Creating Your Doll's Look

I have a 72cm boy. I've bought several things for him, and every time I put them on him it just...doesn't work?? It looks fine on him, sure, but it's not him. The only thing that stuck was a shirt I didn't even buy for him and was trying out for giggles and then looked at him and went "oh no he likes it". He's telling me loud and clear he wants comfy and grungy and the problem is that doesn't exist in uncle size. I can get clean lines and suits or lingerie and that's about it. So, uh, finding clothes he likes/will like has been a struggle and a half.

But I have learned from him that my doll dressing style is certainly not what I think will look good on the doll, but what the doll "wants". Which is frustrating for the wallet (*stares at the pile of things in the closet he definitely doesn't want*) but I honestly think it's fun to let him....unfurl in front of me, and tell me who he is.

 

I like a lot of street wear for my dolls that appear in the teen, and young adult age. I look up ideas for what people wear and what looks fashionable to me, the majority of my dolls are male. I take inspiration from what guys wear in a lot of drama series, from Pinterest, from anime/manga, or even when I am out and about and see someone walking past and think, something like that could look good on a doll. My more mature guys dress for professions, and my little kid dolls mostly wear play clothes, or less mature versions of the teen and YA clothing.

It took me some time to settle on clothing for them. I had a lot of trial and error, funny thing is about these dolls, if it doesn't suit them they tend to kick stuff off, refuse to pose right, or flip their wigs right before I snap that perfect picture. I have a lot of really bad pictures from where I tried to shove them into clothing that didn't suit their personalities. It's kind of uncanny how it works, but they really let you know if they are not happy with your clothing choices.

Now I have a lot of wigs and clothes, so I can kind of play around with the look of each doll. Sometimes it's just as simple as switching wigs between two dolls, other times I feel the need to wipe the entire face up, reduce the doll to a blank slate, and start over again.

 

I do historical costuming for myself, so I always tend to go in that direction with my dolls. When I get a new one, my brain immediately starts sorting through different historical eras to find one that the doll fits. The doll’s look or the artist’s other work can influence me, too. With my Enchanted Doll, I wanted to give her an outfit that meshed thematically with the artist’s porcelain fullsets, for example.

And sometimes a doll will completely not turn out the way I expected. My first doll was meant to be sort of a vintage cabaret singer before I got her, and when she came she very clearly “wanted“ to be a working-class 18th century woman. They can be opinionated!

 

I looove text roleplaying, DnDing, and typical world/character/lore crafting, so i like to think of what the character is, what they do for a living, how they live their day to day life, and then i base their fashion around that!

Like my nature goddess, more elegant, wispy flowing doll outfit

my batsh*t crazy demon girl? no shoes! revealing clothing, spicy and outbursty! so that doll is shoeless with more of a punk flavor outfit!

 

I'm not sure how to explain my process other than "I'm trying to fill an aesthetic hole in my heart and my dolls are my medium to express that", haha. So for me, my dolls have grown to reflect that aesthetic choice that i yearn but cannot have xD. In my case, it seems to be leaning towards "cottagecore", at least for 2 of my 4 dollies.

I originally started off with basing their characters on their fullsets; a "classy lady" for Myou Delia, and a "seaside girl" for Gem of Doll Debby. Overtime as i've changed out their looks, their eyes, their wigs, I started to realize that I'd pick out new outfits that were more in-line with the cottagecore theme, however loose it was. So I stuck with it! I apparently have a type that I like, so I might as well lean into it, haha. I think it also helps that I have a strong artistic eye for a character's theme/look/design, so hunting for outfits that may fit their personality isn't a problem... though I'll be extremely picky over whether or not it'll be worth the price, aha. I'm also saddled with an expensive taste, so that often means my dollies take longer to become "just right"

Here's one of my girls as an example of the change, haha

Spoiler: How it started

Spoiler: VS. How it's going

 

I personally really struggle with fashion, especially boys' fashion, so entering the hobby with the preference to own boy dolls, I had to find a way to make it work. For styling a doll, I first choose their color palette. This is mostly decided based on their primary wig and eye color (which may or may not be influenced by their faceup colors if there's an obvious use of a certain color profile). From there I decide a range of flattering colors that would be suitable for their wardrobe. And after that, the style of clothing is completely based on a personality I've developed for the dolls' character.

 

Me too @Insane-Chan , girls' fashion is no problem but I'm struggling so hard to figure out how to style a boy. Enough so that I might make it so that he likes crossdressing, just so I can put him in my cute dresses and call it a day. LOL!

 

It really depends, it’s really random!

One of the doll started off as me just seeing a head I really wanted (Little Rebel’s Mini Kamu head). So I decided to draw its outline on ProCreate, and over time, i worked on the drawing with no clear idea in mind except that I wanted it to have vitiligo, doing random stuff that I felt looked good or taking inspiration from shows i liked; I just randomly jolted stuff and one thing led to another and it lead to my profile picture. I thought it looked sick, and I decided to buy the head and then send it to an artist i felt would do it the way I imaged it (In this case, Koala Crash). And, looking at the color scheme of the faceup I came up with, I just felt a more “harajuku” style would look best.

Then you have my Dollzone Little Pumpkin. I just thought she inspired joy, nature, and witchy vibes- I sent her to an artist that was okay with taking creative freedom on vague instrucitons and just said i wanted a “moss witch”, possibly with fake moss and rocks on her body- and then I received her, and based her outfit style on that, so I found an artist that had outfits in the style I thought would fit really well.

Sometimes, they don’t have a style at all, and i just get whatever clothes i feel look good, or only have vague guidelines like “it has to be pink, blue, or white, preferably dresses and skirts”.

When it comes to dressing them up, Im somewhat into fashion, so I take inspirations from what I see on social media or on my friends, because they have unique style. Sometimes I ask my friends to dress them up, and it’s really fun to see what they come up with!

 

At first I had a plan to have girls representing all different styles, with each one having their own unique wardrobe : one wearing boho, one gyaru, barbiecore, rock chick, and so on... But it turned out that some styles are too different from my personal style, like goth for example, that I just couldn't pull it off in a natural and convincing way. I decided to stick with what inspires me the most. This is very much a process, a trial and error, trying out different things and seeing what resonates. The more you practice putting together different looks for your dolls (it applies for your personal fashion style too), the more it changes and develops.

You can either dress your dolls in the same way as you like to dress yourself, or pick styles that you'd like to wear if you could. For me for example, I choose not to wear shorts, short skirts and crop tops, but I like seeing them on others (and dolls) so my dolls wear them often. With dolls everything is possible, and it's nice to have them as an extension and visual representation of what I find appealing.

I'm mostly inspired by real people online and around me. Watching fashion videos and browsing photos also helps with finding new styles, colors and ideas. But without trying things out you won't know what you like, so don't be afraid to experiment and have fun with it

 

My dolls tend to start with some personality/character of their own, based on a very loose world built around them. I mean very, very loose; technically I've got a bunch of sci-fi royalty but you wouldn't know from how they dress! Similarly, that tends to come with a fashion style, though I've changed things up a bit sometimes to see what fits best. I take inspo from fashions I see in the wilds of the internet, though it helps that I like watching doll customizers and sewing channels! Gives extra inspo.

Basically, I can break their style down into a few things: their personality/backstory, their color scheme, what kinds of pieces they wear. (Spoiler alert: a lot of skirts because they're easy to make.) For a few examples:

Nova: Calm, perceptive, and practical, from a working-class family with a number of older sisters so she got lots of hand-me-downs and the like. Colors tend to be warm and lean neutral, so browns, mustard yellows, cream, deeper tones of green and red. Tends to wear longer skirts with some decorative elements, t-shirts and tank tops without much frill, and sweaters/cardigans. For my inspo, I tend to look at mori and cottagecore stuff.

Tian Ni: Type A with the kind of mean streak insecure teenagers can get, busy and in the public eye. My princess of pink with added pastels of other colors, especially blue. While she has a lot of more Western-style streetwear (and she's more likely to wear sleeveless tops, shorts, and generally shorter skirts than Nova), I also do a lot of looking into Chinese fashion for her, as well as trendy clothes in general.

Ara: Goofy and adventurous, likes stylish things but isn't fashion-forward, necessarily. Lots of cool tones and greyscale. I thought he would wear skirts and such but apparently not, so pants for him I guess, along with a number of sweaters and some shirts. Tends to get patterned things, like some jeans with a star print I got for him, or his floral boots. I look a bit at techwear as well as modern menswear, but more of the less traditionally masculine stuff.

Sometimes, it's a lot of experimenting! Their color schemes especially tend to be based off their body/hair/eye colors, and those I tend to go for a grab bag of concepts I like, ideas based on how their creators style them, and for the more animal-y ones, what kind of critters I enjoy. Nova is a Wol, so very owlish, and her face and colors are very barn owl-based. Ara? Magic space prince with purple hair and sparkly silver eyes because I love sci-fi and wanted to do something totally out there. Another doll of mine with a very purple and black goth style came to me secondhand with purple hair, lipstick, and nail polish.

So, my advice is to look around, see what you enjoy! What kind of stories do you like? What region, subculture, and/or time has clothes you think look cool? What are you willing to make, or learn to make? Take a look around here and see what people are up to - the crafting corner has some awesome projects! There's an incredible amount of variety out there.

 

Pinterest all day

 

I collect pictures of makeup looks people have done that I enjoy, then for my faceups I'll combine a whole bunch of different elements from different pictures and add my own twist on it with whatever my brain sees fit. For clothes, I mostly just dress my dolls like how I would dress myself. For dolls that don't dress similarly to my style, I look up inspiration pics on Pinterest. For example, right now I'm working on restyling one of my boys to be decora, so I compiled a board of decora style to help inspire how I want to make his outfit.

None of my dolls are based on preexisting characters, so how I style them depends a lot on what vibes the doll gives me or what I think they'd look cute in.

 

I used to fail miserably at this! I'd like to think I'm getting better! Definitely photo refs, or dollmakers like Shining Nikki, when it comes to clothing pieces. You don't have to copy a look exactly, but just find something that inspires you and use it as a starting point. Sometimes the look comes first and I can come up with a character idea from that. Other times I have a character in mind and base the look on what they would wear based on their story or personality. You don't have to be someone that writes, roleplays or photographs your dolls. But thinking of them as a character is a practice that can help you develop a clearer vision for how you'd like to style them. It took me some time to realize it, because I was none of those things and thought, what's the point of making a character if I won't do anything with it? But I started doing it and I've found it to be really helpful! Study your doll a bit, try them on some different pieces that you do have, or photo bash together some wig or outfit onto a pic to see how the doll might look styled in a certain way, til you find something that speaks to you.

You could even use your limitations to your advantage. Maybe your doll would always wear a t-shirt and jeans. Why not check out some fashion modeling pics with t-shirt and jeans to get an idea of how to accessorize it to make it more stylish? Maybe you could distress or embroider their jeans, give them some jewelry or headwear, or add a little something to their hair style. Find a motif that works and see where else you can implement it.

 

I usually look around taobao, see what new outfits they have and if I like them or not. I also look at pictures of other collector's on Instagram or flickr to get some inspiration. Also, if i'm looking for a specific style - pastel goth, or mori for example - I look at pictures of human models on google. Its very time consuming, but it's my favourite part and the one I find most exciting Volks is also a good reference since they have a lot of choice regarding outfits.

 

Most of my dolls have a specific character. With Billy, he lucked into his main outfit and I just haven't changed him out of it since, and Vince's character is that of a living doll, so I could dress him in literally anything... so if I like something that fits him, I go for it and then I play around with his wardrobe to see what works, and sometimes he winds up with a pretty funky look until I figure it out.