Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder...

I think your title for the thread says it all. Beauty IS an individual thing with so many variables even within the individual.

Now as far as liking a general group (BJDs for example), I think you can definitely find them beautiful as a whole but not feel a connection with each one.

 

No, not so much. I think there is dolls that aren't pretty.

Either the mold or customization.

But it's none of my business! And I honestly do think that whatever makes you happy in life you should do, regardless of opinion.

Lets face it, the hobby is about ascetics, and one person's ideal of beauty will never be everyone else's.

So I keep my mouth shut, my head down, and a smile on my face. : )

 

There are sure a few dolls of which I think "Woah, that's pretty ugly" (like a few of the NotDoll molds)...but some people are still able to love them.
And I'm also always surprised (in a good way) when people are able to let me like a mold I found ugly before

 

That's a nice attitude to have, but I disagree. There are dolls out there that are just poorly sculpted or have a faceup made of sharpie scribbles and deep sanding gouges. There are dolls with severely botched mods and acetone damage. I think a lot of these dolls have a look only a "mother" could love. I do think the owners of such dolls love them, but I see it as more of an emotional attachment rather than them thinking the doll is aesthetically pleasing.

 

I suppose everything has the potential to be found beautiful by someone, but I don't believe that everything is beautiful.

 

There are quite a few dolls that I think are actively ugly, and even some that make me recoil when I see them. For the most part I think BJD's are beautiful, but not all of them. I do like that there's such variety and that we all have such different taste, though!

 

I suppose it does really depend on the person in question. I believe every BJD is beautiful. But I also find that there is a different kind of beauty in ugliness as well. It is quite odd.

 

I tend to find dolls that are "just beautiful" boring. I like there to be something ugly about them as well. For example... Dollstown dolls! They're not very doll-like yet with the proper treatment they can be quite compelling.

But yeah. It's often a "to each his own" kind of thing, though there have been plenty of studies on what beauty is and it tends to be the same sort of thing across cultures worldwide: A certain amount of facial symmetry, a certain amount of neoteny.

Raven

 

I agree with this.

Someone mentioned the Notdoll sculpts, and while they may not be "pretty" to some, they still look as if they were well made. There are other companies that look as if they don't pay attention to proportions and this ends up being really displeasing to the eye.

 

I think it's possible for an outwardly ugly doll to be beautiful to someone because they invested their emotion into the doll, the same way as a little kid's well-loved beaten-up toy is beautiful in some sense because of the love the kid has for it; or maybe it's even "beautiful" to someone because that person has a preference for "ugly" or "imperfect" dolls. But I think it's going a little far to say an aesthetically ugly doll is "beautiful" - it's just beautiful in context to certain people. It's the old objective vs. subjective: a doll with damage, a bad faceup, a horror-gore mod or a poorly balanced sculpt is likely to be subjectively beautiful to some folks, but is not objectively beautiful compared to the population of dolls.

 

Personally (and as an artist for most of my life now), I have to agree with that
statement. I have known it to be true, because people are all different, even within the
same family/group people will like different things. That doesn’t mean that one
person likes the “pretty” things, while the other likes the “ugly” stuff – it simply
means we all have different views, and our preferences differ. There are things
that as a “demographic,” people will tend to like more, and thusly those things will
be seen as “what is beautiful,” as opposed to what is generally liked less – but that doesn’t
prove one way or the other that the more popular/widely-liked ‘thing’ is the beautiful
one. It only tells us that there are certain things that will have broader appeal, than
others – maybe the reason why it is so important to conduct market-research before
a new product is released.

I truly do believe that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” If that wasn’t true,
then we would all want to marry (or fight-over) the same people. People who some
consider to be “ugly,” wouldn’t get married, and the human race would probably be a rarity.
Not to mention that those who are considered “ugly” would also think their children to be
“ugly,” and from experience, most parents think their children are the most “beautiful”
children in the world. The same can be said about dolls, people usually think their dolls
are the most beautiful things in the world – otherwise why bother to buy them in the first
place right? It will certainly not be to impress the masses, because we don’t all agree with
which is the most beautiful doll, or which are the “ugly” ones. Unless I missed the thread
about why we all agree that “X-sculpt” is the most beautiful of them all, while “A-sculpt”
is the ugliest crap in the world.


- Enzyme ^.^

 

Every doll has the potential to be found beautiful by someone, but not everyone is going to find the same dolls beautiful--it's a really really individual thing.

Also, there is more than one way to approach "beautiful". There's aesthetically pleasing; there's not traditionally pretty but very well made; there's visually interesting which is not always the same as being pretty/handsome; there's feeling like a doll is beautiful because it so well matches a beloved character, though that character is perhaps not meant to be physically beautiful; there's beauty in the emotion invested and the memories and experiences tied to the doll even though the doll might not be the most attractive and so on. There's a lot that can influence a person's feelings towards a particular doll.

I do not find every bjd attractive, and some that I find very attractive I still feel no connection to. As a whole though, I think the fact that they inspire so much creativity makes them across the board things of beauty--as a group, what they can bring out in their owners has greater value to me than just being pretty.

 

I dunno about that, if no one would like such a doll, why are there so many people who not only do those things to the doll but post pictures of it all over the place? I think some people like their dolls but dont care if the doll is pretty or not.

 

Yes i think its a good thing that we all have different tastes ... you would feel like your doll had no personality otherwise.

 

i totally agree with you. although they are not all to my personal taste - i do see that they are each beautiful in their own way! i can usually always see what another person likes in them - even if they're not for me. if they are beautiful to someone - then they are beautiful - no matter what my opinion is right? plus, it's somewhat easy to me to even see the beautiful in what is considered "ugly" - dolls or not. i love seeing the perfection in imperfection!

* and i - for some reason - have a soft spot for dolls with really (in my opinion) bad face-ups. *

 

.......Everything is beautiful in it's own way........
I do tend to be drawn towards the more "unusual" sculpts (just look through my pics).....I know that there are so many "beautiful" pretty faced BJD's out there, but I have to find something "quirky" to work with!.....
Maybe I'm a bit odd? I do find "beauty" a tad boaring! I like a face full of character.....Don't get me wrong, I do like the pretties....it's just I find them a bit too perfect for me to work with!......... It really is an individual thing.......

xen

 

I totally agree there are some doll sculpts and even certain companies that I just do not like their dolls. It has nothing to do with how popular or what others think of the company I just do not care for certain doll sculpts. But I will not rule out a new doll just because I do not care for the rest of their molds. But I am pretty right on with my first impressions. Mainly fisheyes LOL