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Dress to Impress (video game)

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Dress to Impress
Developer(s)Gigi, Lana, and Lina
EngineRoblox Studio
Platform(s)Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
ReleaseOctober 18, 2023; 13 months ago (October 18, 2023)
Genre(s)Dress-up
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Dress to Impress is a multiplayer dress-up video game developed for the game platform Roblox created by the Dress to Impress Group. It was released in October 2023. By mid-2024, the game had become a viral phenomenon online even with non-Roblox players. As one of Roblox's most popular experiences, its rise to fame was partially due to popular video game livestreamers and a collaboration with Charli XCX's 2024 album Brat, which included a substantial temporary update to the game. Dress to Impress has received substantial praise from video game critics.

Gameplay

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Players in Dress to Impress display their outfits based on a given theme, such as "Carnival", on a runway while other players rank them from one to five stars. Players can also compete as a pair in "duos".

Dress to Impress players compete against one another in an online lobby, where they are given a theme and 325 seconds[1] to style an outfit around it, picking out up to 18 articles of clothing from around a large room, as well as design their model, including choosing their makeup, skin tone, and nail color.[2][3] The colors of accessories and clothing can also be modified.[4] When the time is up, players walk down a catwalk to display their outfits to other players, who give each look a rating from one to five stars. Players can also choose to play as a duo, displaying their outfit in a pair with another player.[5] Players are then ranked in order from most to least stars, with the top three players appearing on a podium at the end of the round.[6] Players also have personal ranks that go up to "Top Model" based on their rankings in rounds. A free play mode in which players can style outfits without a time limit or other competitors is also available.[7]

As of 2024, clothing from the game takes inspiration from real-life fashion styles such as boho-chic, preppy, Lolita, Harajuku, and streetwear.[8] The game's themes also include fashion styles, Internet aesthetics, and topics like "back to school", "maximalist/minimalist", "costume party", "mall goth", "Y2K", "formal", and "album cover".[9] Users can unlock additional items in the game by buying them with in-game dollars or Robux, Roblox's virtual currency, or by entering limited time codes.[3][10]

Development

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Dress to Impress was developed by a Roblox user known mononymously as Gigi, who has stated that she began developing the game at 14 years old and was 17 years old in 2024.[11][3] The game's story, including a backstory for the game's nail technician, Lana, is largely written by a user named M0t0Princess.[12] It was officially released on Roblox on November 11, 2023. It soon became one of the fastest games, or "experiences", to reach one billion visits on the platform.[13]

In early August 2024, users could collect "Shines", collectible items that were part of Roblox's "The Games" event, within Dress to Impress.[14] Later that month, it was announced on the Dress to Impress Twitter account that a collaboration with Charli XCX, which would add in-game items, emotes, and patterns based on her 2024 album Brat, would begin that month.[13] The update also added eight new themes, such as "Club Classics", "Mean Girls", "Y2K", "Brat", "Rotten to the Core", and "Partygirl".[15][16] The collaboration led to the game having over 651 thousand concurrent players soon after its release, its highest amount as of 2024.[7] On October 19th, 2024, the Halloween update was released. The update included new gameplay methods (including an optional storyline) as well as outfits.[17] Minutes after the update's release, Dress to Impress reached 1.1 million concurrent players and had the most players across all of ROBLOX for a few minutes.[citation needed]

In late September 2024, It Girl's creator Sara accused Gigi on Twitter of making fatphobic comments about her and wanting to falsely accuse her of rape and get It Girl taken down based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Shortly after, another Roblox developer soon accused Gigi of making racist comments and being involved in a Discord server in which underage users shared nude images of themselves. Gigi soon responded in a Google Doc posted to Twitter, apologizing for joking about falsely accusing Sara of rape while denying claims of fatphobia, racism, and sharing naked photos of minors.[18][11]

Reception

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Kelsey Raynor of VG247 wrote that Dress to Impress was "pretty damned good" and "surprisingly competitive".[19] Ana Diaz, for Polygon, wrote that "the coolest part" of Dress to Impress was that it "gives young people a place to play with new kinds of looks", calling it "a wild place where a diversity of tastes play out in real time every single day with thousands of players".[8] For Eurogamer, Emma Kent praised Dress to Impress as having a "simple yet brilliant idea" whose "secret ingredient" was its "jankiness"—its allowance of players to equip more than 18 elements at once despite potential clipping, its "tricky" user interface, and its "absurd" posing animations—which, she argued, gave players "enormous flexibility" when creating looks.[2] Madison Beer stated in August 2024 that playing the game was "healing" for her.[20]

Alexandria Lopez of The Mary Sue attributed the game's popularity among livestreamers to its "model-like men and women avatars", its "competitive aspect" and the sense of accomplishment from winning, and its "tap[ping] into the same satisfaction as fast fashion".[21] For The New York Times, Jessica Roy wrote that it was so successful due to its ability to be played on any computer or phone and its "highly customizable model" differentiating it from other Roblox games and "appeal[ing] to the fashion-obsessed". She also credited it with diversifying the age range of players on Roblox.[7] Kotaku's Alyssa Mercante wrote that the game "[broke] out of Roblox containment in a manner heretofore unseen" by "ushering in new, older players to join [Roblox's] relatively young player base", comparing it to "an '00s-era Bratz game".[3]

By spring of 2024, Dress to Impress became a meme on TikTok, where users posted comical outfits and about the game's "pose 28" emote, which causes avatars to push their pelvis forward with their arms behind them and which American high school students mimicked in videos.[22][23] Pose 28 also became part of another TikTok trend in September 2024 in which users hit the pose while showing off their real-life outfits.[24]

Dress to Impress also became a popular choice among video game livestreamers, including singer Madison Beer,[20] Pokimane, Kai Cenat, and CaseOh, by August. YouTuber James Charles also played the game in several videos of his.[7] Various Roblox games with similar concepts to Dress to Impress, including It Girl, which was created by a developer named Sara, and Slay the Runway, were also released after Dress to Impress.[11][6] In September 2024, Dress to Impress routinely had the most concurrent players of any game on Roblox, usually averaging over 250 thousand, and, according to a Roblox spokesperson, had been played over 2.7 billion times.[2][7]

At the 2024 Roblox Innovation Awards, Dress to Impress won the awards for Builderman Choice of Excellence, Best Creative Direction, and Best New Experience.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Novichenko, Artur (2024-10-08). "How to Play Dress to Impress". Game Rant. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  2. ^ a b c Kent, Emma (September 1, 2024). "Viral sensation Dress to Impress has a secret ingredient: fabulous video game jank". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Mercante, Alyssa (August 14, 2024). "Everyone Is Playing This Girly Dress-Up Game For Kids". Kotaku. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  4. ^ Ali, Umama (October 4, 2024). "Dress to Impress: How to Get CaseOh Kitty". Game Rant. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  5. ^ Burden, Emma (September 26, 2024). "MTSU students 'Dress to Impress' at the Level Up Arena". MTSU Sidelines. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Lopez, Alexandria (August 12, 2024). "10 best games like 'Dress To Impress,' ranked". The Mary Sue. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Roy, Jessica (September 15, 2024). "Roblox for Adults? Dress to Impress Draws a Crowd". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Diaz, Ana (July 25, 2024). "I'm heartbroken no one likes my outfits in Dress to Impress". Polygon. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  9. ^ Lovely, Haiden (August 19, 2024). "Best Themes in Dress to Impress". The Escapist. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  10. ^ Phillips, Kara (September 13, 2024). "Dress to Impress codes and how to redeem". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  11. ^ a b c Weedston, Lindsey (October 3, 2024). "Gigi, Creator Of Dress To Impress, Faces Numerous Allegations Of Bad Behavior". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  12. ^ Thelen, Annie (September 7, 2024). "The Dress to Impress lore is actually terrifying". Destructoid. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Saulog, Gabriel (August 14, 2024). "Here's What We Know About The Brat & Dress To Impress Tie-In". Billboard Philippines. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  14. ^ Benson, Madison (August 6, 2024). "Roblox The Games: Where to find all 5 shines in Dress to Impress". Destructoid. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  15. ^ Shutler, Ali (August 22, 2024). "How to get the Charli XCX 'Brat' collection in 'Roblox'". NME. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  16. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (August 19, 2024). "It's officially Brat Summer in Roblox's Dress to Impress". Polygon. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  17. ^ "Dress to Impress Halloween Update 2024 - All Details and Patch Notes - Dress To Impress Guide". IGN. 2024-10-19. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  18. ^ Lopez, Alexandria (October 1, 2024). "What the controversy surrounding 'Dress to Impress' creator Gigi is". The Mary Sue. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  19. ^ Raynor, Kelsey (August 16, 2024). "It's a Roblox brat summer: Charli XCX is coming to one of Roblox's biggest games, Dress to Impress - here's what you need to know". VG247. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  20. ^ a b Diaz, Ana (August 16, 2024). "Madison Beer says Roblox game Dress to Impress healed her — she has a point". Polygon. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  21. ^ Lopez, Alexandria (August 6, 2024). "What Is 'Dress To Impress' and Why Is Every Streamer Playing It?". The Mary Sue. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  22. ^ Weedston, Lindsey (August 5, 2024). "Why Your Kids Are Talking About The DTI Meme". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  23. ^ Cadorniga, Callie (May 17, 2024). "High School Kids Are Using Pose 28 to Celebrate the End of the School Year". Distractify. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  24. ^ Diaz, Ana (September 14, 2024). "Dress to Impress is invading IRL fashion looks". Polygon. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
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