Can dolls be too pretty?

For me I suppose it depends on what you consider "pretty" in the first place. I think all doll sculpts tend toward what is generally considered aesthetically pleasing. There isn't that much asymmetry out there, or dolls with sculpted broken noses or hare-lips, or other things that many people seem to find less attractive for some reason. There are some sculpts that I consider downright ugly but that is based on my own prejudices. I don't think giving a doll pimples will make it ugly, just a beautiful doll which has slightly flawed skin, just in the same way that acne doesn't make a real human face ugly, just not air-brushed perfect.

I have always thought that beauty comes from within though. I catch glimpses of shows like One Tree Hill, 90210 and so on... filled with actors and actresses who fall into that clearly defined "Holywood pretty" look and there are very few who seem to have a spark of personality. That isn't to say that beautiful people cannot be incredibly quirky, interesting and magnetic but that comes from within, the spirit that animates those pretty features and lifts them above the average.

So how do you do that with a doll? I guess it comes from the way they are styled and presented and the character the owner projects onto them. I've seen a lot of discussion on DOA about people wanting to give their dolls a medical condition or a scar or whatever. Fine, but do any of us really think a person's character is defined by falling off their bike at 10 and gouging their chin or the fact that they have asthma? That's kind of like thinking that a person is defined by their disabilities.

I don't see how BJDs can avoid being pretty to be honest, we are just filtering t aht prettiness to suit our own personal tastes. I think that Doll in Mind's Kassia is one of the prettiest BJD sculpts around and the fact that I have made my girl look like the living dead makes her no less pretty. I think she is adorable and just as much a perfectly pretty doll as my other more conventionally face-up'ed BJDs. I don't mind if other people don't find her pretty because I made her for me

 

A doll having pimples? no thanks! it is difficult looking at someone straight in the eyes if his/her face is full of pimples...it doesn't give a good impression. I do believe in the saying "you are what you eat" so it's not difficult to have a flawless face if you eat healthy.

I do eat healthy and try to buy only organic/soy products, if I were to have kids I would do the same with them, I want them to be healthy on the inside and look healthy on the outside. Dolls are dolls, meant and created to be pretty, we have to be realistic: no one wants to have pimples, and it's disgusting! I don't want to have that feeling with my dolls.

Now: a missing eye, a scar, big nose, big mouth, all this doesn't bother me, but flaws just because you don't take proper care of yourself (like being fat and having pimples) is a no-no for me.

@vonbonbon, your girl is stunning!!!!

 

... Going off topic here maybe, but I just have to speak up, because there are so many things wrong with this reaction that I hardly know where to begin.
Dear madam. 90% of your outer appearance is defined by genes and hormones. Sorry, but I find your attitude to be extremely pretentious. How can you automatically presume that someone is not taking good care of himself when he/she has pimples, or is fat?! That's like saying it's somebody's own fault for being only 4 feet tall!! Some people may be sloppy with their food, but not all of them are fat, or too thin, or have other health issues because they don't eat right! Ever thought about people with a disease? And people who simply don't have the money to buy all organic stuff like you do? Really... Great for you that you are so healthy and beautiful, maybe it's not just the great care you take of yourself. Maybe you were just lucky.

 

Seconded. Very well said! I am rather stunned that attitudes like this actually still exist.

 

Harlequin-Elle thanks for the kind words, I wanted her to be beautiful. I was just hoping to show that moles and bushy brows can be aesthetically pleasing too
and vonbonbon you really said it really well. It's hard to show a deep personality just from looks. I really liked what you said about trying to define a doll by their disabilities.

As for the food/pimples comment... I don't want to get too off topic, but yes, genetics and hormones are at cause for most poor adolescent skin conditions and not their fault. So please don't assume that all "ugly" skin problems can be remedied with organic produce and soy milk.

 

I'm kinda curious here. When I was going through my divorce I was under a ton of stress. I still tried to take care of myself, including eating correctly and exercising. Normally I don't have an acne problem. But all the stress went "right to my face", so to speak. I had acne problems for several months before things calmed down.

I'm also a very spotty person. I've lost count of how many spots I've had removed due to close calls with cancer. That means I have lots of spots and lots of scars. The scars are visible or invisible, depending on where they are on my body.

Does all this make me disgusting?

Continuing that line of thought, let's say I have a MSD girl. In her story she's about 13 years old, which means she's going through puberty. So I decide to give her lots of acne to reflect that.

Does that make the doll disgusting?

 

Some people also like full figured women, and would love to have a 'heavier' doll.

As to the idea of a doll being 'too pretty'- I think the only time this could be a problem is if one becomes super-paranoid about protecting a very beautiful face-up. If the face-up/body blushing is so pretty that you can't touch the doll because you're too afraid of damage/chipping, then it's 'too pretty', so to speak. Even if it lives on a shelf as a collectible and you don't really PLAY with it, you shouldn't be afraid that enjoying it will somehow lead to damaging it.

So, I guess it comes down to whether your individual preference is for fantasy/escapism or reality. I can see someone who is into dolls as a fantasy version of perfect people being horrified by scars and warts, whereas someone who is more realistic or making a doll of a specific character that has a particular physical feature wouldn't dream of going without. So to go with the pimple example- someone who sees dolls as an escape from reality would be like 'Pimples? Why would I put pimples on my teen doll? That's a part of my teenage years I'd like to forget, thank you!' Whereas someone whose doll is supposed to be as 'real' as possible would say 'Having a teen doll without pimples would be glossing over reality.'

 

Ima just going to side-step yumi's comment.

When I first became interested in these dolls, I was rather put off by how young and 'perfect' they all looked. Their pristine appearance seemed somehow to inhibit their ability to become more complex characters. I think my taste has changed a bit since then; I can now appreciate certain dolls that are painfully pretty. For me, such dolls can evoke a simpler, nostalgic way of being. One wants to escape to their sugar-dusted world of tea parties and leisurely strolls for an afternoon.

Nonetheless, I think I prefer more of medium in my own dolls. I wouldn't wish scars or acne or anything very upsetting on them, since they are dolls and need not suffer those human flaws-- however, I do love sculpts that have character. Big noses, moles, lines that speak of age, or pudginess are all enjoyable to me. I also adore curvy ladies like Sharmistha.

 

I've always had pimples. Eat healthy, wash all the time, used every cleanser in the book and yet still. I think perhaps you're just seeing the world with rose-tinted glasses as you don't realize just how many women simply cover their acne with makeup. I hate makeup so I just deal with it.

Dolls ALWAYS have makeup so I guess it make sense you wouldn't see too many with flaws XD

 

Ignoring the ignorance in regards to the causes of acne and obesity, I had no idea moles were considered ugly blemishes lol. I have a very prominent face mole that has always been featured in any of my self portrait artwork, even as a child, and two of my dolls also have facial moles because it is part of their character design. I always thought they were considered alluring, for lack of a better word, and often have ... fetish like qualities among otaku. There's a character in Prince of Tennis who has a song about his face mole and how charming and beautiful it is.

I think a doll's prettiness can be used to give it character just as much as ugliness can, and I am not sure why pretty automatically = incapable of having an interesting or complex character. One of my dolls, my Bianka, Sayuri, is my gorgeous, perfect looking pretty pretty princess who wears pretty pretty princess clothing. It's all part of contrasting this with her personality, which is of a very spoiled, ruthless, rotten girl. Sayuri is pretty on the outside and pretty awful on the inside.

 

I was kinda meaning that as a joke ...but since you mentioned it I would LOVE to see your outlandish deathrock guy. In the interest of this topic of course.

 

You could argue that their extreme beauty is, by itself, what makes them unrealistic.

 

I think we are living through a phase in human history where the definition of beauty is really quite narrow and ridiculous to be honest. Beauty, we are constantly reminded by the media, consists of stick thin bodies that look as though they have barely passed puberty, completely symmetrical bland faces, unnatural tans and sometimes surgically "enhanced" oddness. There is a complete horror of perfectly natural body hair and women particularly are expected to contort themselves into this wretchedly narrow dictate of what is considered acceptable. I don't understand why so many people buy into this beauty fascism.

Since when did true beauty give any regard to those notions? Walk down any city street and you will pass countless striking men and women who don't fit into those rules and yet they are gorgeous. Fat, thin, spotty, covered in moles, with strange shaped noses and uneven teeth, a face can turn and smile at you, suddenly lighting up with the type of beauty that defies all those stupid rules.

Hormones play a big part in why people have skin outbreaks, and although not something any of us enjoy looking at or suffering, they don't actually stop a face from being beautiful. Think I'm crazy? Take a good look at Cameron Diaz some time, she has been very honest about her problem skin. She doesn't become Quasimodo overnight just because she has an outbreak.

While we are on the subject of Ms Diaz, I doubt she would have been considered beautiful even 200 years ago because the standards of beauty were very different. Thin-ness has often been considered unseemly and a tan would be regarded with horror before the 1920's. Both were seen as something that the poor or "common" people would look like, a lady should be plump and very pale.

I'm not sure where this relates to our dolls but I think it's good to free ourselves from the narrow confines of what society dictates as normal, because those trends are fickle and will change without warning... so why care? I don't think it's possible for a doll to be too pretty, it just depends on what pretty means to you

 

IMHO, I think not. I have seen it go the other way by my personal opinion, but that's the maker's artistic concept. I do however like to see the occasional mold where you can see more normal human characteristics like a slight angle to the nose, a cheek higher than the other, the normal human asymmetrical feature set. I've heard that twins are sometimes perfectly asymmetrical but I wouldn't swear to it as a fact, but I can't help wondering if the perfectly symmetrical face of most dolls is part of the subconscious trigger for people who think "dolls are creepy"? I also like to see how people mod dolls to make characters with interesting inlays and colors, that don't disfigure so much as make a character that happens to have had an interesting life. So I waver between the two extremes. The ultra pretty to the Frankenstein, but not the middle.

Interesting question, it's added to my enjoyment of the hobby to prompted to think that one out. Thank you!

 

This is another quote wholly worthy of being bronzed! Part of my work revolves around working with 'not the pinup standard of beauty' women as being beautiful and inspiring, so this is a principle I believe in very strongly. Even if you look at the facial features of some print models who have been very popular in their time -- Linda Evangelista, I'm looking right up your nose here -- you'll find faces that are dramatic and powerful and very striking, but aren't 'classically pretty', which is proof positive that 'interesting' trumps 'fits the generic beauty mold' and can go rather far even in the beauty industry itself.

Applying this to dolls specifically, I think Dollstown in particular nails this perfectly -- faces that are compelling and dramatic and captivating, but don't conform to 'pretty pretty princess'. Dust of Dolls' creations are like this for me also and it's what draws me to them. A few Soom sculpts appeal to me in the same way -- my mad love for Olivine's head sculpt is for this reason -- even though most of theirs aren't, IMHO, like this. All in all, it's something I'd like to see a lot more of.

Edit: Also seconding Ostritch's mention of stress hormones causing serious havoc -- with skin and even weight. It absolutely happens.