How fashion tapped video games to attract a new market of customers

Fashion brands are launching their own games to broaden their market. Photo: Louis Vuitton

You may think that video games are based on a fantasy world. This is not entirely true.

In matters of style, video games have borrowed from real fashion. Just take a look at Animal Crossing. Players have been regularly recreating actual fashion designs for their avatars.

It shows that games can indeed mirror popular culture and the world we live in.

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A player even recreated the Malaysian contingent’s attire seen at the Tokyo Olympics.

Known by her nickname, Kurosaki Kei, the player shared her design in the Animal Crossing Malaysia’s Facebook group. It was quickly passed around on social media.

Animal Crossing has seen various other recreations of glamorous fashion designs. Luxury labels have also taken to marketing their collections in the game itself.

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Another game, Sims, has also courted the attention of fashion houses.

In 2019, Moschino dropped a collaborative capsule collection inspired by it.

Or as creative director Jeremy Scott puts it, “Become your own perfect avatar...” He posted pictures on Instagram at that time, drawing attention to the quirky designs.

While the collection existed in the real world, one design was made available to players through the virtual worlds on The Sims 4, The Sims Mobile and The Sims Freeplay.

Last year, Balenciaga went so far as to even create its own video game to debut the Autumn/Winter 2021 collection.

Afterworld: The Age Of Tomorrow was described as an “allegorical adventure” set in the year 2031, in which “a hero avatar advances throughout distinct zones, motivated by tasks and interactions”.

Read more: A Malaysia-based company is behind this incredibly immersive fashion game

The game was developed by a Malaysia-based company. The production team in Kuala Lumpur worked directly with the luxury brand to pull together concepts, cinematics and streaming elements for it.

Just this week, Louis Vuitton unveiled a mobile game to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its founders. No special fashion collection was created in conjunction with it, but shows the importance of video games in the fashion industry.

Interestingly, the fashion house did the same thing back in 2019. A 1980s style video game inspired by its Autumn/Winter 2019 menswear collection was rolled out to fans at that time.