I sat down not long after I finished reviewing the Eastern Socialite’s Attire to create a glamour around the Cheongsam. I wanted to work out something for Red Mage, since I thought the gown would work rather well for an elegant fencer, and my last glamour wasn’t exactly Alahra’s normal style. I began to play around with some things to no great success, and somewhere along the way I realized I’d never actually tested the gown (or the rest of the set) in Pure White, since I had done Jet Black for the review. I took a short break to test the dye while not finding much inspiration for Red Mage and found myself instantly struck by how lovely the Cheongsam turned out.
I mentioned last time that I wanted to start leaning on darker colors again since we’re heading into Shadowbringers, but the Cheongsam simply looked too good in Pure White to pass up. But that meant I felt the need to move away from Red Mage (at least for now), since I’ve never been happy longterm with Red Mage glamours in that color. Fortunately, I had another job in need of a glamour. My White Mage has been on the cusp of level 70 for quite some time now, and I knew I was going to be looking to create a new glamour for it once I got there.
Glamour Components (Required Level: WHM 70)
Weapon: Antiquated Aymur
Head: Augmented Healer's Circlet (Snow White)
Body: Eastern Socialite's Cheongsam (Pure White)
Hands: Eastern Socialite's Gloves (Pure White)
Legs: Anemos Seventh Heaven Bottoms (Pure White)
Feet: Far Eastern Beauty's Boots (Pure White)
I put this one together in stages over a couple of days. When I started out, my White Mage was only level 67, and I knew there was potential to rework the entire thing when I hit 70 and had access to the class’s Stormblood Artifact Armor. Of course, I knew I was going to be using the Cheongsam either way, which which provided enough foundation to sort out most of the glamour before I reached the level cap. This time around, I started from the bottom up, as I knew the key to making the Cheongsam work would be the perfect pair of boots.
Thighboots were mostly out of the question, since one of the biggest draws to the gown is the long slit on one side, more fit for showing off leg than a carefully tailored thigh gap. In general, I didn’t think boots in the vein of the Eastern Socialite’s were particularly fitting for Alahra, so I had to find something knee high. Whatever I chose also would probably need to work in Pure White (though the right pair might also work in some shade of brown). Those two things more or less narrowed things down to two pairs: it was either the High Summoner’s Boots or the Far Eastern Beauty’s. The heels on the Eastern Beauty’s Boots won me over, since they fit the elegance of the gown better than did the flat utility of the Summoner’s Boots.
Gloves were easy. Over-the-elbow gloves weren’t going to work with the Cheongsam just as tall boots wouldn’t, which meant I would need a pair of smaller, elegant ones. While we’ve had many pairs over the years that might fit the bill, none of them can match the perfect design of the Eastern Socialite’s Gloves, which I’ll probably be using far into the future anytime a glamour calls for something in their style. That left me with a minor quandary, though, in what to use in the legs slot, since I didn’t want to triple up on Eastern Socialite’s pieces.
But I knew I was going to be revisiting things at level 70, so as a temporary fix, I stuck with the Eastern Socialite’s Skirt and moved on to figuring out an accessory for a headpiece. I’ve never done a lot with White Mage’s job-specific sets, so that was something I really wanted to manage for this glamour. That lead me almost immediately to the Healer’s Circlet, which is one of the few of its kind that actually works with Alahra’s hair. I couldn’t get it to exactly match the silver clasps on the Cheongsam, but Snow White was close enough in most lighting, so I went with that.
At that point, the glamour was mostly perfect, except for the very minor issue of the three pieces of Socialite’s gear. I waited until 70 to resolve that, since I thought something from the Seventh Heaven might help, either by giving me a new pair of gloves to use or changing the direction of the glamour entirely. As it turned out, I instead preferred to use the Bottoms from the set, which provide just a bit more silver to go along with the Circlet. That was the finishing touch I needed to be satisfied, and I have to admit I sort of want to play White Mage at cap over Scholar now just to use this look more!
Fashion Ninjutsu 