Fashion styling mobile app Drest announced a major relaunch on Tuesday with a suite of new features that “offer deep storytelling and meaningful ways to enter the world of fashion”.

The company merges gaming and publishing for what it says is an interactive “real-virtual-real” entertainment experience targeting “a hyper-engaged global audience of fashion lovers… enhancing users’ creativity and providing  hours of engagement”.

So what does the relaunch entail? For a start, more luxury labels have joined the 260-strong roster that includes Alaïa, Casablanca, Diesel,  Self-Portrait, Balmain, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Chloé, Fendi, Gucci, Loewe, Maison Margiela, Miu Miu, Prada, Valentino, Jacquemus, Pucci, JW Anderson, Marine Serre, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, 16Arlington and more.

Launch partners and collaborators with bespoke in-game stories include Versace, The Fashion Awards 2024 presented by Pandora, and Manolo Blahnik.

The Drest experience is inspired by a feed of editorial challenges and stories based on real-world fashion and cultural events, with users asked to put together digital looks working with products from the latest designer collections. They cast from a line-up of model avatars with different ethnicities and body types; use make-up and hair created by real-world talents and brands; and select from a variety of  global photoshoot locations.

The new Drest also invites the audience to participate virtually in exclusive branded real-time events, which take the form of interactive journeys and involve completing tasks, engaging with special content and unlocking virtual branded gifts. 

The Versace and Fashion Awards links are key. Throughout November and December, players will be able to interact with the two brands through a Quest and a VIP Event, two of the game’s new features, that will “transport them into creative journeys”. Versace will be the first brand to launch the Quests, and will feature bespoke challenges and exclusive digital rewards and product in-game, specifically linked to the new Versace Tag Bag.

The VIP Event will deliver interactive storytelling, giving users the opportunity to virtually attend The Fashion Awards. Users will have the opportunity to complete challenges using products from a selection of nominated brands, as well as jewellery from the event’s principal partner, Pandora. Drest has also worked with Sam McKnight to create hairstyles within the event and commissioned a bespoke London map from British illustrator Alice Tait, which will take players on a journey through West London all the way to the event’s venue, the Royal Albert Hall.

The company said such immersive journeys “enable users to feel like real fashion VIPs, with a lucky few also being able to win real-life products or money-can’t-buy experiences”. 

And it added that users “don’t just explore, discover, and learn about brands, products, and events in the fashion, beauty, and luxury lifestyle space – including a seamless path to purchase real items – they create and share content with the world, becoming active participants in the broader cultural conversation”.

Founder and co-CEO Lucy Yeomans called out the “far deeper storytelling, including the ability to deliver exclusive ‘real-world’ brand experiences — which historically were reserved only for the very few — to a global audience virtually. Our users can learn, be creative and experiment in real time with some of the most incredible luxury brands. And our partners can enhance their existing stories and connect with both new and bigger audiences to develop awareness and affinity”. 

And co-CEO Daniel Svärd added: “We are at a moment in time, where the way information is consumed is drastically changing. From passive observers, people want to become active participants. They want to co-create content and feel that they belong to a community. Drest is very well positioned to respond to this evolution. Not only do we give our users a creative outlet to directly interact with brands and products, we also support our brand partners to establish reciprocal and authentic connections with their audiences. It’s a game-changer in so many ways”.