[Sakuya Izayoi & Flandre Scarlet Cosplay] Touhou Project fanon Lolita fashion interpretation

The theme of this shoot is the fanon of Touhou Project. For the character selection, my partner and I decided to cosplay Sakuya Izayoi and Flandre Scarlet. The charm of fanon lies in the ability to incorporate more elements that fit personal aesthetics on top of the original setting. For this shoot, we made thorough preparations in costumes and wigs.

First, let's talk about the Sakuya Izayoi costume I was responsible for. The overall design adopted a combination of dark blue and black, with the outer layer being a semi-transparent tulle with a grayish-blue tone, and the inner layer being a black base fabric. The biggest highlight of this outfit lies in the combination of black leather straps and golden metal accessories, including the cross straps on the chest and the wide neck choker, paired with wide white lace, forming a Lolita fashion style with a Gothic feel. The wig chosen was a silver-white short hair with slightly longer sideburns on both sides, paired with light blue contact lenses, hoping to visually present a calm and composed temperament.

My partner's Flandre Scarlet styling is a completely different style. She wore a gorgeous red-and-white Lolita dress, with a large amount of white lace and ruffles on the collar and cuffs, and wore a pearl necklace and colorful bead strings on her chest. Most eye-catching is the large white sun hat, decorated with pink, yellow, blue, and other colorful flowers and green leaves arranged in an orderly manner on the brim, paired with a golden wavy long wig and red contact lenses, presenting a sweet yet slightly mysterious state.

In the selection of the shooting scene, we found an outdoor place with sufficient light, and the background was heavily blurred. The sunlight on the day was very strong, shining from the side, just allowing the tulle fabric and metal accessories on the costumes to reflect a nice luster. In the first photo, I gently supported my partner's chin with my hand, while she held my wrists with both hands, and we both looked at the camera at the same time. In the second photo, I leaned over to pinch her cheek, she closed her eyes slightly, and her fingers rested on my neck choker. This composition from a top-down perspective can well shorten the distance between the two, while showcasing the layering of the costume on the chest. We communicated many times on-site about action details, and finally decided to interpret the interaction atmosphere of these two fanon costumes through a posture with a certain sense of oppression yet full of protection.

The entire shooting process paid great attention to the expression of details. Whether it was the direction of the hair strands or the smoothness of the lace and straps on the clothes, everything would be magnified under the lens. As cosplayers, besides restoring the costumes, more importantly, it is to convey the characters' emotions under this specific setting through eyes and body language. Fanon gives us a lot of room for play; without abandoning the basic attributes of the characters, we tried a more exquisite and stylized visual presentation. Although the entire process required constantly adjusting postures and lighting, seeing the combination of costume texture and light and shadow in the final photos made me feel that all the efforts were worth it.