Qi Rong! ASSEMBLE!

Qi Rong depicted in the donghua of Heaven Official's Blessing Season Two

I know I just announced this, but I'm already getting so excited planning for this cosplay. I have found all the pieces I want to assemble and have started making my purchases. In order to pull this off, I re-budgeted and cancelled almost all of my book preorders (I was set on collecting deluxe hardcover copies for my collection) over the next few months so I could keep working on this costume.

I am not someone who makes costumes from scratch. I buy preexisting pieces and then hand-sew the accents on to them. What I've purchased so far are three main pieces of the cosplay: the hanfu, an inner robe, and the turquoise colored blouse underneath it all.

Right off the bat, the inner robes of the hanfu are not going to fit me, but the outer robe will--hence the purchase of an inner robe. I will be sewing trim and accessories to both the outer robe and inner robe, and instead of wearing skirts or anything else like that, to be comfortable, I'm going to wear black pants.

I found the weird makeup colors Qi Rong wears, and I found a wig from Arda Wigs that would be perfect--Qi Rong wears long layers in front of his face, and then wears his hair in a long braid in the back. I also found unique ombre cosplay contacts that actually have a prescription to them so I can see. However, that one will be an optional choice depending on my budget.

Here's a collage of all the pieces I'm going to collect (or have already started collecting):

I only have one concern--the hanfu. I ordered it from China because no one on Amazon was selling one from America. It was dirt-cheap ($31.98) but I'm scared about the tariff. As I write this the tariff is 145% on Chinese goods and I believe, based on research, I pay when the item hits customs.

Because of the tariff, I had to research the shops of all the other items I wanted to purchase to verify they were not based out of China or shipped out of China. So many items were! It took me over an hour to find substitutes, but I did it to save money.

Even after all of this, though, it's still cheaper for me to buy all of these pieces and sew versus commissioning the costume.

I haven't cosplayed in years and I'm so motivated to do this. My spirits have been low, for the most part (the exception being included in the production of Son of the Siren's audiobook), so this is brightening my mood considerably.

It won't be an exact match of Qi Rong's character design, but elements of it will be pretty darn close. And it looks great in my head, lol.

This will take me a few months as I'm busy teaching and writing. But I think it will be exciting. Please wish me luck!