What kind of fashion style do you typically gravitate towards for your dolls?

Since most of my dolls are elves, I tend to dress them in fantasy or renaissance faire attire. I do have a few modern outfits - especially for my small dolls that fit into fashion doll clothes - but I tend to dress them for the world I wish I could live in. Or Halloween!

 

Right now my girl exclusively wears lolita (or her fullset). I plan to style her in punk too but I haven't found anything her size that fits the look I'm going for. Really though I'm pretty open to anything as long as it's fun and creative! I don't think I could style her in modern casual wear for that reason, but everything's on the table as far as I'm concerned.

 

Generally my rule of thumb is I put my dolls in clothes I can't wear, which can cover a lot. I have an inclination for goth or goth adjacent clothes though.

 

I mostly go for fashion subculture type outfits, like lolita fashion, and recently jiraikei. My one rule is it either has to be detailed, or part of a fashion subculture -- I don't really do casual ever unless its a semi-casual form of a fashion style.

I don't personally wear anything from any fashion subcultures (yet?) but I definitely dress my dolls based on the styles I enjoy seeing the most (taking their character personality into account a bit too of course). Anything lolita, gothic, punkish, etc is my favourite.

I'm not really a fan of modern casual even with irl clothes so its not surprising that I don't tend to go for that with dolls either.

 

I mostly like to put them in fashion styles I admire the look of, but don't want to wear myself. Ludovica and her OT mini-me have a lot of jirei kei/punk style outfits.

 

The majority of my dolls are regular humans in a normal world, and their fashion varies, but it's all mostly stuff real people would wear. I think I have more goths than any other style (probably because that's more my own style), but I also have punk, emo, rocker, 80s Barbie girl, K-pop, skater, Disney inspired, casual and probably more. I do have a fantasy world group too, though it's much smaller, and one of the girls wears only gold clothing, one is a statue and either goes naked or in very thin grey drapey clothing, and the other wears whatever fits the world/dimension/timeframe she visits. I like having a variety, it means I can usually find a use for any doll clothes I fall in love with!

 

I love to dress my dolls in "themes" where everyone wears the same sorts of clothes but has their own distinctive style. Currently the themes are - kimono (they spend half the time wearing kimono), modern casual, modern suits, and a few of them have strayed into a dark fantasy theme. Eventually I'd like everyone to have techwear/cyberpunk outfits.

I think my dolls dress like me more than I care to admit. Not in what they wear, but how they wear it. Everyone's style is usually simple and understated, maybe a couple of layers, a silhouette that follows and flatters their body shape, very few adornments or jewellery or "extras" if they have any at all, but the fabrics usually have distinctive prints and designs. And no one wears dresses (at least, not yet), although one of the two girls wears skirts. It's a rather masculine household overall. And that's ... pretty much the way I dress myself.

I remember deciding whether I wanted my dolls to wear Japanese kimono or Chinese hanfu for an East Asian flavour, and choosing kimono because they felt simpler and more understated (and easier to handle) than hanfu. Still haven't bought a hanfu for anyone. I've tried looking at more elaborate clothing like fantasy or Western period or Lolita or scene, not to mention jewellery and accessories, to see if something catches my fancy. But my eyes glaze over and I lose interest pretty quickly.

 

When I started, I admit I put much more effort in my dolls' clothing than in mine, but dressing them has made me more aware of what I own and wear. Still, the ones that are girls like me dress styles I'd never be brave enough to wear (a little too revealing).
Anyway, my family has two sides: (1) the human-like dolls, who all were casually like nowadays casual styles though some usually lean more into the elegant side and others into the sporty style, and (2) the anthro dolls, who wear very simple pieces (usually just one shirt/pants and no shoes) accordingly to the conditions of their planets of origin.

 

the vast majority of my dolls are girls, and each one has her own personal style vibe for sure-- i try to make sure each one is unique and always dress them in character. my overall inspirations are a soup of couture, 90s fashion, and punk/goth vibes-- which makes sense since i myself was a black clad, green haired 90s kid who enjoyed listening to Danzig and reading Vogue. i don't dress any of them according to a specific subculture though. nobody in my collection really does ultra casual stuff like jeans, t-shirts and sneakers; their looks always tend to be a bit more dramatic/dressed up, while still generally being in the realm of things a real person could wear. i do have a couple dolls that i plan to make fantasy outfits for as alternates, since they represent characters i've created in games with a fantasy setting, but i most prefer dressing those ones in their "modern AU" looks too. i sew all my dolls' clothing for the most part, and it's a really fun way for me to engage with my long-time interest in fashion design.

 

I mean... where does casual end and subculture start? I dress my dolls in what I'd call casual clothes usually but they do have obvious flairs and influences from elsewhere (definitely some mori, lolita, gyaru, techwear in there). They have their own distinct styles to an extent as well but usually I like them to be able to share clothes so it gets blurred a little. What I tend to avoid or pass on are formal wear and fantasy costumes but I do like a little cosplay every once and a while. I don't think it's all too far from what I'd wear myself but obviously it's faster to make doll clothes out of scraps than make the same thing for myself so I do admit living fashion through my dolls a little

 

I usually dress my dolls regarding their oc's. I have some MNF and one of them is a witch so he has a beautiful witch dress, another one is a vampire so she has a glamourous dress, etc... The only doll than can change her style completely is my Lusion Dell since i love to change not her oc but her style. But that's because I dress her as I would dress my daughter, with cute clothes and also with dark elegant gothic clothes since I'm a gothic person in mu soul and, sometimes I still dress as i was 20.

 

Casual as most items are easy to find in the sizes I need. If I have a hard to find clothes for doll I will then get them at least lounge wear and a nice outfit like a hakana for a boy and a kimono for a girl for meet up special outfit.

 

My Tinies are all dressed casual, mostly neutrals or pastels. My kid said one of them looked a little emo but I don’t think she does, lol! They have a wide range of personalities, but I dress most of them like I did as a kid or other kids I knew growing up. I think the one staple is headwear, almost all of them wear a headband or hat.

 

Depending on the character.

My tinies wear cute styles, with lots of colours, ornaments and accessories, school uniforms, pyjamas, etc. just like a toddler would wear.

Aya, my Una, has a very feminine and alternative style in pastel tones. She portrays a very happy and positive character. She likes to combine clothes and has a certain interest in fashion.

Milo, my MSD, has a casual style, a bit punk. He likes music and he plays in a band but he is quite sloppy and lazy and prefers comfort over looks.

Mihael, (Yes he's a Leeke Mihael lol so original I know) He dresses a bit ‘random’ stuff that doesn't really match and is very simple, as he represents a character that has no attachment to anything human, so he has no sense or interest in fashion.

 

Fashion…whoo, boy! I’m a slave to it insofar as my dolls are concerned. I initially got into this hobby in the first place to freely explore my love of fashion. The idea that I could create a doll character to wear a certain subculture of clothing was absolutely irresistible to me. I’m an older collector, and have given up all my years of cosplay (from well before there was such a term) and historic reenactment pursuits. These days I prefer to dress solely for comfort myself, but my long fascination with fashion persists. So I went about creating characters to wear whatever category of fashion piqued my interest, and what a fascinating journey it’s been!

Of course this grew my numbers at a steady rate, and after nearly two decades I’m at 61 dolls. But It’s given me the opportunity to explore so many fascinating fashion trends…from fantasy to historic, retro, cyber punk, gothic, mori kei, lolita, steampunk, and many of the fascinating Harajuku street styles. It’s been so much fun! Every doll has a distinctive signature style, and fortunately I can draft my own patterns and sew. I have entire dressers and chests full of doll clothes. I do have one staple that was entirely purchased however, and that is my gorgeous collection of hats for my SD girls from an extremely talented artisan on Etsy. I even purchased a special cabinet just to display these treasures:

 

So, a ton of my dolls come out gothy. I actively have to try to fight it, to have any variety in aesthetics. The black clothes come out, the black lipstick is always a temptation when I do faceups. I’m a very low-effort goth, when I’m not toning it down for corporate life. I have a few dolls who are doing a very detail-heavy white look, and my other default look is Very Pink. The pink look is almost a counter measure to the nonstop goths. Sometimes it’s pastel goth, sometimes it’s just very pink. My favourite is pairing a goth doll with a very pink doll. I own one pink article of clothing irl, but I like the look of my highly pink dolls.

I also play with gender so much with dolls. I have men in femme clothes, and women in masc clothes, and nonbinary characters who are androgynous and also nonbinary characters who aren’t. You can absolutely tell I fixated on Judith Butler in university, because I very much mess with gender presentation! I also have characters that are men on “female” bodies, and characters that are women on “male” bodies, and nonbinary characters on bodies that are usually gendered one way or the other, so the way I mess with the gendering of clothes crosses over to the way I mess with the gendering of bodies. I’m personally nonbinary, but I present SUPER femme, and so maybe that’s why a ton of my dolls don’t present in the “expected” way for their genders.

 

I try to dress my dolls according to their characters, but one thing that seems to be a common through-line between them all is "cozy." It's hardly surprising, given that my own taste in clothing tends toward a style I refer to as "librarian chic." No matter how much I try to stay away from it, cardigans and turtlenecks manage to worm their way into each of my dolls' wardrobes.

That said, I do have dolls that wear specific substyles. In my resin crew, I have both goth/punk and country western represented. My anime girls tend to get the most variation from my wheelhouse, though, as I feel much freer to dress them in idealized, unrealistic outfits than my resins. With my resin group, I frequently consider what they would realistically wear given the weather and their lifestyles. With my vinyl girls, I'm like "Anime doesn't go by real life rules! Put them in something cute!"

 

I wear Lolita, so I’m working on sewing a Lolita coord for my guy. But he mostly wears pretty casual clothes, it might be silly of me but I want him to be comfy.

 

Mori, Boho, or fantasy stuff generally.