I’ve been photographing my 5 inch tall Body Chan doll for some time. Her smooth, bare, plastic body was precisely what I wanted for the photos I envisioned with her. Her grey plastic nudity seemed to offend some poeple however and I got numerous messages about dressing her. I did not buy her any clothing.
However, now I have a new 1:12 scale doll in tow. She is detailed and has realistic features. While I do plan to take some nude photos of her, I do think she needs a small amount of clothing to draw from as well.
Hence, the voracious search for size appropriate clothing began, and I’m going to share that new found knowledge with you.
Wanting to buy in store? Well unless you have a dollhouse store around, which I do not, you’re not going to have a lot of luck.
Hobby Lobby has a dollhouse section where you can buy pre-dressed dolls to borrow the clothing from, Target has a line called Lori dolls which are chunky 1:12 scale dolls, clothing and accessories. Some of these pieces will work with more traditionally sized dollhouse dolls. Walmart has similar dolls, the smaller scale My Life dolls, but they do not have separately sold accessories. Occasionally you can also get away with Barbie’s little sister Kelly/Chelsea clothing and the clothing of off brand dolls of the same size.
Online is your better bet, but the options are still too limited for my liking and prices range from a couple dollars to hundreds.
The most common sense choice is a dollhouse retailer like miniatures.com or dollhouse heaven (with the latter having a better selection). These clothes are detailed and quite realistic, but be aware that some are only made for display and will not actually go on a doll.
AmiAmi, a Japanese, anime based online toy store sells a variety of clothing for Picco Nemo dolls. These dolls are ever so slightly shorter, wider and have much larger heads than traditional 1:12 scale dolls. Some of the clothing will work however, just choose sparingly – no hats, hoods, non stretch pants, etc.
Etsy of course has hand made selections ranging from the novice to artisan. Because of this prices can potentially run quite high, but you may find just what you’re looking for all the same.
You can also turn to online marketplaces like ebay, Amazon, Aliexpress and Wish.
Simply search ‘1/12 clothing’ or ‘1:12 clothes’ or something similar and you will get a good selection. Aliexpress has tons of listing for OB11 clothing. These dolls are also shorter, wider and have larger heads than traditional dollhouse dolls, but much of the clothes will work all the same. All of these marketplaces do have inconsistent listings, with not to scale items being tagged wrongly, so read carefully before purchasing.
And that’s all I have on the topic for now. I’ll let you in on the clothing I end up getting and the photos I take with it ASAP (I have way too many for potential purchase in my Aliexpress cart – if someone wants to sponsor a doll clothing review instead hit me up, lol).
Until then, let me know your thoughts and suggestions in a comment below!
Hi I recently got the 1/12 Phicen doll I’m new to this. I wanted to share w you what I just learned about clothing for her. I read that “Boxy dolls” clothes w fit! Found at Walmart looks like you have to buy the doll $10-20 average price. I’m looking for Angel or Fairy clothes for pic. Have fun and good luck!
Oh thats awesome! Thank you so much for letting me know.