Are you a member of Gen Z, a committed TikTok user, with an Instagram feed full of fashion content? Do you know what ‘slay’ now means? Have you been living a Brat summer? If you answered yes to any of those questions, chances are you’re already familiar with the dress-up game currently taking over the internet. But if all those words sounded alarmingly unfamiliar… allow me to introduce you to Dress to Impress.
A Roblox game that first released in November last year, Dress to Impress has become enormously popular over the last few months, with high-profile influencers, streamers and YouTubers all jumping on the fashion bandwagon. The premise of DTI is relatively simple: you are given a theme, access to a room full of clothes, and a time limit. You can interpret this theme any way you choose, and you’ll need to channel all your creativity to craft a unique and surprising outfit. Each round is frenetic, requiring players to dash between mannequins and makeup stations to achieve their perfect look. Once time is up, players walk down the catwalk to show off their outfits, and everyone rates each other’s fashion choices using a 1-5 star system.
It’s a simple yet brilliant idea, and one that has clearly found an audience. At the time of writing, Dress to Impress has a concurrent player count of 334k, making it the most popular title on the Roblox platform. It has been visited by players over 2.3 billion times. Variety streamers such as Kai Cenat, CaseOh and Pokimane have all put their fashion sensibilities to the test, and there are now entire YouTube channels dedicated to covering the game. It’s become such a phenomenon that Charli XCX — currently one of the biggest pop artists on the planet — has collaborated with Dress to Impress to introduce an update themed around her latest album. Dress to Impress has obviously hit on something here, managing to cement itself firmly within the Gen Z cultural zeitgeist. But given the number of dress-up games out there that haven’t achieved this level of popularity, why has this one blown up?
