Mike answers:

Http://fashion.about.com/od/doityourself/Doityourself_Fashion_Projects.htm

that’s a good website, or even just going to google! Have fun

Mike answers:

You will work with has mentioned either a white wall or you can use a white sheet but you will want to make sure that there are no shadows. You can find two small inexpensive flashes that will slave (tripped by the one on your camera). You would want flashes because these are balanced for daylight. See the links below for what might work for you.

Http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/89949-REG/Morris_11155_Wide_100_AC_Slave.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/90678-REG/Medalight_PG20M_Master_Slave_120V_.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/439970-REG/Morris_11146_AC_Screw_In_Slave_Flash.html

If you choose to use house hold incandescent light bulbs (150 watt ) these will have a warm cast (yellow) but can be fixed in photoshop.

If you choose the 150 watt lamps check Home Depot and look for the metal bell shaped housing with a spring loaded clamp on them. You can then clamp these to a chair or something like that to use as your “light stands”. Do not keep these on all the time because they get very hot!!! You can use the lamp bell for the above “flash heads” also.

Have your model (child) stand about 3-4 feet from the background (white sheet, wall etc) and put the background lights facing the background (not your model) at a 45 degree angle. This will eliminate your shadows for you.

Also another source for you to sell your work at is this place:

http://www.etsy.com

Hope this helps you,
Kevin

Mike answers:

First of all, cosplay, geek style, and harajuku has nothing to do with each other, and second, harajuku isn’t a style, and neither is cosplay a type of fashion. Harajuku is just a name of a city district. Not everyone in Harajuku dresses in weird clothes (there’s even an area dedicated for old timers!); I know that you’re talking about area around the bridge and shrine, but just a heads up: it’s kinda dead now thanks to the load of tourists that come in every Sunday (it’s not that great of a place as everyone thinks it is: Shibuya’s much nicer imo).

Geek fashion, kinda varies: you could try out the classic/old-school school girl look with blouses, sweater vests, skirts, knee highs, and oxford shoes or Mary Janes (actually, this is nerd inspired fashion; there’s a huge difference between geeks and nerds!)….or you could lean towards things that really have to do with geeks (like myself and other internet lurkers): Fandom, Video Games and Internet Culture. Geeks don’t really care too much about fashion, but we do appreciate it when people notice our casually cool footwear like converses, and recognize our silly t-shirts, which can be found in many places online. I suggest googling the following sites (sorry. Yahoo answers won’t let me post more than 10 links):

snorg tees
threadless
busted tees
mental_floss store
pennyarcade store
nerdyshirts
thinkgeek
supercombo.co.uk
teenormous
superherostuff

Going back to Harajuku. Like I said, it’s kinda dead, but it’s also evolving. Aside of the stuff that most people wear:

http://www.style-arena.jp/en/street/harajuku/

the “weird-out-there”fashions worn by many people on Sundays (this is Japan’s day off. Many of these folks have jobs or attend schools 6 days a week, which is understandable why they’d want to be creative in fashion – wearing a uniform that long can be boring) have done a lot of merging with each other. Fairy-kei is the new decora (so to speak) and lolita fashion (which evolved greatly) has picked up on the trends of the gyaru culture (their fashions and culture have also evolved, and some styles like ganguro have mostly died off ; gyaru are mainly seen in trendy areas like Shinjuku and Shibuya, not Harajuku) and Mori-girl (“forest girl”).

As a cosplayer and a lolita, I will have to warn you now because it’ll offend others if you believe that they’re the same: cosplay is not a fashion, and lolita isn’t cosplay. I don’t understand why you’d want to have a cosplaying closet because costumes are generally temporary and aren’t intended to be worn as a fashion. Cosplay can be made of almost anything the creator can make it out of, and is intended to be worn to portray a character from a show, film, video game, graphic novel, etc. It’s not like you’re going to get your groceries in a Sailor Moon costumes xD If you really want some sort of costume element in your wardrobe, you could always get colorful wigs and collect kigurumi; (I can’t think up the exact name for these but ) they’re like footie pajamas for adults with anime character designs on them. For wigs intended for cosplay, I suggest this guide

http://www.cosplayisland.co.uk/tutorials/wigs/brands

One store I bought from recently is Solgoo. They ship from Hong Kong, but sell Japanese Kanekalon wigs (very high quality; I still wear my wig for conventions). Anything that’s coming from Eastern Asia, in particular, China and Hong Kong, should be ordered at least, a month ahead before you need them because if you’re in the U.S. You are more than likely to get hit by customs which will hold your order before they cross the border. A good quality wig would cost at least 40 USD, and any longer lengths can run up to 60 or 80 dollars. Now, I really don’t want to have to spoon feed you anymore info unless it’s really important. Many cosplayers do their own research on the how-tos on making their costumes, so I suggest doing your own as well. For any cosplay related advice, I suggest visiting cosplay.com, and those lovely folks can help you out.

I’m not an expert on the rest of what’s going on in Harajuku and neither do I participate in those fashions, but I know more than enough about lolita. If you’re really interested in that, I suggest reading up about it (this is just a guide, not a rule book):

http://lolita-handbook.livejournal.com/

Many more sources for DYI can be found in the egl community of livejournal. Our homepage gets frequently updated, so we would highly appreciate it if you’d check the Memories or use the search engine, which located to the lower left hand side tab.

Mike answers:

I live in canada, but any arts & crafts store will have them.
I got them at dollarama too

Mike answers:

Shoe clips! They can transform any high heel shoe and can be even used in your hair! I have some pretty satin ones, in the shape of a flower with a crystal in the middle. They look beautiful on pumps, if I’m going to a wedding…and just as great on flats or sandals, to dress up a simple summer dress. Hope this will help. I want more, and can’t find them!!!!!!