Lara Croft gets virtually fashionable

In a truly bizarre blend of fashion and videogames, ten fashion designers are competing to create a “virtual outfit” for Lady Croft’s newest adventure – the upcoming Tomb Raider: Underworld. It gets better – not only is this a competition, it’s an event – complete with real-life and virtual models strutting down the catwalk. On November 8, 2008, at 9 PM, the festivities will commence at The Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) in Montreal, as part of Festival Arcadia.

Really. It’s a fashion show/competition in which the winning outfit will become available to players (as downloadable content) in the game, and it’s all a part of one of Canada’s most important game industry events. I’m not making this up. My favorite quote from the press release is from Festival Arcadia producer François Décarie:

“This unique event will give the public a good sense of how intimately the fashion arts are linked to the video and multimedia creation industry.”

Which, in all fairness, isn’t that far off – think of all the character creation/accessorizing that goes on in so many games. But still, it’s a bit funny/incongruous to think of fashion and videogames in the same space.

Although really, stranger things have happened at games conventions before. I suppose high fashion is about as relevant to the gaming world as say, interpretive dance…

Read [Tomb Raider Chronicles]