Project Fashion

Project Fashion is an adventure-simulation game where players step into the shoes of Carol, a fashion design student tasked with uncovering mysterious events threatening her school’s annual celebration. Combining point-and-click adventure mechanics with creative design elements, the game features two modes: Adventure Mode, which involves puzzle-solving, dialogue interactions, and attending seminars to pass exams, and Free Mode, which allows unrestricted access to fashion creation tools for designing dresses, jewelry, hairstyles, and organizing runway shows.

Project Fashion: A Forgotten Stitch in the Tapestry of Fashion Simulation Gaming

Introduction: Between the Runway and the Mystery Files

In the mid-2000s, as the gaming industry pivoted toward casual audiences and licensed properties, Project Fashion emerged as an ambitious hybrid: half fashion-design simulator, half mystery-driven adventure. Released in 2006 for Windows by French studio Lexis Numérique (best known for In Memoriam and Red Johnson’s Chronicles), the game aimed to merge Nancy Drew-esque sleuthing with Barbie Fashion Designer creativity. Yet, despite its promising premise, Project Fashion stumbled on the catwalk of critical reception, dismissed by German reviewers as “nett” (nice) but shallow (PC Action) and “Oberflächlich” (superficial) by GameStar. This review dissects Project Fashion’s flawed tapestry, examining how its educational aspirations clashed with technical limitations and repetitive design, while acknowledging its niche charm as a relic of pre-social-media girly-game experimentation.

Development History & Context: A Studio’s Gamble on Glamour

The Creators’ Vision
Developed by Lexis Numérique under creative director Éric Viennot, Project Fashion reflected the studio’s penchant for narrative-driven puzzles. Tasked with adapting the Germany’s Next Topmodel license (rebranded regionally as The Charlton’s Fashion Academy or Fashion: Škola módy), the team aimed to transcend typical licensed shovelware. Their goal: a “designer RPG” where players balanced academic rigor with creative expression.

Technological Constraints
Built for Windows 98-XP era hardware, Project Fashion’s 3D engine prioritized accessibility over polish, resulting in stilted animations and lengthy load times. The game’s 780MB install (spread across two CDs) limited environmental complexity, forcing a focus on static, classroom-centric locales. While contemporaries like The Sims 2 leveraged emergent storytelling, Lexis Numérique’s rigid point-and-click framework felt dated next to 2006’s Lara Croft: Legend or Dreamfall: The Longest Journey.

The Gaming Landscape
Project Fashion entered a market saturated with “girl games.” Ubisoft’s Imagine series and EA’s Barbie titles dominated the genre, while adventure stalwarts like Law & Order proved mystery could sell. Lexis Numérique’s gamble—combining these elements—was bold but hamstrung by budget constraints. Its PEGI 3 rating targeted tweens, yet its dialogue-heavy puzzles demanded literacy at odds with casual play.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: Stitches in Time

Plot Mechanics
As Carol, a student at the elite Charlton’s Fashion Academy, players investigate sabotage threatening the end-of-year gala. The narrative unfolds through:
– Inventory Puzzles: Fetch quests (e.g., stolen sketches, sabotaged mannequins).
– Dialogue Trees: Interrogating classmates, from the “overambitious class president” to a “reclusive tailoring prodigy.”
– Academic Checks: Weekly exams on color theory or pattern-cutting gate progression.

Themes and Characterization
Beneath its soap-opera veneer (“Things and people are not what they seem”), Project Fashion explores creative integrity vs. institutional pressure. Carol’s journey mirrors real-world design schools—balancing grades with artistry. Side quests, like coaching a friend through stage fright, add emotional texture, though writing often defaults to cliché (e.g., the “jealous rival” archetype). Critically, dialogue lacks branching impact—choices rarely alter outcomes, undermining the promised “mystery.”

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: Seam Ripping and Button-Sewing

Adventure Mode: Unpicking the Knots
The point-and-click framework apes Monkey Island but falters with:
– Tedious Pacing: Constant backtracking across the academy’s limited zones.
– Exam Minigames: Memory-match color wheels or drag-and-drop fabric swatches—educational but simplistic.
– UI Clunk: Inventory management suffers from tiny icons and unresponsive clicks (PC Action noted “Eierlauf-Steuerung” or “egg-run controls”).

Free Mode: Creative Salvage
Here, the game shines. Unlocked assets from Adventure Mode let players:
– Design dresses via layered texture tools.
– Craft jewelry with bead-and-wire mechanics.
– Style models with makeup sliders and hair editors.
While rudimentary compared to Style Savvy, Free Mode’s open-ended creativity offered replayability, though hampered by limited asset variety.

Progression & Flaws
Character advancement ties to academic scores, a novel idea that clashes with pacing. Failing a seminar forces replaying prior weeks—a punitive design at odds with its casual audience. GameStar derided repetitive tasks (“schon wieder Nase pudern” or “powdering noses again”), highlighting poor balancing between storytelling and simulation.

World-Building, Art & Sound: Aesthetic Ambition on a Budget

Visual Design
Project Fashion’s pre-rendered backdrops evoke an aspirational Euro-chic academy, blending wrought-iron staircases and sunlit ateliers. Character models, while stiff, sport distinct silhouettes—pencil skirts, avant-garde accessories—reinforcing fashion-world tropes. Textures pop in Free Mode’s zoomed-in design scenes, though low-resolution fabrics betray the era’s limits.

Soundscapes
The soundtrack oscillates between upbeat catwalk synth and muted classroom ambiance. Voice acting is minimal (German reviews cite no Heidi Klum or Bruce Darnell), relying on text boxes. Environmental sounds—sewing machines, hushed gossip—add charm but feel sparse.

Reception & Legacy: A Hemline in Gaming History

Launch Reception
Scoring 52% on MobyGames (based on two German reviews), critiques centered on:
– Repetition: “Schon wieder Nase pudern” (GameStar).
– Narrative Disconnect: “Nothing to do with Heidi [Klum]” (PC Action).
– Clunky Controls: Cited by both outlets.

Commercial performance was tepid, leading to bargain-bin obscurity and eventual abandonware status.

Influence and Evolution
Project Fashion’s legacy is faint but discernible:
– Educational Integration: Its seminar/exam structure presaged Imagine: Fashion Designer’s career modes.
– Hybrid Experimentation: The mystery-sim fusion echoed in Nancy Drew: Dossier games (2007-2010).
However, superior titles like Style Savvy (2008) and Fashion Police Squad (2022) ultimately defined the genre.

Conclusion: A Curious Relic, Not a Cult Classic

Project Fashion is neither triumph nor disaster—it’s a time capsule of mid-2000s gaming ambitions. Its attempt to marry Carmen Sandiego sleuthing with Project Runway creativity was laudable but undermined by technical constraints, repetitive design, and a lackluster narrative. For today’s players, its value lies chiefly as a historical oddity: a reminder of when “girl games” meant CD-ROMs crammed with minigames rather than Animal Crossing’s limitless horizons. While Free Mode’s creative tools hint at unfulfilled potential, Project Fashion remains a dropped stitch in fashion gaming’s evolution—charming in retrospect but best left to archivists and genre completists.

Final Verdict: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
A well-intentioned misfire, Project Fashion struts gamely but trips on its own ambition. Its legacy? Proof that even runway-ready concepts need sturdy coding to stay off the cutting-room floor.