Animal crossing: new horizons as a platform for virtual fashion
Abbey Parker
Once you start to immerse yourself in the tranquil world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it is easy to see why it is one of the most successful launches on the Nintendo Switch to date. This is not only down to the characters and nostalgia it brings for many players, who remember earlier games such as Wild World and New Leaf, but also for the incredible amount of personalisation that the game allows.
The Animal Crossing series has always allowed players to choose the clothes they want. Yet, there has never been as much choice as we see now, in New Horizons. It has always been the case that if you played a female character and wanted to wear ‘male clothes’, they would let you, and vice versa. With the release of New Horizons came a whole new approach to character customisation - it is completely gender-neutral. When you create your character, you simply confirm your name and then they allow you to design your character with any facial features and hair you would like. Additionally, if you share your island with another person, then you would know that all islanders refer to other players as ‘they’ exclusively.
The release of New Horizons also brought with it clothing design unlike any of its predecessors. Historically, you could design one pattern which would be repeated on each part of the clothing item, such as the back and arms, and this often lead to distorted designs that were less than ideal. New Horizons now allows players to customise each section of their clothing item, showcasing complete precision when designing their hot new piece.
By integrating Nintendo Online into lots of the game features, this means that players can share codes with others and be recognised for their designs around the world. This is a fantastic feature which gives all players access to incredible designs which they may not be able to achieve on their own. This is certainly the case for me. However, I did try my hand at a design or two.
Image: Nintendo/Abbey Parker
Image: Nintendo/Abbey Parker
The amount of people getting involved with clothing design in New Horizons is amazing, and a quick search on Twitter or Reddit reveal some of the most creative clothing options, never before seen in Animal Crossing. There are even entire Instagram accounts for in-game designers who simulate launches where, instead of a website going live and people buying physical clothes, they release their design/designer code, allowing people to download their designs to wear on their own island. This has been done by both real-life professional designers and Animal Crossing novices alike.
Creating your own designs becomes possible as soon as the Able Sisters shop has been built on your island - a milestone which unlocks an endless amount of shopping trips, often leaving me with no bells left to spend in Nook’s Cranny. The volume of clothes that are available, daily, in the shop and the many colour variants leave endless opportunities for people to create full outfits and try bold looks they would not consider in everyday life.
As well as this, the unique character design in the game creates a sort-of blank canvas for players as their character does not have a particularly human-like body shape. All playable characters have the same tube body which means that clothes look a little different on them. This helps us to forget the real world and focus on creating outfits that are fun to look at. Additionally, if you are lucky enough to have an alligator islander living on your island, I would highly recommend giving them a hat of some kind. Their character design means that they will wear it behind their eyes, which looks ridiculous.
The zero-pressure nature of the game creates a great escape during a time of international worry, where players can tune out the rest of the world and are free to create whatever they’d like, as frequent or infrequently as they’d like. It provides a unique platform to create, which is exactly what so many of us need.
Image: Nintendo/Abbey Parker
Image: Nintendo/Abbey Parker
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