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History

In Ourworld there was a built-in fashion show mini-game called "Catwalk" that ran weekly. Players would submit outfits that matched a given theme and for a few days (or a week?) and others could vote once a day for their favorites and a winner would eventually be announced. I and many others could never get into this format because the themes were repetitive, the outfits were static despite having moving items, and the prizes weren't enticing. Eventually players decided to create their own fashion shows hosted in their condos by creating fashion show events. This gave hosts & players the ability to change the competition format, add more creative themes, give specialized prizes, and organically interact with others interested in making creative outfits. These fashion shows are the ones that captured my heart!

show formats

There was no "correct" format for fashion shows. Hosts would decide how the fashion shows operated - they created the rules, setup the layout, provided the prizes, and created the themes. The most typical format included:

  • 1 host
  • a set of rules
  • a limited number of spots
  • 1 winner
  • 1 prize
  • a set time limit per theme

As fashion shows went on hosts became more creative with the format. Rules would become more restrictive & themes would become more elaborate. Now there could be a panel of hosts, multiple winners that got tiered prizes, multi-day shows that accepted submissions and let people vote (much like Catwalk lol), item type restrictions, surprise partnered fashion shows (this was my favorite), and more!

Example of a typical fashion show format
This fashion show was formatted like the show Big Brother. We were grouped into teams and assigned a room in the hosts condo. In the this particular round we had to select 1 person to dress to the theme Reptile Royalty, which happened to be me! We were allowed to trade & shop for items so my team of 3 collaborated to create this outfit & we ended up winning this round!
Participants would get dressed behind the curtain then come out once the time was up - this was done to prevent participants from copying or altering their outfits mid-round after looking at other players outfits

Rules

Some rules hosts enforced for fashion shows depending on the hosts preferences.

5 min per round - to prevent the fashion shows from running on for too long
No moving items - to prevent the host & other players from lagging
Shopping is allowed - allows participants to shop during a round
Sets are allowed - to make participants create outfits that weren't already put together some hosts would ban full outfit sets from being used or limit the amount of items that could be used in a set per round (ex: 3 set items per round)
No skips - to prevent participants from skipping a round/theme

Memorable Themes

  • Match a handheld
  • Elemental Warrior
  • Demigod
  • Holiday (valentines, new years, christmas)
  • apocalypse
  • under the sea
  • cosplay
  • neon streetwear
  • gender bender
  • demonic bride
  • haunted doll
  • harajuku
  • disney character
  • avant garde
  • italian vogue
  • salem witch trials
  • surrealism
  • witch
  • Lolita fasion
  • swing fashion
  • steampunk
  • cyborg
  • nightmare
  • elemental deity
  • seasons
  • sports
  • elements
  • fairy
  • angel or devil
  • hero or villain
  • clown
  • alien
  • barbie/bratz
  • food
  • safari
  • wild west
  • galaxy
  • mystical creature
  • twinning
  • zodiacs
  • gemstones
  • patterns (stripes, hearts, stars)
  • gothic princess
  • famous painting
  • office outfit

sabotage

Since these fashion shows were public events trolls would come in to disrupt shows all the time. In Ourworld there were items called throwables that could be thrown in a room and change peoples avatars. The most used throwables were toast, baby bottles, & reverso. Throwing these would lag the party & ruin participants outfits. The only way to get rid of the effect was for everyone - including the host - to refresh their page, but because of Ourworld's load times this would cause some host & participants to not be able to reconnect and continue the show. This became such an issue that many hosts banned spectators from attending shows & locked their condos after the event started. Some participants would even create alt accounts to throw after losing in a fashion show! Trolls would get creative too, using a tiny potion that made them like 3 pixels tall run to the corner of the event then start spam throwing until they were found & booted. At the time, especially as a host, I was always upset when it happened... But now looking back the chaos they brought in it was pretty funny, and I even ended up throwing at some fashion events with terrible hosts, especially if they lied about prizes. What can I say, I was inspired!

Baby Bottle + Toast
Reverso + Toast

Fashion Icons

I thought it would be fun to create magazine spreads/graphics for all the fashion icons from OW (that I could get in contact with). The outfits showcased were hand selected by each icon! click on a magazine cover to view the edition below!