Beyond Colon Right Paren » Archive » The Beginning Search

So the past week I started to develop a beginning search on what spacifically to tackle within my design space: cosplay. It’s fun, and it’s just awesome. So here’s a news report as to what I did this past week – it’s written in note-ish form, so have fun with it!

It started with a conversation…

Here’s the results of a starting of a conversation with the professors at IU’s HCI/d program. There’s a lot to start with! Below is some more musings about what I could be doing and what I have done with the past week. It’s not too pretty, either, but it’s a start…

Window Shopping on the Web

http://www.cosplayhouse.com/

– This was an interesting place to window shop, as they sell everything, along with having commissions and convention schedules
http://www.cosplaymagic.com/
– they sell costume packages, but also include video game and comic book characters as well
http://www.dream-angels.net/
– they sell everything, commission costumes, auction, wigs, and even contact lenses!
http://www.cosaru.com/ This site didn’t appear to have that much to offer, but it also had more costumes of female characters, which doesn’t necessarily mean all of the customers are female.
http://www.harajukustyle.net/cosplay.htm I really feel this site knows what it is talking about. After engaging with this site, I want to save up money and go shopping for these clothes – they are bloody awesome! As a side note: in Japan they congregate around harajuku and cosplay for fun, where they mix and match different sets of styles.
http://www.qqcosplay.com This site sold many different costumes. I was impressed by the breadth of the selection offered – and it’s also from China as well!
http://www.solgoo.com/index.php This site didn’t have too much selection, and it also appears the community that was here has left.
http://www.cosplaylab.com/This was a great and awesome site. There’s a real community here, and has lists of cons to go to! One could see how experienced they were!
http://www.mooncostumes.com/pcat/Cosplay This site felt rather generic and business-y, and didn’t spend too much time there.

Internet blogs

I also began to start looking for blogs of people who cosplay, and here’s what I found so far: (looks like I lost a couple of them)

http://rayearthblue.wordpress.com/She makes her own costumes and goes to cons, and the pictures up there are superbly-well done. This leads me to wonder if and how cosplayers communicate at all, other than at cons?

Other pieces of awesomeness

Japan’s Akihabara district -otaku central, big cosplay area
– so why and how did this become socially acceptable to do so in this area?
Activities done while cosplaying – example, cosplay chess? Can something be designed to help promote fun and more interactions while in costume?

A big thought on my mind

For me, and my experiences in my life, I have constantly been reminded of how “the clothes make the man”. From a philosophical standpoint, I would also like to engage in developing peoples’ worth through their clothing and their actions. As a student, I don’t have too many nice clothes, so I don’t look like a scholar or a designer, and so I get treated in that way. What do you think?