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layzeal · 2 years

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What would Wei Wuxian canonically wear at each point of his life: A Self-Indulgent Analysis

The novel isn’t very descriptive at all when it comes to WWX’s outfits. All we know is that he began wearing black after he crawled out from the Burial Mounds and didn’t stop since, but even his black outfits can tell a story so!! Let’s see what we’ve got (fun fact: not even the red ribbon is mentioned! only as an easter egg that showed up in the incense burner extras two years later!! buuut i’ll be considering it canon here because it’s fitting and also who cares)

This is analyzing how each adaptation dolls him up with and which one had the best idea according to me, based on fully unbiased points such as “i like it” or “i think it’s neat”, or even “this doesn’t make any sense why is this here?”

i’m really just here to show my thought process of why i like each of these outfits for these events and have no intention of “convincing” anyone of anything, so if you’re wondering “Hey op do you take constructive criticis--” no i do not, let’s go

WARNING..... LONG, VERY LONG POST

Edit 1: Change of preferred design for Ressurection Edit 2: Correction about Qiongqi Path outfit Edit 3: added special mention from new audio drama episode!

1. CR Study Era / Yunmeng Da-Shixiong

Winner: MDZS Audio Drama (SpoonKid’ & Tai’s art)’s Gusu white guest disciple robes and/or YMJ purple disciple robes

Special Mention: CQL

Sorry guys but there is only one correct answer here, and that is: PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE!!! he is the YMJ DA-SHIXIONG, there is just NO WAY he would wear literally any other color!!! “Oh but Madam Yu had him wear different colors because he’s not part of the family” THAT DOESNT EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE, HE’S STILL A DISCIPLE!!! AND A VERY IMPORTANT ONE AT THAT. It’s purple. that boy wears purple and continues to wear purple all the way until Lotus Pier falls

If i’m feeling extra self-indulgent i’ll have him wear white during his CR study era because i can’t see the Lans enjoying a bunch of different colored uniforms in their highly aesthetic home and also WWX in Lan white is incredibly seratonin-inducing, like what’s next?? Gonna get married to a lan and wear it everyday??? heh. but yeah in my heart they all wear white, and if not, WWX has to wear purple, none of that red-and-black thing most of the fandom sticks to

CQL Special Mention

i LOVE the choice they went with for the white disciple robes!! unlike the AD which has LWJ wear the same type robes of the guest disciples, CQL was very throughout in giving the disciples different styles of robes WITH COLOR ACCENTS!!! TO IDENTIFY MEMBERS OF EACH SECT WITHOUT BREAKING THE AESTHETIC. 10/10 big brain idea, love it!!

HOWEVER i cannot give CQL the cake because.... WWX does not wear purple or any outfit that identifies him as a YMJ disciple, WHICH DRIVES ME INSANE. i know that WWX occupies an awkward place in the sect where he is more than a disciple but less than family, but having his clothes always be too different to fit one or another just... idk, it takes me out of the story everytime. AND THAT RED..... LOOK, WE’RE GONNA GET THERE, BUT IT IS!! NOT!!! TIME!! FOR HIM TO BE WEARING RED!!!! a big flaw here is that already he has too much of the aesthetic he wears as YLLZ, so when he actually transforms it’s just kinda???? okay??? what changed???? not a fan, should have gone with either a lighter blue or more of a purple tone, and REMOVE that red from the skirt, her time will come, just not now!

EXTRA SPECIAL MENTION: Baoshan Karo’s illustrations for the CR era. god i’m SO HAPPY that WWX in Lan guest disciple robes are officially a thing in some editions of the novel now (1) (2)

2. Qishan Discussion Conference

Winner: MDZS Manhua’s red ceremonial uniform

Special Mention(?): Novel cover by Qianerbai

This one was eaaaasy because it’s one of the few occasions where we’re told what Wei Wuxian is wearing, which is the “red, round-collared robe with narrow sleeves, tied with a belt of nine rings—the juniors’ ceremonial uniform during the Qishan Wen Clan’s Discussion Conference” (fanyiyi translation).

CQL doesn’t cover this arc so it’s out. The Donghua still keeps them in those initial designs, the Audio Drama’s only art of this moment "First Meeting with Wen Ning" has him in YMJ purple (which i would be happy with in any other occasion), so all we’re left with is the manhua!! my second favorite adaptation wahoo!!

the artist maotuanxjj made us all a favor in making WWX look extra handsome in his red uniform which follows the novel’s description to a T, so well done!! amazing!!! 10/10!!!! (can i just mention how i love this style of bangs for OG wwx? i wish the manhua had kept it that way ahhhh)

Qianerbai Special Mention

So i wanted to put this here because YES we do get to see him in the red junior uniform, but......... this is the novel’s 3rd volume, and i’m quite sure it’s meant to represent the Phoenix Mountain hunt, which they were NOT wearing red for, so??????????? anyway the uniform is still perfect though, just not on the right moment of the story

3. Wen Indocrination Arc

Winner: MDZS Audio Drama (SpoonKid)’s purple YMJ disciple robes

quick and simple: the answer is the same as the Yunmeng Da-Shixiong, purple!! which once again, SpoonKid is the only one who has represented as such in an official art, so here it is two more of them, as a treat.

4. Yiling Laozu

okay you guys will have to be very patient with me now, because what the fandom mostly refers to YLLZ is actually 3 different stages of his life (+1 bonus) which directly affect whatever he is wearing, and the only thing in common they have is that WWX will be wearing black (OR NOT?)

i went back and forth with how to present this one, and in the end i decided i won’t be announcing a “winner”, because most adaptations only have one look for him in this stage (a great look let’s be real), but it’s not particularly realistic or even canon-compliant for it to be so, so i’ll be looking at adaptations that do change his look during his era and see which are more fitting for each moment

4.a) The Return

Favorite outfit: Donghua, Manhua & Audio Drama’s black/red large robes with wide sleeves

no competition here AT ALL, this outfit SLAPS!! if i have one (1) complaint it’d be the donghua’s fire motif on the sleeves, it just doesn’t make sense for him to wear something so similar to QishanWen’s uniform, but other than that the aesthetic is on point!

the large robes make WWX look bigger, more intimidating and mature. THIS is the look of a man who spent 3 months in hell, eating corpses and fighting the resentment just to crawl out half a ghost half a human. the silhouette is so different from what he had before, it really feels striking!!

about the colors: THIS is the one point in the novel where we know he starts wearing black and red on a daily basis! and it is no coincidence his color palette is the exact same as the ghost flute Chenqing, they’re one in the same, carved into a different shape the Burial Mounds, made for the purpose of leading the dead.

Red is a very strong and lively color, but it’s also a color of extremes. it can mean the most positive and the most negative things, and for Wei Wuxian, what will be very telling about his fate and mental state is how much of it is present in his outfits. He’s always had a red ribbon on his hair, the strong, bright and passionate boy that he was, but things have changed, wei wuxian is back, but he came back wrong. Pay attention to the red from now on 🔴

for many people, the outfit above is not only his “i’m back baby” outfit, but also the one that defines him for the rest of the following events, and that’s perfectly fine! it is one HELL of a good design! buuuut since i’d never make things easy for myself, let’s look at some other ones

4.b) Sunshot Campaign

Favorite outfit: CQL’s black robes and red inner robes with narrow sleeves and shoulder padding

Special Mention: Zelda CW (i know she’s not an offcial MDZS artist but i NEED her art to explain my point here)

NOW is the time for the red skirt to appear!! man can you imagine if they hadn’t shown him in black and red before and then boom! he shows up in this color palette? it’d have been soo good. ANYWAYS, notice the colors!! Red inner robes, black outer robes, fancy shoulder padding, a red skirt that feels quite striking. Remember what i said about WWX and Chenqing matching and being one in the same? in this stage of his life, such resemblance is even more important, you CANNOT separate WWX from the Ghost Path at this point.

RE: The design, this is a wei wuxian who has now returned to the cultivation world. He took a nice bath, had some soup, took off those clothes that he probably stole from corpses, took his YMJ money and got himself a uniform to kick some QishanWen butts! i like this one for the Sunshot Campaign much more than his poncho look from earlier because i just find it a loooot more fitting for a soldier, ESPECIALLY ZeldaCW’s interpretation over there with the shoulder padding and sleeves that almost look like a cape (and the small YMJ lotus symbols around)

The silhouette isn’t as intimidating as before, but it doesn’t have to be, he’s no longer a resentful ghost haunting the dreams of Wen soldiers. He’s a commander, carrying a military tally of his own, with the favor that the right hand man of Sect Leader Jiang ought to have. He’s become a respected and feared war hero, but that people still look down upon due to his cultivation and refusal to carry a sword. That made him have to carry himself in a proud and arrogant way which years later even WWX himself will recognize as obnoxious. ALL I’M SAYING IS, i find this clean silhouette and design much more fitting for this stage of his life than the loose and ruffled look he had previously, ya feel me? More military-feeling, less angsty ghost man.

(also this is my fav look for YilingWei Sect AUs but that’s neither here nor there)

4.c) Burial Mound Settlement

Favorite outfit: CQL’s grey+black, coarse overalls with red sleeves and belt

(farm boy wwx is SUCH a treat for us, thank u xiao zhan)

LOOOOOVE THIS LOOK SO MUCH!! One major irony in MDZS is how WWX is named the “Yiling Laozu” and is at his most feared in THIS stage, when he is actually in his most harmless form. CQL in general really nailed the vibes of the Burial Mound Settlement as a farming community, we see people in coarse clothing doing all sorts of manual work, there is really no difference from them and any other farmers, no identification at all that these people are Wens other than their surname. And people think he’s forming his own sect, pfff

at this point WWX is really only worried about 1. keeping the barrier of the BM safe 2. keeping everyone fed 3. locking himself in his cave and working on his inventions . As much as he IS still doing plenty of use of demonic cultivation, it doesn’t come close to how he was using it back during Sunshot, leading entire armies of corpses everyday with nothing but resentment. Here, the Ghost Path is still part of him, but it doesn’t define him anymore, he’s much closer to a poor scholar than anything else, and his clothing reflects that!

anyway, coarse materials, slim silhouette, presence of red but much less saturated, looking very soft and cozy, 10/10

Special Mention!!

Spoonkid’s YLLZ!WWX from the new incense burner Audio Drama extra! Notice how the YLLZ is also wearing comfy clothes instead of the usual robes she’s drawn him in for mid-sunshot campaign! We know that the incense burner puts wwx’s in his original body, likely the one from shortly before his death, so it makes sense he’d be wearing something more casual like this!

EDIT

BEFORE WE HEAD TO THE NEXT ONE

so something i had COMPLETELY overlooked and it’s 100% my fault is that, for Jin Ling’s 100 day celebration, Wei Wuxian buys and wears a new outfit that is white. YEAH. I never noticed it, and a apparently many people didn’t either? Thanks to my dearest HellingLaozu on twt for pointing it out!

Unfortunately, however, no adaptation gave us this outfit :’( we were robbed!!! interestingly though, by the time WWX gets unfrozen and heads to Nightless City, he is wearing black once again! Maybe WN and WQ changed him? no idea! could have been an overlook on MXTX’s part, could have been implied in some untranslated part, I’ll have to analyze it more in-depth later!

Since we have no visual reference of him wearing white robes on Qiongqi Path, I’ll maintain my pre-edited text below that assumes he buys a new black outfit instead

EDIT: so it’s technically not official art, but Changyang (that one official artist) did draw the one and only art of the YLLZ in white i’ve ever seen, and it’s gorgeous, check it out!!!

4.d) Nightless City

Favorite outfit: CQL’s black robes with bright red at the sides + red inner robes and cuffed sleeves

Special mention: Novel cover by Qianerbai

now this.... this is A Look. do i even HAVE to tell you to look at the colors and the presence of red? gosh, it’s almost popping out of the screen, it’s incredibly telling to what is happening in the story now

the reason i particularly love this look for the Qionqi Path and Nightless City events is that we ARE TOLD that WWX used WQ’s money to buy not only the pretty tassel pendant for Jin Ling’s gift, but also to buy a new outfit for the ceremony! (edit: it was a white outfit. i’m silly. pls honk my clown nose) GUYS, HE DOLLED HIMSELF UP TO MEET HIS NEPHEW, he wanted to make a good impression so bad 😭 goddammit jin guangshan

anyways! the outfit above is very fitting for it! as always all we know is that he was wearing black, and of course WWX wouldn’t want to give up his YLLZ vibes, he still needs people to fear him if he wants to keep the Wens safe, but the outfit is very nice and clean. You can see it’s nothing too fancy though, nothing too elaborate esp compared to what he used to wear before, but it’s good enough to meet with the Jiangs again! it’s not like the Jins would like him even if he came dressed as an emperor. (edit: this paragraph doesnt rly apply anymore but i still like it, so it stays)

so during the day it’s just that: nice, clean, still striking but not too intimidating. During the NIGHT though??? ohhhh that red starts POPPING so hard it’s almost all you can see, him and Chenqing are once again matching perfectly, and after losing his two closest friends and hearing of how these “righteous people” are vowing to invade their settlement even though they’ve promised not to hurt anyone else if the wen sibs gave themselves up? well, he’s ready to commit some murders <3

if you asked me “hey lace what would you wear to crash a party and go into a hopeless descent into madness as you lose everyone you’ve ever loved?”, probably a nice lil outfit with some satured red on the sides.

Qianerbai Special Mention

I can’t help but feel like that CQL look look was inspired by th *checks when the 2nd edition of the Pinsin edition was released* [it was July 2019] [i am now VERY confused] ok so i was gonna say CQL took inspo from this novel cover, but i just realized as i type this that this cover was released long after the show finished filming so now i’m??? HM??? COINCIDENCE??

anyway this look that WWX has in the qianerbai novel cover is VERY good too, has all of the pros i mentioned above when it comes to color and “yeah i can visit carp tower and see my nephew in this AND kill a bunch of people 3 days later”. if the CQL look had a red belt i would honestly be even more sold! honestly if it wasnt for the white inner robe, this could have been the winner as well!

5. Ressurection

Winner: MDZS Donghua’s black/red short outer robe and white underrobe

EDIT - NEW WINNER: MDZS Manhua’s black short outer robes w/ red accent and white underrobes

[so yes the text below was for the donghua, but then my dearest @10000111100101100 brought attention to WWX’s ressurection look in the manhua and WOW, somehow i’d forgotten about it!! and it’s even more fitting!! so yeah new winner <3]

GOD I LOVEEEE THIS LOOK FOR MXY!WWX SOOOOO MUCH, i may be a bit of mxy simp we all know that but ugh!! it’s so good!! i forgot the name rn but these short robes coupled with the disheveled hair and trousers is just. idk, it gives him such a youthful look that is especially fitting for the absolute gremlin energy that WWX brings upon ressurection!

the outfit is dark, but it isn’t like what he wore during his YLLZ era. Of course the black and red are still very pronounced, he did just get dragged back from the dead by a demonic ritual he wrote down himself, and has no qualms about commanding corpses, digging graves, and creating talismans as soon as he can walk again. my man is back in business!! though of course, his mentality is different now, he’s fully aware that he’s got nothing rooting him down, no responsabilities, no one to protect, free to do whatever he wants!! and then promptly forgets all about it as soon as few teenagers look like they need help lmao

basically: this wei wuxian is very dependent on guidao, but thanks to his new freedom, it’s not to a level that could endenger him or cause major problems if he lost control. This outfit passes the message well by still having dark colors, though mostly on a grey scale, with red left only for some accents on his lapels/belt/ribbon. he doesn’t look intimidating, or fancy, or scary at all, he’s really just vibing, good for him!

also is that a white inner robe? ohoho... some changes are already beginning to take place

6. Present & Post-Canon

Winner: MDZS Audio Drama’s black outer robes + white inner robes and pants, with a red accent only on the ribbon/chenqing/belt

Special mention: CQL’s post-carp tower black outfit + white inner robe

if this post feels like i’m tooting the horn of the MDZS audio drama it’s because i am. SO!! for those who don’t know, the AD’s design for WWX is quite unique! in all versions he’s always seen wearing a dark robe with loose sleeves on top of a white inner robe. his pants are usually white as well and so is the belt

do you notice the almost complete absence of red? it’s usually left only for his ribbon, and more rarely, his belt, but that’s it!! of course, through most of the present timeline, chenqing is nowhere to be seen. obviously that doesn’t stop wwx from using demonic cultivation, but once again, it is in a far smaller scale than he did back in the day, and usually only low level spells (that on his hands become powerful)

all of that red has beem almost completely replaced by white, and if that makes you think that it’s because he now has lan wangji by his side to protect him, congratulations, you get a kiss on the head and a cookie. the word that comes to mind for me is: soft. this is what this AD outfit makes me feel. Soft. WWX is no longer controlled by his debts and duties, he doesn’t have to solely rely on demonic cultivation to protect himself, LWJ offers him that freedom and protection now, what he’s been craving since his first life, and that’s visible not only in his color palette but in the silhouette as well: his sleeves are long and flowy, but his black robes don’t outright consume him as they did back when he first crawled back from the burial mounds. LWJ’s influence is seen in his new easygoing disposition, that unlike his youthful energy, it’s far more calm. he’s matured and grown into that love and trust and man it feels SO good to see!!

CQL Special Mention

i always really liked this cql outfit, and for quite the same reasons as i’ve mentioned above! the feeling of calmness, trust and safety it gives to WWX is so great it makes.... well, soft! a total lack of red, a black robe over white inner robes (LWJ’s... inner robes), and it’s very fitting for this part of the narrative as well. WWX just woke up from being stabbed at Carp Tower (which in the novel is also when he starts noticing his own feelings for LWJ) and things get quite sweet and domestic. LXC tells us the story of Madam Lan, cql wangxian have that nice little moment in the snow that totally doesn’t end in sex, they see the rabbits together, leave CR, wwx plays wangxian.mp3, they either meet mianmian (cql) or jump into a pile of hay together (novel) and it’s basically just all so so sweet.

the reason i can’t give it the cake though it’s just that it would be better imo if it followed the AD footsteps and gave him loose sleeved instead of narrow, and added a bit more white, just to REALLY show LWJ’s influence in his current mental state, but other than that it’s a very nice looking outfit, with great vibes, very simple but very domestic!! love it!

i ended up putting waaaaay too much thought into all of this lmao, but anyway!! these are the outfits i believe are the most fitting to each stage of WWX’s life, according to the novel’s descriptions and my own personal interpretations. i love how all the adaptations expanded a little bit into it and allowed us to pick and choose our favorite ones. MDZS is one hell of a good book but it really is made even better with the added thought of fan and other cretaive insights

if you made it to the end, congratulations, i honestly didn’t think anyone would read this *gives you another kiss on the forehead and a cookie*

#mdzs #the gif isnt serving any purpose i just think he's beautfiul #my goal in this fandom is to ignore all of the popular and repetitive discourse #while having very strong opinions about crap that does NOT matter #and god i even wanted to talk more abt LWJ but that isn't happening this post is already a MONSTER #the WWX brainworms have completely eaten my brain. oh well. enjoy!#modao #lace speaks

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