What does Gaming Fashion Look Like?

Gaming fashion has developed massively over the years, both ingame and real life styles have contorted into ways we couldn’t have imagined ten years ago, and we take a look at why and how this happened.

Thanks to games like CS:GO, in-game items and skins have become a staple of what people are looking for in new games. Some of these items fetch more than their real life counterparts and at sites like CSGOBettor.com you can gamble skins or trade them to get better items for your character to wear.

Gamers have incorporated some level of advancement in their lifestyle, adapting to street wear, luxury, and some level of cosplay into their looks. It was some decades ago that video games started taking center stage, but currently, gamers have assumed the status of celebrities, garnering millions of fans online.

The meaning of this is that, in the midst of all other things, we’ve overcome the era when gamers wear jorts and oversized t-shirts. Both streamers and esports athletes now dress opulently, with urbane panache. This has led to some sort of blending between the Kawaii culture of the Japanese, video game fantasy, and Korean street wear and luxury brand worship.

This has caught the attention of most of the major brands. The extremely popular streamer of video games, Tyler Blevins, also known as Ninja, sealed a deal with Adidas, and this came with a release of a limited edition of night joggers, which did not take time before it sold out. The London esports team named Fnatic got into a partnership with Gucci to model a $1,600 dive watch. Collaboration happened between the most popular esports in the globe, League of Legends and Louis Vuitton for some number of shirts and capsules. Also, Jeff Staple, the designer that has always been given credit for initiating the collectible sneaker revolution, got into a collaboration with Overwatch League bordering on a line of jerseys.

I have the feeling that with the rise in street wear, the rise in gaming was also happening, said Mr. Staple. He went ahead to reveal that the collaboration started when overwatch made the contact in 2018. There is also styling in gaming accessories. You can see players wearing very large headphones with huge keyboards that stick out from their backpacks. But a very famous line of gaming headsets was created by Hyperx, and the people that championed it were the street fighter champion, Daigo Umehar, the Pittsburgh Steelers player JuJu Smith-Schuster and singer Post Malone.

Players try to showcase a varying array of styles to their fans, from a Pokémon cosplay camo jacket to a team branded hoodie. In line with this, we had some chats with three players on what they think about their appearance. They included an amateur gamer, a pro gamer and an influencer, and below are the results of the conversations.

Imany Anys

She is just 24 years old and popular for Twitch streaming. Her nickname is Pokimane, and 7 million people follow her on Twitch. Her style involves a mix of street wear, a cute spectacle and comfort.

The first question that was thrown to her was that many streamers are seen dying their hair in colors that are not natural, why?

Her reply was that both your accessories and hair becomes a huge part of your branding and part of your person. She went ahead to say that it is the blue hair for the Ninja for example, but for her, the curly wavy brown signature hair and the use of a headset always has become her identity.

She was later asked what accessories she likes to wear while streaming.

The answer she gave to that was that the thing borders more on the type of accessories that you won’t want to wear. She gave an example by saying that she has discovered that the reason why she rarely wears earrings or bracelets is because the earrings can obstruct the headset, and it even hurts sometimes. For the bracelets, she said that they also make you feel uncomfortable laying your hand on the gaming chair’s armrest.

She was also asked why streetwear is popular in esports and gaming cycles.

Her answer was that those wears make you feel comfortable when you wear them. It could be dressed down or up and that that comfort angle is very essential for people that will sit on a PC chair for many hours.

Asked the street wear brand she wears right now, she replied that she is in love with Prix. She said that she cherishes some athleisure – if one can refer to Nike and Adidas as streetwears. But she later said that one of her favorite stores is Maniere De Voir.

The next question to her was whether there is pressure on women that stream to try and look cute, and does it conflict with their comfort. 

She answered that people are mostly taking to athleisure as a default because there aren’t brands that are focusing specifically on clothes that are comfortable for people to walk around and sit in. For her, the best thing here is for all to do what makes them happy and comfortable, and the popular athleisure brands are Lululemon, Nike and Adidas.

The next question to her was that since Twitch has a very huge male audience, is there pressure on ladies to wear sexier clothes, and whether that is in parallel with her modesty in fashion. If yes, how does she handle that?

She replied by saying that honestly, the desire for both exists. Some people will demand that you turn up in clothes that are more revealing, while there are some that will throw in very rude comments if you choose to do so. She said that she discovered that the best thing is to do what you are comfortable with or what you want.

She was later asked how her style has been affected by the health crisis, and she answered that she initially did not experience much impact from the physical isolation and stay at home rules, but these days, she picks the clothes she normally wears for outings and puts them on while at home. She does this in the bid to add a little bit of spice to life and get the clothes useful until things return to normal and they can be worn for outings again.

Thomas Paparatto

This professional player of the Call of Duty league for the New York Subliners, which is part of the Andbox esports , and also has an arm that is into clothing design, is also known as ZooMaa. However, he made an announcement sometime this month that he will take a break from competing in games because of wrist problems, though he will keep streaming.

He was asked what he was wearing, and he answered that it was part of his collection, which includes a hoodie, which he complemented with a pair of jeans and matching white shoes. He stated that in terms of clothing, he likes keeping it very simple.

He was asked what his goal with the collection was, and his answer was that he just wanted to create something that looks good, which anybody can wear to go out, irrespective of their age. He said that the idea was to create something that people can go to school with and it won’t be obvious that they are gamers.

He was also asked what he meant by being obvious they are gamers, and he answered that he doesn’t want it to have the same effect as a sponsored jersey or a team name. He needed more – something that looks like the casual wear of everyday that could be worn to work, school or around an office.