Many people thought the popular Roblox game “Dress to Impress” was just your typical dress up game at first, but it’s much more than that; it may even be considered soft-core horror despite its innocuous name. In “Dress to Impress”, players are given a randomly chosen theme, given 3 to 5 minutes to put on an outfit and accessorize according to that theme and then judged by each player in the server one by one.
Creator @Gigi_DTI has gained lots of popularity from hundreds of thousands of people playing her game on the platform since November 2023. Gigi, whose identity is unknown, is also a K-pop fan, which is revealed by some of the clothing options in the game. Some are replicas of an outfit that K-Pop idols have worn such as a white dress made popular by Jennie Kim of BlackPink at the Met Gala and a denim tube dress worn by Yeh Shuhua of (G)I-DLE from their music video for “QueenCard”. Gigi has also stated that “Dress to Impress” gets its name from K-pop group Le Sserafim’s lyrics from their song “Eve, Psyche, & the Bluebeard’s Wife”.
The clothes and accessories range from a lot of different categories—anywhere from mini skirts to extravagant gowns. Players can also change their skin tone, hair, makeup, nails and more. Once the time is up, all players will walk down the runway one by one and vote for each other’s outfits. When voting is complete, the top three players are placed on a podium and the rest are told what place they’re in and how many stars and in-game money they have received. The stars are what help you level up in the game and become different models.
“I love the way I can make different outfits since I’m into fashion and that makes me happy, except for unfair voters and winning basic outfits,” Sami Angeles (10) said. “I also love how I get to see two sides of the game, cute dress up and an eerie background story.”
This background story is what really sets “Dress to Impress” apart and gives it a unique twist. In the game, Lana the nail technician has a diary that the players can view. In it, she writes that she hates her job and when people refer to her as the “nail lady” instead of her real name, as well as how people take her for granted. As a result, she states that she is going to run away and get revenge on everyone when they least expect it. Another page in her diary reads “That isn’t me,” explaining that she had been replaced with a doppelganger, that one of Gigi’s friends (fellow creator @MOTOPRINCESS) had taken her and hid her somewhere. She thinks her doppelganger is the reason why some players are going missing. Players can even see three missing person posters behind where Lana used to sit. On the same page she also wrote in red bold words “FIND ME” with the Roblox user ID 5759585595 underneath.
When players search this user ID in the Roblox friend section, they will be directed to Lana’s Roblox account with a link to her YouTube channel where there are eerie videos posted. After a few updates, Gigi had stated that Lana was leaving the game and soon after, she was replaced with another nail technician named Lina, which leaves players questioning: did Lana really leave? Currently, if a player goes to the salon and follows the spilled nail polishes, they will find a secret passage. In that secret passage there are two cages: one has Lana in it and the other is empty. On the cage Lana is in, “Lana #001” is written at the top.
The same is written on the other cage but with a number #002. Around Lana’s cage on the walls, there’s writing saying “She has my name but that isn’t me, She’ll be gone, Please believe me I’m real.”
If a player gets this far into the conspiracy, Gigi employs a distraction for the players to get their focus off Lana. Gigi offers ways for the players to win prizes, including navigating mazes. Gigi just recently added a limited-time only maze for players to participate in to win a clothing item, for instance. She also has a maze in the game’s lobby where once you make it to the end you can collect money, in addition to other games and quests. Recently, Gigi added a small quest for players to win a clothing item. Players who get third place or above in the mermaid obstacle course and win first or second place in the mermaid race win the new mermaid tail and top—both very coveted items in the game. For Easter, Gigi had made a quest where you had to find the mother bunny and 40 bunnies in five minutes to receive bunny ears and an Easter dress.
“I like ‘Dress to Impress’ because of the themes and how good [the] players’ outfits are, but when my outfit is on theme and some are not, their outfits place top three while mine place below—I hate that,” Latreace Tart (8) said. “I feel powerful when I play ‘Dress to Impress’ because [it’s] everything.”
As we can see, “Dress to Impress” is not just a typical Roblox dress-up game—it’s much more. It’s a story, a lifestyle, maybe even an addition. Is the dark storyline of the game the thing bringing Gigi’s creation such immense popularity? Who knew a dress up game could have so many cute outfits and at the same time be considered a soft-core horror game? Don’t let the bright colors and cute patterns blind you from the dark side of this fashionable pastime, though.
