The crowns
OK, you got me. Here we go. Dongfang Qingcang's headgear. In episodes 2 and 3 he wears a very large, gold crown with a complicated shape that matches the armour and looks like tree roots.
The texture of the gown worn under this is rather gorgeous. (Obviosuly, none of what we call "armour" in this show is supposed to look at all like physical protective gear, and he doesn't usually bother with it just for fighting, so I just assume that its primary function is ceremonial, but I also like the idea that it acts as some sort of conductor for magic shrapnel flying around on a magic battlefield, like a Faraday cage or something. You know what, I'm going to call this the Faraday Crown because we'll see it again).
When he realises he's going to have to get down to the much more difficult business of having arguments with Xiao Lanhua, he changes into something more comfortable which includes this very modest little hair-clip-style tiara. He partially wins this argument:
He continues to wear this one with all three black-and-gold outfits right through the duelling and drama:
... as well as being baffled in boats, twice, and being back, at the start of episode 10 ...
... Except when he is wearing the hunting dress, which has its own slightly more elaborate headpiece with a stalk that sticks up.
In passing, let me point out how much of this show works because Wang Hedi's face is intrinsically hilarious. But anyway, I'm pretty sure he wears this same one with the honey-coloured gown.
So that puts this medium-sized, somewhat plain, but in my opinion rather elegant headpiece with the two outfits in which the character looks and feels most comfortable and 'at home': whether because he's doing something he feels comfortable with, like forest shenanigans, barbecuing fish, or burning down the hall at Haishi (the hunting dress), or because it's the calm before the storm (the honey gown).
As things start to go haywire, his outfits get more magnificent and he wears what sassybluee has pointed out is the Berry Crown, an extremely pretty asymmetrical tiara with little touches of blue, like berries:
He wears this with the Chrysalis Gown and with the Fire Gown, through the process of transformation.
In later episodes, as he's under increasing pressure, his look goes right through magnificent into downright ugly. This outfit in epiosde 28 is just awful:
It does make sense if you think he's trying to increase his physical authority by looking heavier around the waist, but it doesn't work. The honey-coloured gown does a much better job of that, just by looking soft and comfortable and incidentally very sexy.
But wait - is this the same crown he was wearing with his armour in episode 2? I think it is.
And immediately after this, in the next scene, and without any explanation, we see that he's taken it off - to have an argument with Xiao Lanhua. This is the second time he has taken this specific crown off to do that specific thing, and this time it leaves him, shockingly, bareheaded:
Which we know he never is, except when sleeping, or playing sick for attention, or in so much pain that the Berry Crown symbolically fell off and we got the shot of it on the floor, above.
He loses the argument. It's very real.
To wrestle with Taisui for the first time and to fight Shiyuntian in episode 31, he is back in full battle dress, with the Faraday crown (and the same belt, which makes so much more visual sense with the armour):
In episode 33, however, the transformation is truly complete, and he wears this mourning tiara, which looks carved from unpolished jet, and points downwards, not up. I don't think we've see it before:
Then, he puts the Faraday Crown on again for the final battle, which is obviously worth the extra ceremony. It would be impractical to show him actually putting it on, of course, because this isn't the right moment for that level of visual implausibility, but his having just done so is implied in this very touching scene:
It disappears, however, during the battle, and he is bareheaded again:
And for their joint victory, bareheaded and wearing a very plain black robe (but still with an interesting subtle damask pattern to it)
For being back the second time around, he resumes the rather modest little tiara he wore in episodes 3 to 10 at Arbiter Hall, and for being back the first time. I was a bit thrown by this outfit choice on the first watch, but on reflection I think it's probably the correct degree of ceremony for snogging your goddess:
So I think we are to accept that these things are to differing degrees disguises, but never wholly a disguise.
Nevertheless, here is The Evil Penguin Disguised As A Chicken, because it makes the point about headgear better than anything ever did, and if you are too young to get this joke, you should definitely watch The Wrong Trousers. It's only about 20 minutes long.
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Reality TV
~*~
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