Do you specifically curate your doll's style?

I've purchased a lot of "basics" for my dolls, like jeans, socks, tshirts, etc. But I like to sew for them too. And I like to experiment sewing, so most of my dolls put me solidly in your Chaotic group.
They definitely have clothes that fit "in their story" and also have clothes that I just think they're cute in.

 

Most of my dolls have their own characters, complete with personality, preferences and background so most of their clothes are simply made to fit into that.
Every now and then I will get some idea I want to make just for the joy of making it and I'll happily use my dolls as mannequins, regardless of their characters, but those outfits are in minority.

I make most of my clothes myself, though. I don't know if I would go about it in a different way if i had to rely on what I could buy.

 

I have always loved fashion and sewing, so from my very beginnings in this hobby I deliberately chose to make my crew eclectic so I could freely explore all the styles I wanted, from retro to fairytale to Harajuku and anything in between. I created their world as an urban fairytale, where ordinary and magical beings could intermingle freely in a celebration of diversity. I love the freedom this has given me! With each doll explored absolutely individually, I’ve been able to experience so many fun fashion styles along with the creation of fascinating characters and settings. For me personally, I can’t imagine doing it any other way.

 

I took a yosd pattern and sized it up for SD... It involved a lot of trial and error, mostly error.

 

My methods are really not that deep. It tends to be something like, “Oh, I like that skirt! Who can I stick it on?” or “You would look good in a suit, let’s find one!” There is no big plan beyond designating dolls roughly like, “the casual jeans wearing one,” or “the ironically into pink one.”

 

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Most of my dills, whatever the3 size are children, a few are teens, and there's one adult, so I tend to go for a faceup styel that looks natural without any hints of anything that looks like makeup.

It depend on each doll. Once I get them home (assuming they alreayd have a faceup, if not they go off to be painted or I have a go myself), I try on different wigs to find the size, colours, and styles that work on them (sometimes one from my stash will fit and be right in both colour and style, sometimes I'll have to buy one), the same with eyes, then I do the same with clothes - trying on any that fit both from other dolls' own stuff ad the generic boxes of clothes for that size of doll. This way I can find the colours and styles that work on them (and more specific sizes). They generally stay in the outfit that suits them most while I get to know them and learn about their character (this process varies - sometimes it arrives with them fully formed, sometimes it becomes apparent over time (days/weeks/months/years occasionally) and their name, and wait for their first outfit of their own to arrive, or get made.

Many of my SD gang are members of the same, huge, extended, Victorian/Edwardian family of siblings, half-siblings, and cousins, so that dictates the basis of their style. Most of them tend to lean toward wearing specific colours and style/details within those period dictates, depending on their character. For example, Hannah is a tomboy so wears no frills and ruffles if she can help it, preferably no floral patterns in the fabric, and favours colours that don't show the dirt so easily. Nettle is a bit of an entitled pretty-pretty princess. She loves pink (but I don't, so slide her choices toward lilac shades), and ruffled styles. Edith tends toward reds and likes fullness in the skirts (despite all the evidence, she sees herself as a dancer). Sera is the eldest so her styles are an older teen/young lady's fashions, often leaning toward shades of orange. Cousin Phige is second eldest, the only non-orphan among them, an indulged only-child with pretentions toward a terribly tragic lifestyle... her colours revolve around black, touches of deep red or purple, and her Victorian style has a leaning toward Gothic.

So I tend to search-out or make things that fit with each one's individual idiosyncrasies.

My Slim mini's are older teens with a middle-of-the-road-modernish style, if anything, except for the eldest who is a hippy.

I have an MSD girl who can wear all the cute (more) modern childrens styles that don't work for the characters of the period kids, and a few of various sizes that are in other periods or are genercially "old fashioned or "classic" in their clothing (smocked dresses and MaryJanes etc)

Teddy

 

I usually have at least some kind of plan for my dolls' aesthetics, specifically my MSD gang, but that's always subject to change. For example, my Luna was meant to wear more tomboyish/punky fashion, while Morgan (still undecided on her name) would have a softer, more cutesy style. Luna ended up looking really nice in an outfit I'd ordered for Morgan, so her style has ended up a lot softer. This prompted me to rethink Morgan's look, and now she's the one with a punky aesthetic!

I also tend to assign my dolls' favorite colors/color schemes. Luna wears mostly blue and white, Dimitri wears mostly pink and white, Morgan wears mostly red and black, and Lux (who has yet to arrive- his name is also subject to change) is going to wear mostly gray and black. This doesn't usually extend to their hair, except in Lux's case as he's going to have a silver wig.

For dolls that I already have established characters for, which are most of my larger ones, their style is a lot more to-the-point, as I have designs for their characters prior to shelling them as dolls.

 

I follow the same method I use for myself. I buy pretty things, realize there is nothing to match in my doll’s wardrobe, buy lots of things to match, repeat, wonder how I ended up with so much clothing.

 

My dolls are curated for sure. With the exception of one (which I'm selling), all my current dolls are Fairyland. I like my collection to be cohesive from the start. I do their faceups in the same style with different tweaks depending on the character's personality. I do have a fullset on order though so her faceup will be different. I don't mind because she will be special Also another face related thing, the majority of my dolls have brown eyes. I just really like brown eyes!

For clothing and hair:
Most of my dolls and planned dolls are brunette. Some have fantasy colored hair as well. In my imagination they are magical creatures like mermaids and fairies who can shift their appearance to blend in with humans. I've planned 4 dolls to have a color palette from each of the 4 seasons. One pukifee wears whatever cute thing I sew her (which is generally fantasy themed) Another pukifee will be a re-shell of my current green witch character. And the fullset will already have an outfit

 

At the moment, all of my dolls exist within the same family in the same story, in a world that I'm still in the process of 'building'. They each have very defined styles that reflect their characters as reflected in every aspect of their appearance. Unfortunately, clothing-wise this is all in theory, as I can't seem to find anything other than nightgowns that fully encapsulate how I want to portray them I've got the wigs, the eyes, the ideas... but no gowns! I'm planning on learning to sew as soon as we have room for a sewing machine, just so I can make the exact sort of clothing I would like for them to wear.

I also have pinterest boards I am slowly working on: 60+ BJDs ideas in 2021 | 1890s fashion, rennaissance art, louis daguerre

 

Pretty much this, my dolls have characters/OCs attached to them they physically represent. The clothes I buy and dress them in are chosen based on what fits their character.
I rarely, if never, buy stuff just because it's pretty and hope it works for someone. However, I also have a big group of dolls and among them pretty much all styles I like are represented

The only thing that limits me usually is color, because one group of my dolls only wears black (they are black chess pieces). So even if I got characters with widely different aesthetics in that group, I can only buy pieces for them if they are fully black.
Same for some other characters, some just have colors assigned to them I prefer to buy for them and don't really stray away from.

But that's pretty much the reason why I don't buy lucky bags or anything, the likelihood of me ending up with random stuff I won't use is just too high

 

This is going to sound crazy but my dolls usually tell me what they want in terms of clothes and often have other ideas than mine of what they look good in. When I had my Ringdoll Edward hybrid I totally wanted to go dark goth-punk with him complete with rune tattoos but he wanted to look more like a British seaman albeit with a bit of a dark rainbow in his light brown hair. Nothing I tried until I got that wig, a seaman's sweater, his peacoat and mariner's hat exactly right suited him. In the end he looked a fair bit more like a young Captain Daniel Gregg sans facial hair than he did the character I originally envisioned him as. I miss him and I hope the guy that stole him found someone to sell him to who appreciates the hard work I did trying to get his outfit just right. :P

 

So far, my dolls have been inspired by color palettes first, then character follows. Usually the colors just come to me, often accidentally. So one of my doll's whole thing is green because of this one green wig I was gifted, and her name is Jade, and all the things I make her have a green theme/aesthetic.. I have a project doll that is really yellow, so I like her in muted neutrals and pinks, and though she doesn't have a name, my possible characters for her are very based on that--kind of conservative styled, grounded, down to earth, feminine but not super feminine. I have a character I would like to shell based solely on a stranger I once saw wearing purple, and I'm sure that will shape her as well.

I'm pretty chaotic. Lots of fabrics I choose are cheap and vaguely relate to rough themes but I'm pretty much peak Chaos when it comes to doll clothes. It's what I have in my stash, what I can buy for less than $2 a yard, what I can sew and how much effort I want to put into it, and the effort I like is as little as possible. The results are mixed, heh

 

Each of my dolls has a specific style to fit their character, like Opaline, Harriet and Quillon are goth, Lily is emo, Jesse is glam goth, etc. because they do have in depth characters, I would feel weird dressing them in styles they wouldn’t wear. However, I do have a girl planned whose character can jump between universes and time lines, so she’ll be able to wear anything and everything!

 

Though she'd probably still assert her own character and tastes on whichever period style she chose each time...?

Teddy

 

She usually tries to blend in with the people so it’s not obvious she doesn’t belong there, though she does have favorite colors she usually incorporates into her attire. Part of the fun for her is switching it up often and trying new styles.

 

Oh, I meant more along the lines of, if you picked 15 people from any given group within any period, they'd each be wearing their own variation on the current style (some more fussy and elaborate, some sleeker/plainer, some in brighter colours, some in more subdued hues, each according to their own tastes and character, rather than all of them being dressed exactly alike), so what ever period/world/dimension she was slipping into, her own character and preferences would decide what variations on the current local clothing styles she'd select to wear.

Teddy