The more I see of the fashion world, the more I'm convinced that there are too many Fashion Designers, and that most of them suck, hard.
I mean, back in my High School, there were over 30 people in the graduating class who were going to FIDM.
That means almost 10% of a class was going to go out and design clothes. With those kind of numbers, it means there are millions of Fashion Designers.
Yet, still, we get shoes that blind people can tell are ugly. True, there's some good stuff out there, but it's absurd.
These shoes exist.
[www.uptempoairblogs.com]

This is proof that anybody could be a fashion designer, including any game developers. There's no requirement of looking decent.

i don't see that any of these principles should be limited to 2d. i can think of quite a few 3d games, jrpgs being the biggest offenders, that could use a little schooling in the ways of fashion and clothing design.

I prefer 2.5D avatars personally. More depth than 2D but with the benefits of being nearly 3D.

@thaKingRocka: Or maybe it's just a culture difference, you know?

0__O Palla has a point with the shoes!

@thaKingRocka: I would rather wear fashions from JRPGs than the junk most fashion designers put out. Guess it shows in my unusual method of dress.

That is not a hat. That is a fucking parasite.

Seriously, I would wear those shoes. I try to wear the most unmundane shoes to go with my otherwise blah corporate attire.

Any character designer has to do some research about fashion. The f2p MMOs that use item malls live and die by them. The Soul Calibur series can't rely on crotch and nipple spikes forever. That's why Namco is soliciting the work of many notable artists for the next installment.

@Palladium: It is true the market is just saturated with too many designers, but its up to the consumers to make the choices and buy the products. Out of the million potential designers, I guarantee only a handful will see business, only a select few will have any market share.

Shoes?, lets not even get into my major johnny blaze shoes collections. Its a problem when you have a room dedicated just for my kicks and have to hear it from your fiancee.

Onto topic, this is why F2P micromanaging transaction MMO's succeed in most of Asia. Out of a million user, most would cough up at least a few dollars just for a unique clothing; hence why 2d avatars, or even 3d avatars has to have the flair and distinctions amongst the thousands of items that cost tangible money.

It is the MAJOR drive for eastern f2p games earning its profits.

There's nothing wrong with those shoes.

Unless we're all going for gray body suits to fit in with the Vulcans.

nightmares

My eyes, they are bleeding!

Those shoes are really fierce. Sorry you don't get fashion. :(

@Palladium:
The comment "anybody could be a fashion designer" is fairly silly, I think. While it is true that anyone can try, not all of them actually get success in the real sense of the word.
There is a lot of amazing stuff being done in fashion right now. Try looking below the surface.

by all means, knock yourselves out. dress like squall (ff8), tidus (ff10), vaan (ff12), or mack (LO) regardless of the environs. see how it works out for you. just hope that no cactuars attack while you're wearing your fur collar, varying-length pant-legs, waist coat sans shirt, or pigtails and massive collar.

I could totally relate to what the guy said on the fashion matter (even on the closet filled with identical clothes).

Fashion Sense is really important to character designers.

@digitalmorphine: Oh, crap, I forgot to add this:
AND... I had quite a lot of trouble when designing a few characters for a personal project. Had to look everywhere for clothing references.

@Palladium:

Just because they graduate in fashion design it doesn't mean that they will be the next "Armani". They could also end up in the movie/theater/games industry or some smaller fashion houses. That's the case in every art-related study: you'll have to work interdisciplinary!

My wife is currently on her way to get her BA in fashion design and is actually quite good. She was recently in a national "design a dress" contest hosted by glam.com and out of 450-some-odd entries, she made it to the final 8. Not too shabby -they'll be auctioning all 8 dresses for some charity now that the contest is over.
Given my education in 3D modeling and animation, I'll definitely be picking her brain for fashion tips.

I would dress has Squall for sure!
Too bad it's impossible to have enough hair to have most of the jrpg's style lol.
But of course, I guess about anyone can do fashion, most go to school to learn everything that's behind and how to commercialise and stuff, I almost don't have a clue what they make you learn, because in like, 50% of arts out there, you either got it or you don't. But they still gotta teach you years of stuff related to what you want to do, which might influence us in a way, (good or bad not sure) and rarely will you get a job for a fashion designer if you didn't go to school for it. I would bet a lot of good designer's, don't even get a degree and can't do shit about it. Like in every other art for the matter, the best musician in the world is probably a nobody that knows the best actor in the world but they live in dump. And now, are you happy to be billions on earth, will it help us really achieve something more then now? Even if we don't lose individuality, our voice becomes smaller everyday and chains us to the inevitable fact that most of us just might never be heard like they wish they would...
Hey I want to change the world, you too? Coincidence? lol
Will my voice be heard if I scream what everyone wants to say?
All I can hear are my dreams, I guess no one else tries to be heard then!
If not, I will just scream louder till my guts spill out and then people will want to listen to me...because I'll be dead.
Versus the rest @ my space

Ok. while fashion sense is important. whatever drawing you have displayed up there is NOT worth looking twice at.

The character itself along with the fashion should match and not look like its pulled outta someone's ass ;D

Really the biggest distinction between good fashion and bad fashion is the design and art direction of the world itself. Thats the simplest thing to follow.

The issue of what to wear applies to any avatar with more than a head.

When I played Ragnarok Online, my favorite part aside from the people was the vast array of hand-drawn 2D enemies and monsters wandering around. It was one of those games that doesn't even pretend you're not fighting a bunch of monsters in an RPG so pretty much anything goes (Lunatic, a harmless bunny. Munak, a cute Jiang Shi. Zipper Bear, some poor dude in a bear suit with a stuck zipper. Goblins - in ridiculous emotive facemasks. lumbering Lava Golems. "Sand Men" made of... sand. Even Christmas dungeons with Santa's elves, and hopping present boxes that attack with a boxing glove on a spring ("Mystcases?")

Good 2D can breathe life into a game, which anyone who played Odin Sphere could attest to. It can happen in 3D too, but it's much harder to capture that inexplicable "human touch."

@Palladium:
This is because everybody thinks fashion design is easy. Then, when they get to uni and study it, they try too hard.
Kind of like how many, many gamers tend to think the could be a game designer, "if they could be bothered".

Good fashion design is effortless (but this requires a great deal of skill. Think of a concert violinist effortlessly polishing off a great concerto...or some Ysaye.)

Fashion is a reflection of the moment, hmm? Maybe the fashion in games should reflect the "moment" that is in these games.

Anyway, magazines aren't the best place to start for fashion. (Because you end up with an abstraction of an abstraction- because fashion is a abstraction of the moment).
Best place to start is cafes, the street, everywhere. "Fashion is everywhere" to paraphrase Chanel.

For a game, though, maybe one should explore the world of the game itself and translate this "moment" into fashion.