Our dolls shopping vs. our own

It's 10x easier for dolls and dolls can have a big bust and still find clothes that fit them. My breasts (34 I or H) do not fit into clothes easily so I feel depressed when clothes don't fit me. My dolls can always find clothes that fit them and look cute and with some minor alterations everything looks perfect.

 

Shopping for me is generally not fun because I am a plus-size girl and plus-sizes usually look like gramma clothes. I have been having some excellent luck online, but have put it on hold as I am trying to lose weight. But I have always found clothes shopping trying even before my dolls came along. Sometimes I wish I could wear what they do, definately.

 

I rarely have trouble finding clothes for me. I like customizing clothes, too. Sometimes I also sew for myself. But I don't like shopping for clothes and only do it if I need to.
I also mostly sew for my dolls and rarely buy stuff. Most of the time when I find fitting and good-looking clothes, I think I could just do them myself with a little work and rather buy new fabric than those clothes. Only thing I buy are wigs, eyes and shoes.

 

i really fin bjd clothes very expnesive but well i know this is a expensive hobby, and they sure look awesome!! but this is more likedressing up your dolls, i love to have mine in a very casual real style and i don't buy that much clothes for them i instead make them. i find very hard and i would totally hate that a 40 bucks pants wont fit my doll right, if it is too tight oh ohh!! if its a little bit loose it is easier to fix it, but come on fixing something so expensive that was supose to be perfect.

As soon as getting clothes for me it has never been a pain, i like working out a lot and i like my body so i really like how clothes look on me when i try them on, and comparing to dolls i can actually see if it fits great or ask for anothr size!! i guess shopping for myself is cheaper and i get better results.

 

I find it funny that their clothes are the same price if not more so than our human clothes depending on what you want lol. Anyway I think I spend more on myself than a doll but I am picky when it comes to clothes for me. A lot of things are cute and I'm skinny so I can fit into everything as long as they have a small enough size but I have to really like the item and price. I might really like it but the price is a no no for me. Also I feel awkward when I buy myself things.I hate shopping for myself because of this, it disappoints me to much that's why I like buying other people things. I'm kind of the same with dolls clothes. I'm on a very tight budge for both myself and my hobby. Right now all my money is going to the hobby for the time being till I need to buy me new things. I try to keep my doll clothes under $20 and the most I'd spend is $50. I'm cheap sometimes so I will try to pick up sewing!

 

the part in bold is particularly relevant XD
I'm on the stingy side with things, when I'm home I think my mum is annoyed at how few clothes I feel are my "favourites" so she feels the need to take me out shopping. I am so picky... >,> my dear mother......

 

I actually have the opposite problem. I can hardly find clothes I like for my dolls or that will fit them. It's so frustrating. I wish I were a seamstress!

 

Believe me, being a seamstress hardly stops me from buying stuff for the dolls (or myself for that matter - I go to Goodwill, see something & say to myself 'look, cheap, I don't have to make it' instead of 'where in the WORLD will I ever WEAR that....LOL)
Anyway, the mounds of fabric that I have in my house after nearly 40 years of costuming (SCA, belly dance, Roman renactment, DragonCon, Renfaires, children's Halloween costumes, etc) are laughable.
Yet, I still spend $$$ in fabric stores. So sad but true.
That's not even getting into accessories, shoes, weapons, furniture.... but I love it!

 

i have my own budget for my own clothing and my dolls
though now i has 2 giant closet full of my clothes (that i rarely used ... just few of them)
so i can more focus saving $$ for my doll's need

 

"...sometimes it can be depressing going shopping, when nothing seems right for your body."
--A DEEP QUESTION ABOUT BODY IMAGE AND SELF-ESTEEM, BEHIND JUST THE DOLL QUESTION.

**Does this make you live vicariously through your doll?
During childhood dolls were a chance to try on different roles for myself, which does fit the vicarious issue. When I played with dolls as a child I was OFTEN living vicariously -- being a Momie or a grown-up fashion model type lady [BARBIE] ~ I don't much identify with dolls in that way now.

Then and now they can be an escape from depressing things about real life. Or a nice safe place for self-expression. If I were depressed about my body or struggling with self-expression then I believe the dolls could be helpful.

They are good for escape from whatever might be depressing. Troubles in my childhood probably helped me develop the strength of my imagination, which is a great gift now, just as it was then.
Most of the time it was just a fun thing to do and fulfilled the drive to be creative.
THOSE things haven't changed all that much when I "PLAY" with my dolls. Now I am just in the creative mode with a desire to bring more art into the world, and sometimes to express or explore things without being bothered with words. Dolls can be a universal language, just as all forms of art.

I'm pretty much past deep concerns about what people might think about my body. It was my OWN critical attitude toward my body that had the heaviest impact on me. [pun?] Even though I was thin, I thought I was fat. So I was about as miserable as girls with "real" weight issues. -- WHAT DOES THAT MEAN ANYWAY?

Today I am more aware of the gifts of what my body can do and what it allows me to experience. Not whether people are LOOKING at "IT" -- If they are, then they are just looking at me as if I were an IT, not the amazing being that I am in my totality.

I don't care whether I attract anyone or not with my body. I realize that kind of attraction can start something but it can never maintain anything worthwhile. I'm more turned off by cigarette smell than thinning hair or lack of muscle mass in a guy.

WHAT A RELIEF to NOT be much aware or concerned about what people might think about how my body looks! Now I'm more interested in eating right and exercising with a motivation to have energy and strength to do the things I want to do.

**does this make you shop for your doll more than for yourself?
That doesn't, but something does! I will most definitely SPEND MORE! Maybe because their clothes are about art? I like to express myself to some degree with my clothes, but not as a MAIN way to express myself. Hmmm...interesting, I guess art does "express me" in a way I might have looked to "outfits" to do in my past? Have to think about that.

It is curious to me that I seem not to notice a couple of zeroes when buying things related to dolls. Like $200 is only $2?

**does this make your doll more fashion forward than you would be yourself?
I look forward this year to creating my own fashions for the world's of imagination that my dolls live in. Since I don't live in their world, I wouldn't want to be bothered with what I have planned for them. WEARING is different from creating. Ever notice how most fashion designers at the end of their shows come out for their bow, wearing jeans and a white shirt? Something plain and comfortable usually, nothing to do with what their models were wearing.

**would you dress differently if you had a body like your doll?
I COULD certainly choose different Halloween costumes for the adult parties I go to. That would probably offend some people [if we are talking about revealing the body for sexual attention] AND if I wore those kind of clothes with the body I do have, THAT might offend some people. Hah!

It probably still would get attention. Guess it just depends on what you want.

Firmness and what is generally thought to be sexy or beautiful is not all that great for the self-esteem of the people with those bodies. Even for them it is temporary and the standards seem to always be unattainable when you think about it. Photography of models is often tampered with to "improve" them! Our bodies are who we are, but just a very small part. Think about how sad and lonely Marilyn Monroe was -- and how short her life. She had the body most admired when she was alive. AND still, some people were starting to like Twiggy just about that time...! What a break for girls who had been called "skinny" and were destined to be "flat".
Beauty is SO ARBITRARY!

 

I usually buy my clothes in a size up because I like my clothes to be baggy and comfortable, so I don't really care about how good it's supposed to make me look. I just buy what I like.

That being said, I'll probably end up shopping more for my doll. They have cuter clothes, in my opinion.

 

I used to spend lots of money buying clothes for myself, only end up finding that I only fit for some of them. And I believe for average looking people, we need to buy expensive clothes in order to look good. The good side for a doll is that they are already very cute and have well-shaped body, so it is easier to dress them up and make them look pretty.
But now I just keep on cutting my budget for myself and buying more for my dolls. The dolls dresses are as expensive as mine...and I start to look for clothes of a certain type, so that my dolls can have a different personality when they change clothes. Then buying clothes for mass production is not working. I have to look for private designers...which are, of course, expensive

 

I find shopping for my doll a lot more fun in a sense, as I do actually do buy her clothing that I would /like/ to wear that isn't very practical for a student! (e.g. elaborate ball gowns, fantasy outfits lol) I don't necessarily want to dress like my doll or have her body though. I wouldn't say that I live vicariously through my doll, but I do dream vicariously through my doll, if that makes sense.

 

Take heart-- even tall lanky people find it hard to shop off-the-rack, too. So much of women's clothing is so ungenerous in the sleeves & shoulders, and so short in the torso, and so gappy in the waist, and made of such thin crap fabric that it doesn't seem worth the price (or hassle) to buy it & then get it altered. So I used to hate shopping for myself. :P If Barbie were alive, she sure couldn't just go buy clothes & have them fit without serious reconstruction!

I do personally feel lucky that I have the income & general shape to be able to shop at the H.Naoto boutique they opened here in San Francisco not too long ago; my credit-card is less happy about it than I am; but now I find shopping fun, because I can get myself some of the same wonderfully crazy j-goth stuff my dolls wear. It's always short on me, but I get by happily. And being almost 42, I'm having fun at it while I still can! (Not all of these looks will, uhh, age well. XD)

Even so, I confess that the dolls still get shopped-for a lot more often than I do-- mostly because online shopping is such a breeze & a constant temptaion (get thee behind me, DollHeart! *brandishes crucifix*). And I'm also kind of a shoe-freak, but I buy the dolls even more shoes than I do for myself-- mostly because they can fit more in their storage-space than I can fit in my closet. What a wonderful world we live in, that one can find tiny little bondage-boots on a 1:3 scale.

 

THIS! This exactly. I would love to be able to wear what my girls can. I tend to stick to t-shirts and sweaters.

 

Being a UK14-16 in an Asian country is not easy for my clothes shopping at all, though it has been getting easier as people get bigger and retailers clue on the market. It's not exactly easier shopping for my dolls either, though, considering that, for the longest time, the market was dominated by SD13/10 sized stuff while I have 70/65cm big dolls predominantly. Even now, I struggle to find clothes to suit my big boys, though it has been getting easier recently too.

Does this make you live vicariously through your doll?

By and large, no. But to a limited extent, yes. I love cute frilly dresses, not necessarily lolita fashion, but similar stuff, like from Rosenlied or Dollheart, however, I haven't been able to pull off 'cute' since I was 13, and the cost of materials and tailoring to get those sorts of outfits to fit me... could probably get me another doll. And they would be one-wear items of clothing, or limited wear clothing, because I live in the tropics and layers of clothes = heatstroke. So I have Fate in Dollheart, and tinies in Rosenlied.

I also love those cute loli platform heels, and high boots, but I don't last long in heels over 2 inches high, and high boots for this climate is really... not ideal. And both types of shoes are rather inappropriate for work. So I put my dolls in cute shoes and funky boots. And they are so much cheaper than their human equivalents.

Other than those two points, my dolls and I dress rather similarly.

Does this make you shop for your doll more than for yourself?

I'm about done with the cute dresses and loli stuff for the dollies, and everyone has boots now, but yes, I do find I shop more for my dolls than myself sometimes simply because there are many more of them and only one me to clothe. XD

Does this make your doll more fashion forward than you would be yourself?

Hahaha, no. I don't care for fashion. I care for well-tailored, well-engineered clothes that are flattering on the figure. I tend to invest in basics, or costumes, for myself and my dolls, so we're really dressed more or less the same way.

Would you dress differently if you had a body like your doll?

If I had Fate's legs, I would be wearing miniskirts. I don't really want a cuter/baby face, though, so nix on the loliloli stuff. Otherwise, no. I dress like my male dolls, sometime better. XD

 

I don't have any dolls yet, but I can imagine they will be able to wear clothes I wish I could! I don't see my body as nice so I hide it with jeans and hoodies - if I was made of resin or vinyl I'd love to wear short skirts and short sleeves, but alas, I don't feel comfortable wearing things like that anymore.

 

I don't own a doll yet but I can already tell buying clothes for them is going to be a pain in the butt and not for the 'expected' reasons.

See I am frugal as hell, I don't like spending money willy nilly so spending money on clothes tends to be a battle. I needed a polo shirt for work.. I spent a week hunting before paying $5 for a boys XL rather than $12 for a woman's medium or $15 for a men's small.
I spent 2 hours JUSTIFYING a $13 pair of tights I NEEDED for an event.
Most of my lazy shirts have either accumulated over the years or are freebies from blood drives and the like.
Basically my most expensive
shirt- $25 (concert shirt)
Pants- $20
Accessories- $8

Now why is this relevant?
Because I look at doll clothes and think "Why the Heck would I pay that much on a doll's _____ when I won't do that for myself?"

But unlike with MY clothes there is not a HUGE pool of places to shop around and compare prices. Even if i do there's rarely more than a dollar difference.

 

While I am large, due in part to a recently diagnosed thyroid condition that I may have had since 2009, I still dress pretty much the same as I always have. I usually just wear jeans and t-shirts, but once I loose about 70 or so more pounds that might change as I really like a lot of clothes that I cannot fit into now. Either way I tend to shop the same for my dolls as I do for myself, very frugally. All three of my dolls (one is still being made, but she all ready has the most clothes) have most of their outfits through the $25 grab bags offered by Wicked Stitchery for valentines day, and I get a lot of fabric from goodwill, where I get a lot of my own stuff. It takes me forever to decide to buy something, well with the exception of my twin tinies, it once took me half an hour to decide whether or not to buy a pillow.

 

[paragraph]I thought I'd add an slightly odd opinion on this. I have no intention of buying clothing (besides shoes) for my dolls if I can avoid it. When I get dolls, I intend to use them as a launching point to begin learning how to sew, how to design clothing and make patterns out of it, and eventually I hope to translate that into making my own clothing after I've lost some weight down to a more reasonable size to make clothing for.[/paragraph] [paragraph]Right now, I have trouble shopping in stores. I can only find things that fit in one or two stores, and the prices are ridiculous, so I generally get things out of catalogs. I'll only really get pants, and I'm living in some shirts that my mother shrunk out of (after losing 70lbs herself) plus a couple choice Walmart selections. One of the reasons I want to learn to make my own stuff is because even when I lose weight, I'll have some trouble finding clothing that suits my body: I have short legs. Modern fashion is designed around longer legs so much that even though I'm 5'7", the top of the "average" length pant height range, I need to hem most pants an inch or two. I have broad shoulders instead of delicate ones, and wide hips.[/paragraph] [paragraph]Having dolls and sewing for them makes me excited, because I'm hoping to develop a personal style out of what I make for them, so that by the time I'm ready to make myself clothing, I'll know what I want to make.[/paragraph]