fff you are so sweet anon ;3;

As for Qiao, she is my Ho-oh gijinka, and was originally made for an RP group called Krig.  The hierarchy of that group puts the legendaries into different countries/cultures and I lucked out with the Johto region being placed into an asian culture.  I decided to go with Chinese because a phoenix (ho-oh) considered a revered animal in their ancient culture and was considered in reference with the empress.  From there its just all about playing with shapes/patterns and not going so literal.  

I have a rather large reference folder filled with costume jewelry/clothes, old photographs, paintings, doll clothing/jewelry, movie stills, scenery pictures, patterns, festival and theater clothes.  For Qiao, I was going more for what looked and felt right for Chinese royalty rather than absolute accuracy, while keeping in mind the colors and shapes of the Ho-oh/phoenix.

hope that explained a little ;;