by Ansley Cochran
The Disappearance of Lina
Who knew a trendy fashion game had an unsettling story involving doppelgangers, disappearances, and journal entries? Dress to Impress was created on October 18th, 2023, not even a year ago, and has more active players than Murder Mystery 2, Welcome to Bloxburg, and Adopt Me. (Although it still has fewer visits) This fashion phenomenon has had big-time creators like The Sturniolo Triplets, Caseoh, the Kalogeras Sisters, Madison Beer and even the canceled makeup artist, James Charles, play it. The target audience is of all ages but has caught the attention of some young adults as well. The point of the game is to make an outfit fitting the theme in under 5 minutes, rate other designers’ outfits, and win the top three at the end of each round.
In this game, at the getting ready station, there was a “nail lady” which she hates being called, named Lana who worked there since the game was first released, then was replaced by dozens of doppelgängers who would switch out every so often. (picture on the right) Then the job was temporarily filled by Lina, who may be involved in Lana’s disappearance, though I am unsure of her story besides that Lina’s Roblox username is LinaDoesNails, her account was created on June 11, 2024, and her bio reads “Spreading Kindness.” Lina was primarily introduced with text on the walls of the basement stating the following in one of the game’s summer updates:
None of them are real
Please believe me I’m real she’ll be gone
Where is she?
Her name is like mine but we are so different
Aim your bow and get rid of the facades – apfelschuss
N a i l s
When you click on LanaDoesNails’s profile (Lana), you see a game titled Forrest linked to her account. This game expands on her backstory and life before her job. When you join the game, you find yourself at an ‘activation portal’ which requires four people to start. Once it teleports you to the main game, you must find your way through a dark maze where her doppelgangers chase you down. Once you finish the maze, it teleports you back to Dress to Impress with a torn dress unlocked as a reward.
The most popular backstory of the original nail tech Lana in the game Dress to Impress is that she was diagnosed with a serious disease at a young age, putting her parents in debt from paying for the treatments. Lana started working small jobs to earn money until Gigi, the owner of Dress to Impress, offered her a job as a nail technician, and for her debts to be paid off by the company as long as she followed a few rules. She then moved into a communal home with the rest of the development team. One of the team members, Agamemnon, worked on creating doppelgangers, then shifted his focus to creating a monster. He spotted Lana and thought it was a perfect idea to manipulate her. They grew close as he manipulated her into agreeing to the plan. The community noticed changes in her behavior, causing some rumors. Agamemnon took offense to this, and began using her as the first experiment. Later on, she tried running away, tried to speak up, but he caught her. He took her eye to use for an experiment, and transferred her captivity to Gigi.
She has been replaced with many fake doppelgangers who are helping Agamemnon to develop a plague large enough to wipe out all of the characters of Dress to Impress. I hope you enjoyed reading about the spooky lore behind the game Dress to Impress in honor of the Halloween season.
Dress to Impress is a fictional game with a made-up backstory for entertainment purposes only.