Miyabi
Zenless Zone Zero
Photographer
Brian Boling
Why I chose to make this costume:
I got asked by the game publishers to put this costume together to celebrate Chief Hoshimi Miyabi finally becoming a playable character in Zenless Zone Zero!
Very quickly, I realized that Miyabi is totally my type of character to cosplay… long hair, fox ears, ice cold badass with a tragic backstory... she reminds me of Raiden Shogun in Genshin, which was the first character I cosplayed from that game as well.
I think it was only a matter of time before I cosplayed Miyabi lmao
How I made this costume:
This costume had to come together very quickly to meet the banner event deadline, and I was very busy in December between cons in Europe and USA as well as Christmas (and getting over being sick somewhere in between).
When I booked the gig for ZZZ, I knew I wouldn't have time to make Miyabi's costume from scratch with all of the above going on. I luckily found one vendor for a ready-to-wear Miyabi costume that could ship it to me before Christmas, and I gathered the wig and fox ears separately.
The costume arrived on time but it definitely needed a lot of fixing up.
The most glaring parts that I replaced were the armor for the left arm, using 5mm EVA Foam. I also airbrushed the belt and hand painted the armor, as well as steamed and altered the soft garment parts of the costume to fit me better. The gloves were HUGE before my alterations...
My friend Tine helped me tease out the wig for a better texture and volume, and I cut the bangs and styled the wig.
If I were to wear Miyabi at a con in the future, I would remake the belt entirely.
Thoughts on this costume:
I’m really happy for the chance to cosplay Miyabi not only because I’m drawn to her as a character, but also because we share the same name! Miyabi’s name in kanji is 雅 which is also my name in Chinese - 雅雅! Both mean Elegance which certainly applies to her but to me only sometimes lol.
The 雅 factor is also why I used a real steel katana for the photoshoot - the sword in the photos was custom made for me with my name engraved in the blade! And since Miyabi has a huge sword collection, it only made sense to use the Yaya sword for my cosplay!
I really love the photo results and am properly sore from brandishing a steel sword for hours!
Photography/Videography by Brian Boling
