The theme of this shoot was Jianghu style martial aesthetics, blending Chinese girl charm with Hanfu makeup and styling. The dark navy short-sleeved mandarin collar top features delicate white floral patterns and golden frog buttons, paired with a wide red waistband sash and sheer red chiffon trousers that create a crisp, agile bounce with every step. The stylist arranged my hair into double buns with two long braided plaits cascading down behind, accented on the sides with red-and-blue floral hairpieces. Looking into the mirror, I genuinely felt like a young swordswoman who had just descended from the mountains in this cosplay.
For props, we prepared a wooden gourd and a long sword; the gourd had a teal-green tassel hanging from it, while the sword tassel was soft pinkish-white. To match this attire, the makeup leaned classical with deeply defined eye contours, even intentionally adding a delicate beauty mark beneath the eye. Since I've always had an enduring passion for the martial arts realm ("Jianghu fever") and love anything with wuxia elements, the moment I took the sword in hand, I instinctively wanted to flourish it without needing much direction from the photographers. Photos 1 through 3 were shot by Cookie, and Photos 4 through 6 were captured by Daiyu. Both photographers possessed a remarkably keen eye for light and shadow; sunlight around 3 or 4 PM filtered through tree foliage, gilding my hair strands with gold while dappled light fell across the blue top and red trousers, creating marvelous depth in this Chinese-style photography session.
The location was chosen in a classical garden, featuring bridges over flowing streams, bamboo groves, and stone steps as backdrops. To keep the composition from feeling static, I tried various postures—such as looking back over my shoulder with the sword resting on my shoulder, or sitting on a wooden bench toying with the gourd. Because the red chiffon trousers are lightweight and gauzy, seated postures subtly reveal the leg lines, which, combined with the red waistband sash accentuating the waistline, visually elongates the silhouette. Strolling along the flagstone paths in white cloth shoes embroidered with gold threads was actually quite comfortable. The entire shoot lasted roughly three hours, with several makeup touch-ups along the way, particularly for lip color and eyeliner. Because the garment is deep in color, using bounce reflectors in sunlit spots was essential to prevent facial shadows from turning murky. When wielding the sword, wrist control is key so the sword tassel flutters gracefully in motion. Pausing to rest by the lakeside midway through, listening to the rustling bamboo leaves in the breeze and watching ripples across the water, genuinely gave me the illusion of stepping into a wuxia universe. It was a wonderful sensation—far from stiff poses, but genuinely immersing myself into the chivalrous ethos of the Jianghu style. In truth, this look has no specific anime or game prototype; it was purely a creative spark between the stylist and me, merging traditional Hanfu makeup and styling elements with modern Chinese-style photography tailoring to retain classical charm while enabling fluid mobility. The red wide-leg trousers allow martial arts movements without restriction, which is why I adore this outfit so much. Stealing half a day from a hectic routine to live out a Jianghu dream did wonders for relieving stress!