Speculative Perspectives of Fashion Gamification

The paper delves into the concept of fashion gamification, which blends elements of fashion and game design, explored as a speculative tool capable of constructing narratives and proposing alternative worlds. These imaginative scenarios present fresh perspectives for the evolving field of fashion in its digital transition, offering an alternative to the current unsustainable model due to its environmental and societal impacts. Such speculative approaches, which question possible futures and promote ethical, responsible design through new languages, are conditioning fashion education. This shift is geared towards training fashion designers capable of dealing with the complex languages of contemporaneity. The very idea of fashion design is undergoing a transformation, moving beyond the design of physical clothes, to express fashion imagery through different channels, both physical and digital. Through the analysis of a series of case studies, including a teaching experience conducted in 2023 at the Università degli Studi di Firenze, the paper will reflect on how speculative approaches to game design can enable fashion to address critical issues, discuss and propose alternative future scenarios, in which today’s design decisions can shape tomorrow’s realities.