By: Hayden Bunce, Staff Writer

Are you ready to dress to impress? Over the summer, the Roblox game Dress to Impress took every household by storm with its pop culture impact.

 In November 2023, a game appeared with the name Dress to Impress. The game was developed by high schoolers, perhaps boosting relatability to teen and young adult players. The game’s concept is rather simple as it is an energized dress-up game. The game’s popularity boomed throughout the summer, with memes about it appearing everywhere. Dress to Impress shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. With practically the entire internet playing the game at least once or twice, we want to know what the students and teachers of Mills think about it.

With the game getting so popular over the summer, why are people so drawn to it? Junior Celena Yu states, “You can make cute outfits and stuff – it’s also become kind of a meme like playing dress to impress with my baddies.”

Celena also briefly mentioned how multiple celebrities play, such as singer Madison Beer and streamer CaseOh.The added attention ultimately affected the rise of the game, along with the official Brat collab by singer Charli XCX. This official collaboration with Charli XCX and the Dress to Impress team was very impactful because it was a combination of the summer’s most popular memes that people were most likely to see on TikTok.

Despite the immense popularity of such a game with its timeless pieces, there is a fraction of people who have not yet played it. To understand both sides on the rise of Dress to Impress, it’s important to see what the people who haven’t played the game think.

Mr. Burdette, a history teacher at Mills, shared, “ I usually like to play games where I shoot stuff and save the world, but with my kids, it would be hella fun.” 

 Avery Fong (Jr) asked,  “What type of clothes do they have? Is it more feminine or, masculine?”

After being informed of the more feminine clothing offerings, they responded, “Then I’d probably play for like a week because I prefer to dress more masculine.” I found this personally really neat as fashion is truly subjective and sometimes games don’t apply to that aspect most of the time. 

Whether you have or have not played what is fast becoming an iconic game, all good things must eventually come to an end. So will we see the fall of Dress to Impress soon?

On one hand many believe that the success will linger, with Mr. Burdette stating, “Well, I mean it has so many possibilities that it seems like something that could stay around and if you already got celebs everyone’s gonna want to check it out.”  While Case-Oh was able to draw in a teenage boy population, Madison Beer was able to make the game more known in mainstream media as she is a famous pop singer. Sophomore Sarah Aqleh adds that it will most likely stay popular, “because there’s so many different themes like, I haven’t gotten the same one yet, and there are so many different times.” The Dress to Impress creators are constantly adding themes to keep their player base entertained. If the player base is given the same themes over and over they are bound to get bored and not return. On the other hand, people believe that success isn’t going to last long. It can be argued that most people are in school, including the developers of the game. Violet added, “People don’t have as much time.” With a majority of the players being in school most of the day, people will be shifting their focus more on school than they would on Dress to Impress. Whether it’s homework, sports, plays, or any other extracurricular activities. Unlike the summertime during the school year, there’s this constant business faced at hand.

In reality, Dress to Impress has been showing no signs of slowing down for the time being. The game is the third most played game on the platform, has frequent updates, and has a variety of items that keep people returning to the game. While we will inevitably be seeing more of the game for the time being, I’m here for the success of Dress to Impress and I hope you are too. So play that round with your friends, and partners, and most importantly, play Dress to Impress with your baddies.