In a crowded Japanese theater, Final Fantasy XIV vocalist Amanda Achen waited patiently as the gentle sounds of piano seeped through the large venue. Before she could even finish singing "my brave little spark", there was barely a dry eye in the crowd. Standing there in a beautiful cream gown accented by iridescent sequins with just a hint of blue shimmer in diamond shaped designs was the personification of Hydaelyn herself. The dress, her voice, and the emotion flowed through the venue. To those watching, it looked like the video game character had been brought to life in front of them. Except it wasn’t. It was Achen in a dress that had been in the works for months.
Final Fantasy XIV fans are notorious for taking any little thing that is adjacent to the game and making it part of the fandom. Achen is no different. From the moment Warriors of Light first heard her voice in Shadowbringers, fans have wanted to know more about her. To anyone looking closely, they'd notice that Achen, from very early on in her time with FFXIV, has also wanted to know more about the game and its players. The 2022 Eorzean Symphony was the first time fans of the MMO were able to see Achen in her newest dress, which has now become a staple of the singer as she travels the world and takes the voice of Hydaelyn worldwide.
Achen sat down with Fanbyte to discuss how the dress came to be, the process she went through designing the dress, told us a little bit about what the finished design means to her, and how that now translates into how she was brought into the community and continues to interact with FFXIV fans worldwide.
In 2022 Achen began designing the Hydaelyn dress. Some fans might think that Square Enix had something to do with it, but the dress' design and creation all came from Achen, with the help of some friends. The garment was conceptualized in June 2022 when Achen reached out to her designer friend, Tessa Mann. In October, Mann began making the dress and finished it just before the Eorzean Symphony in December 2022, where fans who purchase the Blu-Ray of the performance can see her wearing it for the first time. After that, it went through another iteration where she added a blue cape and a neckpiece, which is the version Achen most recently wore during the Las Vegas and London performances. Since those concerts, Achen has been ingraining herself more into the FFXIV community, and they have embraced her with open arms, even lovingly nicknaming her "Crystal Mommy".
A dress that flows as beautifully as Hyadaelyn's voice
Designing a dress isn't a quick or easy task. Achen learned this when she started thinking about the concept. Never one to sit still, she designed the dress over several months while traveling. From June 2022 until about October, the dress was in the design stage while the two women decided what the dress would look like, what the base dress would be, and what accents they wanted to feature. The first step though, was to find the base for the dress. Achen says she used a site called Showpo, an Australian dress company, to use as the base, then got to work on fabrics.
Using FaceTime while Achen was traveling in Portland, the two went through different fabrics they felt would work for the dress. The concept art that they used to select a fabric and overall look was from an artist on X named Nipuni. Their art of Hydaelyn features a lot of white and light blue, as well as diamond-shaped designs on the head and chest of the character, which inspired the choice for the fabric.
"Tessa ended up finding the [fabric] that we went with that has these iridescent sequins, really beautiful. [It had] diamond shape designs ... and that is apparent in some of the fan art that I've seen of Hydaelyn, too, these kind of diamond-shape, triangular designs. ... I did want the color scheme to be kind of white iridescent, glowing with some hint of blue because I was seeing that in Hydaelyn's design as well," Achen said.
With the fabric chosen and a base dress in-hand, Mann got to work on putting it together, and finished the design right before Achen's performance in Japan in December 2022. She recalls the fanfare she received when she first stepped out of the dressing room and let all of the Square Enix team see her in it.
"I just came out to the whole, like, Square Enix team, because they were just kind of right outside of my dressing room at this table. Everyone was there and I think everyone clapped," Achen said. "I don't remember if [FFXIV composer Masayoshi Soken] has a very specific reaction but I do remember my contact being there like 'oh, sexy!'"
A dress reborn - The Hydaelyn gown gets a makeover
Those who attended the Las Vegas and London Eorzean Symphony performances will notice that there was a little more to the dress than what appears in the Flow video released on the FFXIV YouTube page to advertise the Blu-Ray of the Japan performance. The gown did undergo another round of additions after the Japan concert. A blue cape and a metal neckpiece were added to the garment. Achen says that when she got back from Tokyo, they started planning additions for the dress.
"I wanted something on my arms because I do a lot of these grand gestures, and Hydaelyn has stuff coming off of her arms," Achen said.
Then, the blue cape was added, along with a neck piece which was actually a collaboration with another artist friend of hers, Demi Kay. A designer and artist for Hollywood productions such as "The Walking Dead" and "The Witcher", Kay took on the task of creating the neck piece to complete Achen's look. Although it looks like a simple neckpiece, creating it was far from easy. In order to do it, Achen told Fanbyte she had to get 3d scanned in order to begin designing the accessory.
The scan itself and Kay's progress of making the necklace can be found on her Instagram page. Some progress pictures of the dress' creation and Mann's thoughts on the process can also be found in an Instagram post.
Now that the dress has undergone its second iteration, Achen feels like she truly steps into the character of Hydaelyn every time she wears the dress on stage. No one from Square Enix prompted her to make a dress like this, it was paid for by Achen herself, and fully designed by her, making it a truly special gift to the FFXIV community. The dress means more to her than just a pretty piece of clothing to wear on stage.
"It means that I can embody this character of Hydaelyn. I wanted to show not only the fans but myself that I was worthy of being correlated with Hydaelyn," Achen told Fanbyte. "I'm not just Amanda and I sang a pretty song, I really want to carry on this energy and this spirit of Hydaelyn and everything that she represents to the fans. In doing so, I am living that for myself, and that's really brought a lot of positives to my life, just how I carry myself and how I view myself."
Square Enix couldn't have asked for a more perfect fit for Hydaelyn's voice
When artists take on a job, it's always preferred that they take a great interest in whatever they are creating. For Achen, she took that to the next level. The dress was created with the fans in mind, and now that she's had more of a chance to interact with fans at Fan Fests around the world, her interest in the community has only grown.
"I wanted to show the fans that I care. I'm not just up there like 'oh, look at me, I'm a singer." I want to be in the community and in the story. I obviously care, I'm playing the game and it's becoming a part of my life. I never expected that or thought I would necessarily do that," Achen said.
It’s clear from Achen's actions, from designing the dress to actually becoming a Warrior of Light herself, that she cares deeply about the FFXIV community. In turn, the fans of the game have fully embraced her, dubbing her "Crystal Mommy", a nickname she's fully embodied and used for her new Twitch channel therealCrystalmommy.
Created in September 2023, Achen's Twitch Channel has amassed over 10,000 followers in that short time. She's streamed some of her gameplay of FFXIV, has done a number of singing streams, and has had some special guests on, such as FFXVI's Ben Starr. Since the beginning of her streaming career, the community has fully embraced her and has taken an interest in her life.
