My First Impression: Dress to Impress Continues to Impress

Read on for the tale of one man’s brave journey into the world of Dress to Impress. 

I first became aware of Dress to Impress through an article in The New York Times. Having put off reading the article for another time, I walked into the Flat Hat Magazine meeting with minimal knowledge of the game. I had only seen Katie Fitzgerald play it five minutes prior. 

Little did I know, I was about to embark on a Roblox journey like no other.

Dress to Impress is a game where you have five minutes to dress your character up according to the theme. Then, players in the round vote on who has the best outfits, and the people with the most votes win. It’s a light-hearted game that allows you to showcase your fashion creativity.

It took me a little while to figure everything out, which made me feel a little stupid, but eventually I learned how to change my character’s body type, skin tone, hair, and more. I must admit, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about fashion or women’s clothing, so I struggled a little bit at first. There was definitely a learning curve.

Here’s the deal, though: The game was tremendously enjoyable. It did get a little bit repetitive after a few rounds, but it was still a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

“I heard of DTI over the summer through [platforms] like TikTok and Instagram, and I had a few friends who invited me to play. I created a Roblox account when I was around 10 years old in 2014, but I stopped playing regularly when I was 12-13. I would only play on occasion with friends after that,” Adelien Velasquez ’27, a fellow DTI player, told me about her experience with the game.

That definitely took me by surprise. I am chronically online and came across memes of people doing “Pose 28” from the game — pushing your pelvis forward as you lean back. Yet, I never connected the dots.

I kept playing, but struggled  to make headway. I finally leveled up after semi-successful rounds where I got lucky. Trust me, the amount of time and thought I put into those outfits did not matter: The result was simply luck.

What struck me the most about the game was its professional design. The music — though I believe is just a looped soundtrack — is high-quality. I did turn it off after a while because I got tired of it, but it was not bad at all. The set looks great and optimization works flawlessly. It was hard to believe that it was a free Roblox game. Indeed, your character doesn’t even look like your typical Roblox character.

“What I like about DTI is seeing others’ ideas on a theme. I love when people incorporate pop culture allusions into their outfit, especially when it is funny,” Velasquez said. 

I definitely agree — it’s always funny to see one group of players interpreting a theme, such as “one with nature,” as being on a safari, while the other interpreting it as Mother Nature.

Sophie Hyatt ’26 pointed out another one of the game’s benefits.

“It is really fun and a good activity for students with long distance friends,” Hyatt said.

This has always been an advantage of Roblox . As the game is free and requires very low specs from your computer, it’s not too difficult to coordinate a few rounds of Roblox games with your friends. But with DTI and its broad appeal, this is even more evident.

How broad is this appeal, you ask? Well, James Charles has made several videos dedicated to the game, while popular British singer Charli XCX worked with the game’s developers to release brat-themed clothing. Talk about brat summer. 

After a few rounds of playing, I had the ridiculous thought, “Man, this game needs some lore!” And little did I know ... DTI is full of lore.

I wouldn’t be able to do the lore justice, so I won’t go into much detail. However, I will say that, as of writing, there are at least four games dedicated to DTI lore, as well as ten videos that have been released over the last five months. It’s reached the point where Game Theory made a video about it.

The lore is quite extensive. It centers around the “nail lady,” Lana, being trapped in or joining a cult. It is currently quite unclear. What I know is this: it’s bizarre and terrifying, but hilarious at the same time. 

The spinoff games I mentioned earlier? They’re nothing like the cute runway simulator that DTI is. Instead, they’re horror mystery games, where the screen is all red 100 percent of the time.

I can certainly respect the quality of the game, considering many developers are young and in school. The game’s owner, Gigi, is only 17. She said she was 14 when she started working on the game. Unfortunately, due to recent criticisms over her past online comments and behavior, she is taking a hiatus from game development, handing it over to a group of developers.

Five Nights At Freddy’s-esque qualities aside, DTI marks a refreshing Roblox experience unlike any other game. It has a great community of enthusiastic fans — over hundreds of thousands of people play it every day, not to mention its very active Discord server. 

DTI is truly an enjoyable experience. Sure, it gets repetitive, but the lore and the vast inventory of clothing options keep the game interesting. I will be aiming to level up even more in this game and keep following where the story of Lana takes us. In the meantime, I encourage you to join me on the runway, as does Velasquez.

“I would absolutely recommend it to people, especially if they are creative and competitive,” Velasquez said.

I don’t know if I’m creative, but I’m definitely competitive. What better way to kill time between classes than fight other people for the top spot on the platform?