Sock dresses and the anger they seem to generate.

Dolls have nothing but superficial beauty. They are art objects intended to be looked at and attractive, for the most part. They have no inner beauty or intangible personality or intelligence or skill set like a human who is not physically attractive can have.

People are not just focusing on the outfit, but of a very common trend in dolls shared by people who can't be bothered to do anything more than cut the toe off of a sock to dress their doll. If they can't be bothered to do that, they generally can't be bothered to give the doll a good faceup themselves with good materials or pay someone to give their doll a good faceup, can't be bothered to straighten or brush a wig, can't be bothered to set up lighting or compose interesting photographs, or set eyes straight. You see enough of these things and you start to see the trend. Sure they may be a professionally faceupped beautiful doll out there wearing a sock dress, the kind that is just the sock with the toe cut off, but that is not the norm.

I want to look at beautiful dolls when I am looking through the gallery. I am not concerned with the owner's feelings towards the doll, how much they supposedly love it, it's backstory or anything. I'm looking at photographs. If it makes me an elitist to not want to see unattractive or poorly styled dolls, then so be it.

I work hard to make sure my dolls meet my standards when I show them to others, and I generally feel I do well in that regard. I am happy with how they look. I am sure there are people who think my photography is mediocre, and I know I am not very creative when it comes to sets or posing, so there prob are people who think my dolls aren't wonderful. That doesn't bother me because I like how my dolls look. If someone is 100% happy with their badly put together sock dress wearing doll, then my opinion on how bad their doll looks shouldn't matter.

 

- Do you have an aversion to sock dresses?
No.

- Do you think it makes a doll less of a doll when it doesn't have what the avarage owner calls proper clothing?
No.

- Do you think less of the owner when they choose to either have a temporary sockdress or a permanent sock dress?
No.

- Let me now how you feel about sock dresses in general.
Okay, here's my opinion about it.
Outfit made from socks is great.
Creative and totally inexpensive.
I don't care if there's dollie wearing socks as their outfit.
Somehow, dolls look cute wearing socks as outfit.

 

OKay well I'm not going to answer the questions because i kind of just want to make a statement, herp. I usually do though.
Here's the thing, I can understand the aversion to sock dresses even though I had no idea it was that big of a deal :P

I think it's fine, though, as long as they are made into NICE sock dresses. I've even seen Lolita gowns made from socks ^^;; (Not that I expect that) but you know, put some effort into it. A nice looking tube top dress or something but don't just shove a sock over your doll and cut some holes in it, that's just LAME.
Really bad. THEN I would be upset, like Why'd you waste so much money on a doll if you're not gonna even try with it??

IF the dress was that bad I'd be expecting that the person JUST got their doll and they're going to upgrade clothes someday. Then, I guess it's okay.

 

Do you have an aversion to sock dresses?

No.

Do you think it makes a doll less of a doll when it doesn't have what the avarage owner calls proper clothing?

None of my business, and shouldn't be anyone else's either.

Do you think less of the owner when they choose to either have a temporary sockdress or a permanent sock dress?

Again, why should I be bothered about what someone else choses to do? It's not hurting me, so why should I care?

Let me now how you feel about sock dresses in general.

Not my doll, not my business.

 

Regarding "making the less of a doll"... The doll will always be A doll, no matter what it is. I feel like sticking a doll into a sock with the toe cut off, they're making it into more of a huggy toy than an art object. I don't have a problem with people who want a doll to love and cuddle in the same way as a stuffed animal, but I'm not interested in their pictures unless the doll tangibly beautiful or unique in addition to just being "well loved." My warm and fuzzy capacity for strangers on the internet is pretty low - I can't summon enthusiasm.


There's an annoying tendency on DoA to ask for opinions, then call people judgmental or accuse them of "needing to think they're better than other people" when they don't like something. It's a simple thing of taste and being interested or not. I think "anger" is much to strong a word (and in my previous post, I was using "rage" to be silly)... Most people have sock apathy or sock disdain. No one REALLY cares and people are more than willing to live and let live without saying anything. However, if you ask, no, a lot of us don't like them.

 

Here's my opinion: I bought the doll. If I wanna put it in a sock, then I'm gonna put it in a sock, temp/ugly or not. Like we say in the blogging biz, if you don't like it, then GTFO ;P

But is it seriously that much of a problem for people? o.O

 

First, please let me clarify that I wasn't calling the OP "silly". It's just silly to say that a doll is less of what it is just because of what it's wearing. If the question had been, "Do you think less of a doll when it doesn't have," et cetera, my answer would have been "No, I do not, and anyone who does needs to get over themselves."

Seriously, one of the things that attracts me most to BJD as a hobby is the whole do-it-yourself ethic. Maybe it's my gothic/punk roots, but DIY has always been one of my strongest drives. Somehow, it means more to me to be able to make something myself than to pay someone else to do it, whether it's fix my computer, cut and color my hair, or make Chae-ri clothes. When someone basically says "Screw you, I'm doing it myself," I applaud their efforts even if they're not up to my standards. If I look down on anyone, it's on those who feel that the more you spend on something, the more special it is. I'm not saying that anyone who spends $500 on an outfit is scum-sucking trash. I'm saying that the amount of money spent isn't, or shouldn't be, the final determining factor in how much something means to you.

I'm going to let Chae-ri pull me down off the soapbox now.

 

This.

I don't really care either way what people dress their dolls in, but when I'm looking at pictures, a doll wearing a sock with the toe cut off is not something I really wish to see.

Clothing made from the knit fabric of socks is perfectly fine - I enjoy using socks to get in-scale patterned knit fabrics. But that sort of "sock dress" is not (in my opinion) what the OP referred to when making this thread.

 

- Do you have an aversion to sock dresses?
nope. I actually plan to make a few just because of the controversy surrounding them; I think it's really kind of funny.

- Do you think it makes a doll less of a doll when it doesn't have what the avarage owner calls proper clothing?
lol, I thought subtractive modding was the only way to make it 'less,' or if it breaks? A poorly dressed or naked doll is still a doll.

- Do you think less of the owner when they choose to either have a temporary sockdress or a permanent sock dress?
Well, a temporary sock dress might be better than nudity, especially if it's cold. A permanent sock dress does seem kinda sad, though. If one is going that route, maybe make lots of different colored sock dresses...

- Let me now how you feel about sock dresses in general.
I think they're cute as a first outfit. I saw a puki in a sock dress that was super adorable, since you don't expect to see them on dolls that tiny. But if someone has had their doll for a year and still only has a sock dress for it... there are other easy outfits that don't require much effort. Maybe try a wrap dress with a safety pin, or a toga.

 

Really REALLY?! We're now living in a world where adults angst over sock dresses on a doll?

Wow.

Fortunately I have the perfect solution:

1. Find a picture of a doll in a sock dress.
2. Look at the top of your browser. There should be an arrow pointing to the left.
3. PUNCH THAT SUCKER.

 

Do you have an aversion to sock dresses?
No.

Do you think it makes a doll less of a doll when it doesn't have what the average owner calls proper clothing?
No! In my eyes, no matter what you do to a doll, it's still a doll. It just has a different look.

Do you think less of the owner when they choose to either have a temporary sockdress or a permanent sock dress?
If it's a bad looking sock dress, I do cringe a little. I'm not going to send them angry messages about it, because it's not my business and I'm not going to judge someone over something so petty. I know that not everyone is able to immediately buy a full wardrobe after buying the doll, and having a naked doll just chillin' out in the open can be kind of awkward. If the owner doesn't have the sewing ability to turn a sock into a bubble skirt with a fitted bodice, that's okay. Not everyone does.

Let me know how you feel about sock dresses in general.
I don't mind sock dresses. Just like sewing from a yard of fabric cut from the bolt, it can either be fugly or stunningly beautiful. If I don't like what I see, like Ostrich said, I just hit the back button on my browser.

 

Heh. I have so many unmatched socks, some of them with really cute patterns, that I don't mind making clothes out of them. When my first doll arrived, I hadn't bought any clothes for her, and she say around naked for a while. I felt bad, so used some scraps of denim from a pair of worn-out jeans to make her a skirt, and an unmatched sock with a cute pattern to make a top. And I would do it again! I don't care what the dress/top started out as. Right now, it's doll clothes. I'm not sorry that I don't have $100+ to drop on frilly Dollheart clothes for my dolls. In fact, none of them would even wear that sort of finery on a daily basis.

I have trouble justifying spending more on doll clothes than I do on my own. So no, no problem with sock clothes here.

 

You win. ^_________^

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA Best. Reply. Yet.

Personally, it's cloth. If I take it apart, sew it into something new, and turn it into clothing, it's no longer a "sock dress". When I see someone selling what is still a tube sock with an unfinished, uncentered neck-and-arm holes gouged into it, I eyeroll. I don't care if that's in a Box Opening thread, but selling it? Come on.

 

I guess my opinion is somewhat opposite to the general "my expensive doll should have expensive clothes" thing. Personally, I feel that since I am spending that much money on the doll, they can bloody well wear whatever I make them. I like making clothes though. Am I good at it? Maybe not. But I'm a self taught 'seamstress' and I've only been sewing a year. So what? I think a sock can make awesome clothes, and have actually seen some amazing hoodies and such made of socks. I think the general idea here is the fact that some people seem to think you've ruined a pretty doll if it isn't wearing the latest Dollheart fer or NineStyle jeans.

Like anything and just about everything else, people judge based on how much money you drop on an outfit, and frankly, I can't justify $40 on a top when I don't spend that for me. I'm very fashion conscious as an individual, and I personally dress myself very well, so naturally I want my dolls to be dressed well too- but that means making their clothes to the best of my ability. I bargain hunt for the cool things I wear, and I do the same for my dolls when the mood so takes me. There are very very few pieces of clothing in my collection that weren't made by me, and I must say that I'm alright with that and so are my dolls.

 

I have cute Hallowe'en socks that I have plans to make more shirts, shorts, skirts out of for my dolls. I see nothing wrong with sock clothing for dolls. The only thing that bothers me is people who judge someone for how their dolls look or how they're dressed. I don't like elitism.

 

Hey, thanks so much for posting that link! I've been dying to see it again because those sock outfits are so wonderfully creative. Obviously no one here is talking about those kinds of artistic sock interpretations being in anyway bad. Quite the contrary. What I find funny is that people are tossing around elitist accusations without seeming to actually read the posts here. If you read the posts, you'll find that the consensus here is that people believe making some honest effort in sock usage is just fine with them...it's the lazy 2 second cut-a-hole-and-slap-it-on that they don't care to see...not "hate" you for it, not "rage" at you because they're so appauled...just don't care to see it is all. Now if you want to dress your doll in a sock with nothing but a hole cut in it, even that's fine with people...just don't put a photo of it up in the gallery expecting positive responses and then being angry or hurt when people don't applaud your obvious lack of effort. That just doesn't make any common sense whatsoever...and who's really being the hater then?

It's kind of like this: you have a 500 word essay that's due. You blow it off and the morning it's due, you dash off a seven word sentence on the subject and hand that in. That's fine...you have every right to do that. It's your choice for whatever reason. But don't then go and accuse the teacher of being "elitist" when she gives you an "F" instead of an "A" because she feels you didn't put forth any effort. Don't go saying, "It's just because the teacher is an elitist and only likes the other students who are better writers." It's all about effort, you see.

 

^That's not a good analogy at all. Most of the people here who put their dolls in sock clothing aren't asking for the myriad asinine, offhand remarks on a lot of the threads here(I can't count the number of times I've read "At least it's not a sock dress'). When you're going to school you're going to learn.

 

But if you put a photo of your doll up in the gallery, you are most certainly asking for comments from others. That's exactly what the gallery is set up for...to present your doll to the forum and see what others think. And that's what I'm specifically talking about...not offhand, out of context comments in other threads.