The costumes and hair pieces fit their characters so much that this could be a Disney princess movie.
Period drama Legend of the Phoenix 凤弈 , starring He Hongshan, Cao Xiwen, Xu Zhengxi, , Liu Min, and Cui Peng, has released its character posters. I know they’re super modern, but I actually kind of like the costumes and headpieces in the posters. The headpieces, the Medici collars, and the fabrics are all pretty whimsical and seem to be designed to define their characters. Since it’s set in a fictional time and place, they can get away with the European-Chinese hybrid outfits. Not sure how I feel about the resurgence of the popularity of wearing buildings on your head (based on real artifacts), but it seems to work here.
Set in the fictional Eastern Liang dynasty, circus performer Ye Ningzhi’s (He Hongshan) troupe enters the palace and stages a performance to celebrate the empress dowager’s birthday. The ambitious emperor’s sister, the Grand Princess (Liu Min), decides to cause mischief by framing her for treason, though the heroine is saved by strategist Wei Guang (Xu Zhengxi), and falls in love at first sight with him.
When Ye Ningzhi enters the palace two years later as the empress’ maid, she stands up for her fellow servants, and refuses to sacrifice her conscience in the face of power. Ye Ningzhi also works together with Wei Guang to crush the grand princess’ plan to usurp the throne, and catches the admiration of the Empress (Cao Xiwen) and the eye of the emperor (Cui Peng) in the process.
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