How Extensive is Your Dolly Wardrobe?

My dolls have vastly, VASTLY more clothes than I do. And I don't mean "all of them together", each of them has. Which is partly because I have very little clothes for myself on purpose...I am a two pants, two pullovers, etc. type of person
However, I'd argue that after some time in the hobby (15 years for me), and a certain amount of dolls (16 BJDs that can wear clothes, 10 Blythe) that just can't be avoided.
Even if each of my BJDs only had ONE pair of pants, that still makes for 16 pair of pants!

Anyway, I do have "main" outfits for each of them, that are usually very specific. Like full cowboy garb for my Iplehouse Rebecca. Those are not shared between them, it's like what they'd constantly wear in a cartoon
I also have some more outfits that are usually doll-exclusive (like a winter garb for them, or anything else that is very specific to their character and their style/story). Next to that I have things that they can share to a certain degree, like basics (simple shirts, pants and co.). I also keep buying things when anything is released that is just perfect for one of them, so even if a doll already has a bunch of outfits I won't stop.
Since they are often very specific though, and it often comes down to me actually having to commission their stupid outfits, I thankfully cannot be tempted easily.

So I do like to buy clothes, and I do have a good bunch of them, but it's nowhere near excessive. It's an appropriate amount considering how long I've been collecting and how many dolls I have

 

My doll wardrobe is probably kind of horrifying... I have a bit under 20 1/3 scale dolls currently with some other outliers, and I'm not really happy unless every doll has a full wardrobe. I make most everything myself, though I also enjoy occasionally collecting second hand clothes and shoes or treating myself to something that is really perfect for someone.
A full doll wardrobe for me really only needs to entail enough variety that I can actually use it but keep them fresh. Two shoe options, a few different outfits and weather appropriate options, a coat or sweater, etc. Realistically some dolls will wear the same outfit for a year even when I have options and others I might change every two months.
Some of my old cherished characters have massive person-like wardrobes. At one point... My doll Kam had a collection of like 12 or 15 hats. Hats! (I've since divided them amongst some other characters and probably sold others I don't remember).
My dolls in addition have a mostly communal stash of jewelry, accessories, shoes and wigs. Meaning there is overlap in who uses what because it's all part time anyway.
I honestly think the level of clothing and everything I have for them is a bit weird and what really shows that these dolls are the absolute center of my life. It's a bit of a lifestyle commitment! I realized in the last few years that sometimes less is more, so I've been working on condensing but some dolls keep their huge wardrobes because I just think it's kinda neat.

 

I spent all my funds on dolls instead of doll clothes so the situation is between Very Bad and Not Good.
No one is naked at least

 

I'm new in the hobby, so there's a lot of clothes sharing until I have the time to whip out my sewing machine. No one is naked, but one of my SD10 girls is currently wearing Isao's fullset shirt...she's second in the sewing queue after my poor underwear-less MSD-F-05

 

I enjoy shopping for doll clothes and accessories more than I enjoy shopping for dolls, so....um....yeahhh......

I have a spreadsheet to keep track of what each doll owns (number, not individual pieces). I require each doll to have 10 tops, 3 bottoms, a jacket/coat, underwear, socks, 3 accessories and 2 pairs of shoes that are not shared between any of them. There are a few pieces that are shared, but don't count in any individual doll's wardrobe. After they have their minimum requirements, it becomes whatever I find that I'd like for them. Lumi is my spoiled brat, and currently he has 16 tops, 10 pairs of pants, 12 jackets/cardigans, 4 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of underwear, a pair of socks...and...um....65 accessories (jewelry, hats, scarves, belts, etc).....

 

All their clothing together takes more space than my own, but I guess that's not that surprising since I don't personally have that many clothes, and I do have 17 dolls (that would wear clothing to begin with). Counting by pieces the first few dolls of mine have each way more than I do, but then I learned to sew well enough to go "yeah, I could just sew that myself" whenever looking at doll clothes, so I pretty much stopped buying any more even though I rarely actually end up replicating any of those things I previously would have bought. And in general, I don't get around to sewing anything to completion that often, so the newer dolls have been lucky if they even have one full outfit for themselves...

 

I need to get a new container to hold all the doll clothes i have it can barely close LOL
I can't help it, there's so many cute clothes out there...

 

I also am a bit surprised that so many of us have such big wardrobes for them! I think that's awesome though

 

When I got these dolls, I wanted to dress them and redress them the way you'd want to do so with fashion dolls. Because I am a weirdo and must keep sealed boxes sealed, I never did that with Barbie (other OT fashion dolls). When I got my first hybrid doll of these kind (2003-2004), I sewed for her almost once a week if not more often. So, she did at some point have many clothes to choose from. Then, as I got pickier but not better at sewing (as well as older and lazier with age!), I slowed down quite a lot! Most of my more "recent" BJD don't even have a proper single set of clothes. DX Although, my second most recent resin doll is from more than ten years now and the newest one is probably a year and change. I haven't made enough for anyone anymore, and I can't say it bothers me (not bothered literally at all!). I dislike that I am picky about things, but I dislike it more that sewing has become a literal chore for me, when I kind of used to enjoy it back when I was still youthful (I'm an old-fart, I know it no excuse!). Lol!

Some of my dolls have a not too shabby amount of shoddily-handmade clothes, others have barely a crappy pair of pants and possibly no shirt/top to speak of. (:

 

That long middle shelf is double-stacked boxes of dolls clothes and shoes. There are a few more boxes on other shelves in that room too.

Each of my dolls... probably have more clothes than I do, if averaged out and taking the shared items into account, but it's hard to assess as I'm a costumer, away from my dolll hobby, so I've got rails of costumes dating back 30 odd years (many of whihc I also wore as everyday clothes (my winter coat, for example, is a late 14th Century styale garment that I've also worn for historical events) so it depends whether they are included or not.

Having said that, I have a plan that each of my dolls ill have a specific core wardrobe, and I'm nowhere near achieving that (well, that's an assumption, I've never pulled everything out and made the lists for each of them, I'm too disorganised), but I tend to get sidetracked by getting inspired by a fabric and sewing somethign for one of them, or buying an outfit that catches my eye... etc.

Teddy

 

Well, I do like having a variety... it's not getting over my head yet, but obviously as time goes on I'll also sew more and the previous sewings don't go anywhere I'm in the perpetual "well they have clothes to wear but do they really have their own casual and formal and fantasy and another casual outfit?" I also feel every photoshoot calls for new clothes so... yeah. I need to get more boxes.

 

I'm a doll owner who does not have many outfits for my crew.

I've discovered, to my great horror, that I approach buying BJD clothes the same way as I buy clothes for myself: it sometimes feels like crawling over broken glass, and if I'm not in the mood to crawl over broken glass, nothing is going to make me do it. And when I'm in the mood, I get overwhelmed easily: trawling through shops and staring at so many clothes is just so tedious, I just want to get it over with as quickly as possible, and if I can't, I find myself getting frustrated and just give up. (And don't get me started on the headache that is finding clothes that can fit my dolls properly.) I actually kind of hate this: I don't find buying other BJD stuff such as eyes, shoes and props, nearly as agonizing as buying BJD clothes!

I think this is partly because I have a pretty strong vision for what my dolls' fashion is, I can visualize their outfits and styles in my head perfectly well. This is good and bad. Good because I know what I want when I see it, and have no hesitation in buying it. Bad because nothing short of that perfect gut feeling will work, and I'm probably rejecting potential pieces too quickly out of hand.

Some clothing styles are easier to shop for than others too. Casual and modern clothing is tedium central, separates make my head spin, I don't know what goes well together anyway. I do better when shopping for full casual outfit sets -- at least I don't have to figure out how to mix and match separates to get something coherent. (I can barely do it when dressing myself.) On the other hand, I don't think I can own too many kimono/hakama outfits for my dolls, haha - somehow, this is a lot easier for me to buy!

I'm actually quite happy with my crew having a small wardrobe. I'd rather expand it slowly and buy clothes only when I'm in the mood, if it means I avoid frustration. I don't mind that my dolls stay in the same outfits for weeks, even months at a time -- because those are outfits that were bought/made specifically to fit each doll's fashion scheme. Seeing my dolls in clothes so appropriate for their characters gives me a lot of pleasure, I don't care that they have only one set of it! I'm also learning how to sew, so I can make clothes for my dolls that exactly fit my vision and their styling. Trying to fit my own vision into other people's tailoring can be so troublesome.

Ugh, I'm both amused and annoyed that I buy clothes for my BJDs with an equal mix of enjoyment and pissing-and-moaning - same ways as I buy clothes for myself. I kinda wish this wasn't the case, but it is what it is, lol!

 

This! Shopping for doll clothes and accessories stresses me out! I think for me, however, a major reason is that I don't have characters for my dolls and I simply cannot conjure up what clothes they "would like". I have a very clear sense of style when it comes to my own wardrobe, but it wouldn't be any fun to dress all my dolls how I dress myself..!

I'm also happy with only having a few pieces for each doll, though I'm hoping to pick up sewing when I'm done with all my faceups!

 

Some of my dolls, okay two have a limited wardrobe due to size or fact they are only here out of sentiment. While others are sharing or in the case of Parker, my Irrealdoll Nur she was supposed to be a travel doll, but soon as she could travel we couldn't due to Covid. Her face up took a while. Anyway in photos you can see I am lucky enough to have a whole room. Bonus room in basement was son's room some 17 years ago. I have been in this hobby for almost 16 now. Anyway they all definitely have more then me, but they look great.

The BJD Room

 

Not nearly as extensive as I’d like it to be, haha. I’ve always been someone who’d rather have one doll with 20 outfits than 20 dolls with one outfit each, but I’m really only interested in fantasy clothes for 1/4 scale male dolls so my options are few and far between. I currently have 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, 1 pair of shorts, 1 tunic, several head accessories, and a hooded scarf for my doll. Luckily he’s got hooves so I don’t need to worry about shoes. I’d like to add a cloak and some cold weather clothes soon, because I like to keep him dressed for the season, but who knows if I’ll actually get around to making them in time. He’ll definitely get a nice scarf in time for autumn, though!

 

It’s really easy to hoard clothes for tinies, and I only have yosd and smaller, so their wardrobe is pretty extensive. I tend to keep a doll in the same outfit once I find what fits their character but if I get something new I will swap a couple around. I really need to sell some that I don’t use anymore but I’m not hurting for storage space so I just ignore the evidence of my past consumerism

 

Man, I badly want some interchangeable clothes for my BJD’s…but despite having 9 of them, not one has a completed outfit

All of my dolls are high fantasy characters and exist in a fae world, so it’s really hard to find things that I feel suit their specific aesthetics well enough.

And looking for clothes is so hard for me. Like some of the others have said on here, I get super overwhelmed and don’t know where to even start, much less how to decide on something. A few times I’ve tried finding just some pieces of outfits that I could then take into the direction I see their aesthetics being in, but I’m not very skilled at seeing how one piece can be incorporated into an outfit, and that makes it very hard too :/

For the most part I’ve decided their fantasy clothes will probably have to be handmade by me, which I don’t mind doing! Except my sewing machine is down right now so that’s not possible LOL

They will however all have 80’s outfits, so that’s going to be a lot more doable as far as finding things. But like I said before, all the sifting and sorting through options is a pain in the butt…

HOWEVER, I shall prevail! Eventually!

 

I began this hobby back in 2006, with an eye towards the creativity of it all and a strong desire to explore my life-long love of fashion. I collected fairly slowly…consistently adding about 3 dolls per year (but yeah, do the math!) Once all my layaways finally arrive by the end of this year, that will make 55 dolls. And since each character was designed with a specific fashion style in mind, that will equal 55 full wardrobes of 3-5 full outfits (or more) per doll! This equals 2 full-sized dressers filled with nothing but doll clothes, in addition to various decorative boxes and small trunks placed decoratively and strategically throughout my home. Myself? I dress simply with an eye towards comfort at this stage in my life. But my dolls? It’s all about my love of fashion for them.

I’ve bought a few things for them over the years whenever I’ve seen something I’ve loved that would suit their characters. But I’d say 95% I’ve made myself. For me, sewing for them became as essential as doing their faceup, wig and eyes. I simply didn’t consider them complete without a wardrobe in their particular fashion style. It was such a fun exploration of fashion for me! How did I do it? I joined in on the monthly sewing projects in the workshop area here on DoA. Someone else ran them all those years ago, and I was happy to join in every month. With my slowly growing collection of characters, I could always find a willing fashion victim to suit whatever theme was specific for that month. And when the original project creator left, I stepped in to keep the threads going and just continued joining in.

And exactly how dedicated am I to the idea of fashion for my crew? Well, I even have a separate collection of amazingly artistic hats just for my SD girls, all made by a very talented Etsy artisan. My 7 SD girls have a collection of 31 hats by this particular hatmaker. Each one is an absolute work of art, and “the girls” and I just can’t resist them! That’s dedication to fashion, y’all!

 

My goal is that every doll in my core collection should have all the clothes that their caracter should have in their world.
All of them except the newest has at least a couple of choices for basics. There is plenty of under wear. Most have things like sleepwear and a few things for special ocations as well. About half have proper cold weather clothes, with jackets in especcially short supply. It's an ongoing project and I'm not in any hurry.
One day my dolls will be able to go ot and play in the snow together, but for now, not all can join in.

In addition to that I allow myself to make stuff for them just for fun. I have a fair number of traditional costumes that none of them would ever wear if they were in charge. I have ballgowns for most of the girls and a few of the guys have outfits for a similar setting, but again, probably would never wear them in "their world". In that context the dolls are just mannequins for me to make fun projects for.

For my other dolls (odd sizes, fantasy creaturees etc.) they are a bit all over the place. Some have boxes of stuff, some barely have enough to appear in public. It's an ongoing thing, one day I will get around to make things for them all, I'm sure.

I do sew most of my own clothes, both for my dolls and for my real life warderobe, so there isn't really any limitations other than what I have the energy and motivation to do. But I am often low on both, so... well.

 

I prefer to sew my dolls' clothes, but Lucrezia definitely has more clothes than Lukas. I can't help it that there are so many more cute options to sew for girls than for boys!

 

I have such a hard time finding tiny outfits that I like..I tend to not like any crocheted/knitted etc stuff so that makes it harder...

 

It definitely took a long time to find good sources and I made a lot of buying mistakes along the way. If you’re looking for resources, you could check out or post in the tiny doll discussion category.

 

Some of my gang have one or two outfits that suit them so well that I don't feel like they really need anything else...
Others have wardrobes more extensive than my own...

I collect doll clothes almost as intently as I collect the dolls themselves, though, and I sew quite a bit for the crew, too. It was sort of inevitable that the fashionistas over here would end up with a lot of choice.

 

Right? Historical styles can add some fun for the guys, but modern (Western in particular) style? Girls have all the fun! Plus, it's so easy to just whip up a gathered rectangle skirt compared to even a pair of sweatpants.

 

This is true for my collection as well. For the longest time, all the boys clothes fit in one box while the girls had one box each. At the time I had four boys and four girls.
The one doll I have that wears sweet lolita clothes has a warderobe easily twice the size of any of the others and that goes for accessories, shoes and wigs as well. She is so easy to both shop and craft for, it's hard not to.
But that's in line with her character, so that's my excuse.

 

My MSD boys have a ton of clothes and shoes, but they tend to share things. I sew and knit their clothes, so sometimes I make something for a specific doll and sometimes I just make something basic like jeans or a tshirt they can all wear. My favorite it making them all outfits that loosely coordinate… they probably have too much clothing. But then, I have too much clothing too so I can’t get mad at them!

 

It's literally just inspiration for me. My first bjd, Quinn, got a lot of clothes because I was experimenting with designing and sewing a lot. The rest of my dolls after her basically just got what I was inspired for. So a lot of them have anywhere from 1 to 3 outfits.

 

My dolls definitely have more clothes than I do. I wish it was organized more clearly. But I'm messy and I never put anything back where I took it from. Then it happens that I find t-shirts in the drawer labeled "socks" and it makes me angry. I wish I had a separate room for doll stuff. However, I don't live in a dream, so in real life it looks like my living space is getting smaller and their wardrobe is getting bigger.

 

I love different clothes, wigs & accessories!
Already have two suitcases full of stuff for two dolls.

 

First started out small since I didn't focus on clothing that much due to having more 1/12 scales, but as I got larger dolls, it's beginning to expand. Although, I have more non BJD clothing for them than dolls clothes meant for BJDs.

 

I have 2 feet of storage under my bed and most of that is taken up with double stacked flat bins of doll clothes. Each bin covers 2 - 5 characters worth of clothing, though there is some sharing.

And it still feels like they never have anything to wear!

 

I feel you!
Before my doll went to GB for her new face up, I changed her clothes daily and still find beautiful dresses for her.

 

I make them a lot of clothes. As I am getting better with sewing I am making different things for them not just shirts and long boy shorts. The boys have a bigger wardrobe then the girls. I will make them even more clothes. They have a lot of long sleeved shirts. I want to make them t-shirts next, and some more hoodies. They have their own drawers, and the drawers are packed. .

 

I'm more into BJDs for the sculptural aspect rather than fashion (although I definitely appreciate the artistry of the amazing clothing sets I've seen!). I'd personally rather have more resin/dolls than clothing, so my goal would be to have one outfit/wig for each doll, and I'd feel satisfied.

 

I probably have too many clothes xD
I've been buying many sets and clothing pieces over the past 13 years and, even if my characters have changed and their style with them, I haven't put up for sale a single piece yet (and I really should, now that I think about it). I have sewn a few pieces myself too, but they are not very well constructed in general, only a few are up to my usual standards. That said, I find myself looking at and wanting to buy more shoes than I do clothing.
Would I say my dolls have a human-sized wardrobe? With my main reference being myself, a person who is not really interested in fashion and doesn't have a too big of a wardrobe, the answer is still a 'no'. I don't have a spreadsheet with all the clothing, so I can't be completely sure as of right now, but in general I think they have two or three different outfits for each temperature (hot or cold) and that's the extent it.

 

One outfit per doll! I used to have more, but I like them all best in the default clothing for their character.

 

My doll clothing collection is small so far, but I do love collecting outfits for my dolls, so I think it will get really big and likely surpass my own clothes someday.
One of the biggest appeals of BJD for me is the dress-up aspect after all.

 

The best part is clothes I try not to think about how much I have and just focus on the happiness it brings me xD Everything looks good on dolls so there's alot less guessing vs buying clothes for myself.

 

I collect vintage clothes for myself so to say I like clothes is an understatement lol I have specific aesthetics in mind for my dolls which is not so easy to shop for which is probably a good thing because they'd have a LOT more than they do now and that's expensive enough

 

For someone who doesn't change their clothes once I have found an outfit/style I like for them, I have way too many clothes saved up lol I'm just really bad as selling what I don't want anymore because who knows when I might need them, and I have regretted selling some stuff in the past.

 

I currently own 82 full dolls and I'd say that only maybe 4 of them don't/can't wear clothes. I make 98% of their clothes and really enjoy doing so and I've been in the hobby for 16 years now. That's a LOT of clothes. I have them separated into bins by general size (tiny/msd/sd) and further sub-divided into specific size ranges (50cm, 65cm, 20cm, etc.) as well as some outfits that are doll specific due to oddities of their bodies. Like Vasyl has pants that are only his due to him having a strung-on scorpion tail or Khemia's shirts because he has the DV 3-arm body. There's also the fun of having individual clothes within a specific height size because gods forbid that two 50cm boys from different companies be of a size that they can wear the same size of pants.

And with all that clothing you'd think that I'd change my boys into all the fun, cool outfits frequently. You'd be wrong. Some of my boys have been in the same outfit for literally years because I'm more about the making of the cool outfit than switching up the outfits on the regular. I know this and yet I'll still make more stuff.

 

I have a trolley and two small suitcases by now, but also gave my friend some stuff as well.

 

I am a clothes horse as a human who loves to dress according to my whims.

For my dolls, I try to ensure they have the basics (socks and underthings), a fantasy outfit and a street one. I also try for a few pairs of shoes.

I have to keep them visible or I will forvet they exist. But I do have a pile of ones that I bought that do not fit the girly's or guys I bought them for.

Similar to another post, I am trash at selling.

 

Same here!
I also love the process of dressing and trying different styles, it´s so relaxing.

 

I have a closet of dolls and 3 to 4 closet of doll clothes, maybe. The tricky part is that I seldom change their clothes, since those on them are so beautiful, I feel bad to took them off, even though another ones I am going to put them on are also beautiful.
Now I am really forcing myself changing their outfits more often.
I don't really care about what I wear everyday, since I stay at home most of time, and I want to feel comfortable. Dressing my doll is another thing, I feel very cheerful and pleased by looking them with well made clothes, noticing how magic and genius the tailor put on the very small details.
Now I am not only collecting dolls, but doll clothes.
Last year my partner gave me a sewing machine as Christmas gift. I find myself browsing doll patterns and fabric. I guess soon I will also have a closet for them.

 

It's only hoarding if you don't use them, imo!
Best of luck getting all that organized, Teddy.

I'm in the middle of a clothing organization project myself - the under bed storage system I was using before was overflowing with all my vinyl girls' clothing, even after a purge or two of all the stuff I wasn't really using. Now I've got a medium sized plastic chest of drawers in my doll room/office that I've been moving everything to, and I'm using vacuum bags to really cram everything in. Even so, I've decided that only 12 of my dolls will get a full wardrobe, and I'm only getting them enough clothes to fill one of those vacuum bags each. That way I'll be able to fit everything in that drawer setup! Clothes are my favorite thing about the hobby, so managing the space they all take up is QUITE a challenge...

 

More extensive than my own

 

I got my first doll earlier this year and I bought a "large" storage box for her outfits, same as the one I put all of my summer clothes in... it's full already... My next doll will be able to share clothes but I think I am going to need an actual wardrobe soon

 

Between me liking to sew and a dear friend who sold me two of her dolls and included a *ton* of stuff, I have an absolutely ridiculous number of outfits for my crew.

 

I have a trolley full of clothes, jewelry and wigs by now. A suitcase with doll photo equipment and a suitcase for crafting stuff.

 

I'm just starting to consider buying an extra storage case for doll clothes. My doll has been sharing the same space for all of my fashion doll clothing but it looks like I will need to store them separately. On the bright side my future dolls should be able to share clothes (all MSD) so hopefully that will keep me from buying too much in the future.

 

As i've just come back in the hobby, i don't have many clothes for my dolls right now. I would say i can fill a littlefee box with it, for now.

 

It doesn't seem to matter how many clothes I get, I can never have enough! My favourite thing to do with my dolls nowadays is getting new outfits and accessories and wigs for them. I love trying new looks on them. I have a big drawer under my bed where I keep all their stuff, but it's getting quite full in there

 

My mini girls already had enough clothes for me to make my DoLiA*s catalog, but now they each have a school uniform and of course I had to get them all their own pair of black shoes to go with the uniforms but I couldn’t let them all wear the same shoes!! So yeah… uhh… lots of clothes and shoes. And that’s only my SDCs My bigger dolls have fewer items but they’re not hurting for clothes.

 

I'm a big fashionista myself, sooo my doll wardrobe will never quite reach that level. When I just had my first Raspberry, her wardrobe was huge, but my collection has rapidly grown. They still have a lot of outfit options even when all the dolls are fully dressed with accessories, but I'd like some more variety. Like I have quite a few corsets, but we've only got a couple of sundresses to go around! I need to sit down and just figure out what's happening with their wardrobe - mine, too!

 

Having a school uniform for each of my dolls is something I've always wanted to do. I got as far as making one for my Soony, and buying two pairs of black shoes, and amassing a collection of backpacks to be their school bags. I still really want everyone to have a full uniform though! (And yes, of course their shoes all have to be different! )

 

I'm pretty sure the "wardrobe" consists of one pair of jeans. Hopefully, that'll change soon though. I like the idea of something like a doll-sized walk-in closet. Shoes, on the other hand... if he had two good pairs I'd probably be satisfied.

 

Only four of the dolls that I ordered have arrived so far, and the four of them already dress fancier than I do I have more fun coordinating doll outfits than my own, and I like putting thought into what my dolls wear!