dolled up

Idioms  

1. Also, all dolled up. Dressed or fixed up smartly and, often, ostentatiously, usually for a special occasion. For example, There's no need to get all dolled up—it's just a picnic, or They dolled up the classroom for parents' night. This expression alludes to a person or object being as attractive as a pretty doll. It is also put verbally, to doll up, as in I wanted to doll up my apartment before the guests arrived. [Colloquial; c. 1900] Also see gussied up.

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Example Sentences

But there is concern the optics of rich celebrities dolled up with smiles on a red carpet could come off as tone deaf.

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2025

And then when she's all dolled up or she thinks that things are going good, you see these pinks and the lilac and the greens more when she's happy.

From Salon • May 16, 2024

“She was all dolled up in cheap punky gear, the kind of club kid who looked absurdly out of place in a cardiac ward,” he wrote.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 2, 2023

She added that she got dolled up in the hopes of being noticed “so they can adopt me or give me work.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 29, 2022

You always see twins dolled up together as kids, but you never see two grown women running around in identical outfits, holding hands.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver