Gigi, creator of Dress to Impress, is facing allegations of leveling threats against rival Roblox developers and making offensive comments. IT GIRL creator Sara published a Twitter thread accusing Gigi of these actions as well as threatening her employees with legal action if they spoke out.
The controversy that erupted in late September has rocked the Roblox fashion game community as accusations flew and fans took sides. Gigi has since released an apology, but not everyone is satisfied.
Dress to Impress is a highly popular game on the Roblox platform that allows players to dress up their characters based on a theme and present their outfits on a runway. Others then rate the outfits on a scale of one to five stars, and the player with the most stars at the end of the round wins.
The game has also introduced lore over the months since its popularity exploded in late 2023, building a story around the fate of the NPC at the nail table named Lana.
Gigi is the 17-year-old creator of Dress to Impress who now employs a number of people to keep the beloved game going. She claims to have begun working on DTI when she was only 14, and now that she has gained so much success so quickly, some of her past mistakes are coming to light.
According to Sara, creator of another fashion game on Roblox called IT GIRL, Gigi accused her of ripping off DTI and made some alarming and fatphobic comments about her on Discord. She alleges that DTI employees informed her of these remarks, including one that threatened to accuse Sara of rape to tarnish her reputation.
Gigi reportedly deleted this comment after negative reactions. In a Twitter thread, Sara included screenshots of the messages she received from DTI workers making the allegations, including that someone shared photos of someone assumed to be Sara and that Gigi and others made fatphobic, body-shaming jokes.
Others have accused Gigi of mishandling the mental health concerns of one of her workers and criticizing him too harshly for his work, as well as participating in an "NSFW" Discord server that some allege posted inappropriate photos of minors.
In response to Sara's thread and the outrage that followed, Gigi tweeted out a Google Doc containing admissions and apologies for much of the alleged behavior, though she denies the accusations of photo sharing and body shaming. She also denied allegations of homophobia, racism, and engaging with any sexual images of underaged persons.
In the document, she explains that much of the alleged behavior occurred when she was only 14, and her lashing out at Sara was a reaction to what she called "shade" toward DTI from IT GIRL developers and fans. Others, however, claim she became jealous of the newer game's early success.
She concludes by saying she plans to step back and take stock of everything that happened and hopes to learn and grow from the experience.
"I need to take a step back and process everything, reflect on my actions, and focus on how I can be better," she writes. "This has been tough, but I’m taking responsibility and using this as a chance to grow. I’ll be taking some time to focus on myself and my mental health and figure things out."
Roblox developers can earn money through their games by selling VIP passes. These passes can be permanent or temporary and grant players special privileges such as access to restricted areas or items. Plays can purchase they passes with the in-game currency called Robux.
There is no direct dollar-to-Robux conversation rate because you can get more of the platform's currency the more you spend. $4.99 gets you 400 Robux, for example, while $199.99 gets you 22,500 Robux. You can also get monthly Robux payments through a subscription program.
How much Gigi is making from Dress to Impress is difficult to calculate, but the game boasts around 236,000 players currently. Roblox also takes a 30 percent cut from every game's earnings. Even with that cut, DTI likely makes millions of Robux per month, which translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Only time will tell whether these profits are impacted by the Gigi Dress to Impress allegations.
The Daily Dot reached out to Gigi and Sara via Twitter.
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