Fashion hits the virtual world of video games

Tag : Street Fashion
NEXT month, shoppers will be able to walk into H&M and buy anautical-inspired minidress designed by 21-year-old Beau Fornillos,who created the sporty frock using a computer video game.

Fornillos isn't a professional fashion designer. He built the dresson the Sims 2 video game and uploaded it to an online runway, whereit was judged by a panel of H&M designers in Stockholm. Coming infirst meant having his outfit actually manufactured and sold by thechain store. Sort of like a "Project Runway" challenge incyberspace.

The dress is bricks-and-mortar evidence of just how pervasivefashion has become in the shoot-'em-up world of gaming. What beganas a few product placements in sports games has morphed into acategory of its own.

Along with Sims 2, there are a slew of fashion games that allowplayers to shop, tailor and design -- competitively, of course. Thenewest of the games is based on Japanese street style. Even KarlLagerfeld has a cameo in the latest Grand Theft Auto.

Game-makers say style is helping them snare more female gamers, ademographic that hadn't been specifically targeted by thestarships-and-shotguns industry. Today, 55% of Sims 2 players arefemale.

"The female audience is the next step for video games to grow,"said Jarik Sikat, U.S. sales and marketing manager for KOEI Corp.,which will debut Pop Cutie! Street Fashion Simulation for theNintendo DS in September.

The game, the first to tackle street fashion in the U.S., is basedon a Japanese game called "That's QT." It's a homage to theaudacious street style of Tokyo and Harajuku -- the costumeyJapanese maid and Goth Lolita looks that are popping up more andmore. Players start the game as small-time designers with a tinyshop at a flea market. As they excel at running their shop, theymove on to bigger boutiques, where they buy and design their ownclothes and do battle against other shop owners. This is no Barbiefashion show -- battles are judged on who's styled the coolest,most out-there Gothic Lolita, emo or glam style ensemble.

"You can create more conventional fashions in the game," saidSikat, "but the entertainment really gets punched up when you cancreate a pink cat costume." A little more this-world, UbisoftEntertainment recently introduced two fashion games for the DSsystem. In Fashion Designer, players design clothes, choosingswatches of fabric and sample silhouettes. And in the newer MyFashion Studio, gamers are judged on tailoring time, fashionchoices and accuracy as they create their own clothing collection,then customize models for the runway or a photo shoot.

In Sims 2, players can take their avatars shopping at a virtualH&M, plucking looks from the current season that are also availablein the stores (dress like your character!), and stage runway showswhere they pick the models, clothes and music.

In this virtual fashion show, models strut down the runway wearingcool half-smiles and, say, a floor-length H&M floral maxi dresswith a plunging neckline. The avatar's stride is inhumanly fluid,long arms and legs swishing past each other with Rolex precision.At the end of the catwalk, she thrusts out a single hip, thenswirls around and cheekily blows the audience a kiss. The turncould rival Kate Moss or Agyness Deyn for sheer sass.

Fornillos, the winner of last year's contest, managed to dress hisavatar in something that walked straight into the real world.

"Judges were looking for a balance between creative design andcommerciality," says Steve Lubomski, U.S. advertising director forH&M. "We wanted to be certain the garment would fit into ourcollection and would be something our customers would embrace andwant to wear."

But forget H&M. What about Proenza Schouler? So far, most big-namedesigners have ignored gaming. The exception (and isn't he always?)is Lagerfeld, a 74-year-old early adopter who is so tech-happy hehas several iPods and a designated assistant to carry them. TheChanel designer appears as a radio DJ in "Grand Theft Auto IV,"Rockstar Games' latest frenetic car chase game.

Still, the industry is showing signs of developing good taste.Nintendo, which offers the popular DS and Wii platforms, justdebuted a style-y metallic rose-colored DS model, which tweens areblinging out with glued-on rhinestones and tassels. And newcommercials for the DS feature Nicole Kidman playing Rock, Paper,Scissors, Liv Tyler tapping on virtual piano keys, and AmericaFerrera engrossed in the New Super Mario Bros.

In tech years, it's been a long time coming. Fashion's flirtationwith virtual worlds started when gaming was still a boys' club:ballers in the basketball game NBA 2K6 wore Nikes, Reebok brandedon billboards and soccer balls in Pro Evolution Soccer 6 and TonyHawk is still clad in the latest Quiksilver looks in his Activisionskateboarding games.

Then came Second Life in 2003, an online universe where usersshopped at big-name stores such as American Apparel, Reebok andAdidas as part of a virtual life they created. Less a game than atrippy pastime, and shopping is one of the major activities.

Fine. But they're selling T-shirts and sneakers, not Marchessa andMissoni.

And how thrilling would it be to dress in all that expensive stuffand not have to pay for it? There's a game we might really give upshopping for.

emili.vesilind@latimes.com