My Misaka Mikoto Cosplay

This year, I decided to do an "easy" cosplay: Misaka Mikoto from "To Aru Kagaku no Railgun". She's a Level 5 esper who can manipulate electricity, one of the strongest espers in Academy City. She is nicknamed, "Tokiwadai's Ace" or "Railgun" for her trademark move:

Here's my cosplay creation journey to give you an idea on how to cosplay:

Step 1: Get source material.

Step 2: Start with the hardest element.

Step 3: Know your skill level. A skilled seamstress I am not. Value Village is my friend.

Step 4: Make your modifications. Forty minutes later and I wind up with an unfinished vest.

Step 5: Make the character specific elements.

Step 6: Get your odds and ends. The loafers were hard to track down. I wound up getting these in the kids' section at Payless for 50% off. The knee high socks were from Adene's. I picked up the hairpins from Wal-mart.

The other two items hard to find were the temporary hair colour for my eyebrows and a large enough coin for launching Misaka's railgun. A lady at a hair salon recommended I get creamy eye shadow to colour my brows. Maybeline's Color Tatoo line works like a charm.

One of my friends found two big coins at the Farmer's Market for 50 cents apiece.

And now, for the big reveal:

To learn more about cosplay, check out my last entry, The Art of Cosplay.