moon Shadows' CICF Convention Photos

Prepping for this 'Melting Moon Shadows' edition of Mermaid's Song took nearly half a month from sourcing fabrics to final edits. The wig is straight silvery-white hair with blunt bangs; the trickiest part was actually securing the translucent blue dragon horn headpieces. Because of their rigid material, anchoring them required dozens of bobby pins to ensure they wouldn't slip during dynamic posing. For makeup, I intensified pinkish-red blending below the eyes and wore purplish-blue contacts, aiming to evoke an ethereal spirit aura touched by the deep sea and icy frost beneath high-definition lenses.

The wardrobe consists of a multi-tiered blue and white paneled dress with cold-shoulder cutouts and sheer flared sleeves—gorgeous to look at, but prone to snagging in crowded convention halls. The ruffled hemline flares softly, trailing light-blue streamers in back. To echo the outfit's weightless feel, I wore over-the-knee White stockings with lace trim and blue cutout lace-up straps, paired with clear platform heeled sandals to visually elongate the legs. A blue sea-dragon-like bangle wrapped my wrist, and the primary prop was a translucent blue crystal orb.

Big thanks to photographer @Anai椰椰椰 for shooting this at CICF. Lighting at conventions is notoriously erratic, so we staked out a corner by floor-to-ceiling windows to utilize natural light. Posing centered primarily around hand gestures to match the character's persona: holding the crystal ball with relaxed wrists and gently splayed fingers while following the sphere with my gaze. For seated poses, I subtly crossed my legs to accentuate the continuous line of the clear heels; while standing, engaging my core helped hold the skirt's arc and let the ribbons cascade naturally.

Convention photos differ substantially from controlled studio work due to environmental constraints, testing a photographer's framing and eye for light. Using a wide aperture to melt distracting backgrounds is standard, but the real challenge is preserving that luminous translucency under daylight. With so many intricate accents—pearl chains at the waist and golden crests on the chest—we constantly readjusted placement so sleeves or hair wouldn't obscure them. The blue-and-white palette popped brilliantly in the sun, and the finished shots fully realized the texture and ambiance we set out to capture.