Dress to Impress players compete against one another in an online lobby, where they are given a theme and 325 seconds[1] to style an outfit around it, picking out up to 18 articles of clothing from around a large room, as well as design their model, including choosing their makeup, skin tone, and nail color.

[9] The game's themes also include fashion styles, Internet aesthetics, and topics like "back to school", "maximalist/minimalist", "costume party", "mall goth", "Y2K", "formal", and "album cover".

[10] Users can unlock additional items in the game by buying them with in-game dollars or Robux, Roblox's virtual currency, or by entering limited time codes.

Gigi soon responded in a Google Doc posted to Twitter, apologizing for joking about falsely accusing Sara of rape while denying claims of fatphobia, racism, and sharing naked photos of minors.

[21] Alexandria Lopez of The Mary Sue attributed the game's popularity among livestreamers to its "model-like men and women avatars", its "competitive aspect" and the sense of accomplishment from winning, and its "tap[ping] into the same satisfaction as fast fashion".

[22] For The New York Times, Jessica Roy wrote that it was so successful due to its ability to be played on any computer or phone and its "highly customizable model" differentiating it from other Roblox games and "appeal[ing] to the fashion-obsessed".

[3] By spring of 2024, Dress to Impress became a meme on TikTok, where users posted comical outfits and about the game's "Pose 28" emote, which causes avatars to push their pelvis forward with their arms behind them and which American high school students mimicked in videos.

[25] Dress to Impress also became a popular choice among video game livestreamers, including singer Madison Beer,[21] Pokimane, Kai Cenat, and CaseOh, by August.