Traditional Asian wear on your dolls?

I wish I had the knowledge to know if I was dressing mine in kimono accurately or not but alas I do not have that wealth of learning just yet. It taking me forever just to figure out how they go on! Luckily the kimono is mine's spring seasonal outfit so I have plenty of time to figure it all out. I love the intricate designs that they have. Kimonos are truly works of art.

 

I had a doll a long time ago who used to wear a kimono; I miss that doll. I'd really like to find some traditional korean clothing for my Minifee, but it's actually surprisingly hard to find any in any size. You'd think with the number of doll companies based in Korea it'd be easier!

 

The closest thing I have at the moment is pyjamas that are supposed to be Laotian... I wouldn't mind putting Vince in traditional Korean things, I think it would be cute. I mean, that's where he came to me from, after all.

What I find I really want, for the boy I'm saving for, is a cheongsam (I drew him in one once, as a cross-dressing lounge singer version of himself, and it was actually a quite good look...)

 

2 of my girls are partial to Chinese qipao inspired clothing. The on-topic one tends to emulate her off topic older sister and tends to end up being the younger version of said sister. I had wanted to buy some kimonos and yukata for the little sister but I get the feeling she won't wear them.

Its interesting to me that little sister is trying to influence me into attempting Chinese martial arts inspired clothing for the two bjd boys

 

A couple of my characters are Shinto priests so...yeah. It'll be cool if I can find them some ancient imperial Japanese clothing.

 

I'd love to see more ready-made West Asian clothing options, actually. I know Crobidoll did one outfit, and Soom did a couple that were West Asian-ish, but I find it surprising that there isn't more of it out there.

 

I might have a sort of strange point of view on kimono, but I don't really mind if I'm buying something that's SLIGHTLY inaccurate, as long as it looks good. However I don't know if I could ever let myself MAKE something without doing enough checking to be sure I was sewing it with historical accuracy. At the same time though I don't mind the idea of dressing up a male doll in a female styled kimono if it fits with his aesthetic. I don't know if I'll get some side-eying for this but I sort of think if you KNOW the rules for kitsuke and can admit that you're not following them, then it's okay to break them a little. I mean, look at all the anime characters in shows supposedly set in historical time-periods, I'm sure a lot of avid kimono fans can look at some of their outfits and think of how inaccurate they are. Sort of a side-note there I guess. XD I do wish there were more kimono available for purchase that WERE more appropriate for male dolls though. It's part of what motivates me to want to sew my own.

 

I know you probably mean East Asian garb, since that's pretty much what everyone's talking about, but I've started making a couple of traditional and indigenous Filipino outfits with a modern twist for my dolls. I have a ton of kids clothes from back in elementary when we had to dress up once a year in different indigenous outfits, so I thought I'd put all that to good use.

But they're not meant to be completely accurate either. More sort of 'inspired by'. )

 

I have a twiggy-yumi (elfdoll) with an asia face
so one of the first outfit I made for her was a kimono because of her asian look
but I will not dress my other doll with kimono because their world are more european than asian

 

I have a really lovely white kimono for one of my dolls. It came with some lovely jewelry as well, bought them from Lachlana. I also have a simple kimono made by a vendor at yaoi-con one year, but for the life of me I cannot remember who the seller was. Sorry.

I do plan on trying to get some traditional ancient Chinese style clothes made for when I get my twin minifee Mirwens. That isn't for some time though. However I plan on doing the characters Ryuuen and Kourin Chou from Fushigi Yugi. They will have normal modern day clothes however I would like at least one outfit for each from the "past".

 

I absolutely love Asian wear for the dolls both male and female. I just bought a gorgeous kimono for my friend's doll and I'm considering on getting one for my Aideen now.

 

I think Asian wear is very beautiful,I love it! I plan to get Iplehouse Asa and she will wear japanese kimono).And also I want another Asa for Disney's Mulan -she would wear Chinese national dress(or costume,don't know how to name it correctly).
If i get Soo,she would also need some Asian wear

 

I've made kimonos for most of my dolls and am guilty of that with a couple of them-am going to have to re-make them.

They're deceptive-more complicated than people think if you want them to look right. And don't get me started on hakama-the two pairs I've made have been...less than optimal.

 

Being a student of Chinese language, history and culture, to say that my dolls have some Chinese inspiration is probably an understatement. Not just one style either - one is dressed in a Han Dynasty Hanfu, another stands in Tang Dynasty Hanfu, a third is a Qing Dynasty prince. Also the owner of a Jiang Shi doll, Chinese vampire, dressed up in a handsome changshan (made by Angell-Studio, but I think the outfit was limited).
I know how to hand make some of these outfits myself, but only in human size, I've not been able to scale them down yet ^^; Pictures...I could take only of two of my dolls, as they are the only ones I have with me at uni. I'll take some and show later if people want.

 

Yup! Ren is Japanese and he's had three yukata, a Shingengumi haori, several pairs of tabi, and waraji. I just love making Japanese clothing because of how simple they are, once you de-code the social class/age/gender/period rules and such. But I'll admit I'm very guilty of breaking gender/period rules (by putting a boy in a bright red kimono with a gold datari obi) As long as you know and understand the general kitsuke rules, I think it's okay to breaks them a little. lol

VOLKS is a Japanese company...you'd think they would know how to make an accurate kimono...? Oiran-style obi on a guy, oh my God.

 

I really love the look of the traditional asian clothing but I have trouble finding it for my dolls. The ones I have managed to find are lower in quality and with such elegant clothing the details matter.

 

I also think it's strange that companies don't sell a lot of traditional clothing. Mostly it's fantasy stuff, vaguely inspired by chinese clothing (don't get me wrong, those are also really nice) or modern versions with colours or patterns you would never ever find in traditional clothing.
But it's also really hard to make something for most female dolls, because their breasts are solid and often really big. ^^; So it wouldn't look right, if you'd just make a commong Hanbok, for example.

 

Well, there's traditional (look) and totally accurate traditional (or historical) costume... And I don't really do either. Much too difficult. Although, I agree--that kimonos with a bit more fabric so that they don't show everything when a doll sits would be nice!

Way back at the Volks L.A. Mansion Tea Party in 2006, I got the Shirou Tachibana One-Off at the top of this photo of the display...
06-08-VolksTeaParty-P8050157 by aprilllee, on Flickr

I also bought a kimono at the Volks L.A. Dolpa. And I have one from ebay Kimono-Japan. They are close, but not accurate... But still nice enough. And at least some are at least from the origin country!

My dolls don't always wear these, though. Actually, they rarely wear them... (which is too bad, actually. I should go and dress them up in them again sometime!)

----added--
I just bought a traditional Korean outfit from Ms. Cholong for one of my dolls to wear at the up-coming Korean BJD Show in L. A. Oh! And I just got a Korean BJD girl who could wear it, too!

I have some fantasy Chinese clothes that I've never used so far. And a fabulous black lace cheung-sam by AsnButterfly that I bought at the Volks L.A. Dollpa.

 

All three of my dolls have kimonos, not the most historically accurate kimonos but they are fun and I rather enjoy the look of them.

 

I have kimono that I purchased because I think they're beautiful, but it's only been worn once since I purchased it. I don't have any girls that are big into the Japanese culture yet, and I don't have an Asian girl yet (heritage wise). Which is disappointing, because it's such a beautiful outfit. :/ I find a lot of the kimono outfits very expensive, which is why I tend to shy away from them (and doll clothing purchases in general). I have a kimono myself that was a gift from my time in college when I directed, designed, and produced a One Act play set in 1900s Japan. I found two kimonos in storage and had the other two made for my cast--and their gift to me was a beautiful pink and gold brocade one. I should wear it to a meet sometime and dress one of my girls (or boys) in the kimono for some fun photos.

Just in general, I find ethnic and historical clothing very lovely. It's just super expensive when you find it on sale or very time consuming to make. I'd love to find easy patterns and try my hand at making some outfits this summer.