wearable arg | ARGNet: Alternate Reality Gaming Network

Teaser images from the Office of Admissions at SCXR Academy

SCXR (pronounced “Scar”) is a new fashion brand. Its first line of products are slated to release at the end of May, and in the brand’s announcement video its creator Sugar (also known as Angelina Zhang) described its vision by explaining: “I have a hard time explaining what my dream style is. But if I had to choose a word, it’d be fictional.” And while that comment was intended to reference the brand’s aesthetic inspirations like the fashion featured in Bratz, Monster High, and My Little Pony, the “fictional” inspiration seems to go beyond that, moving into alternate reality gaming territory.

The SCXR website is currently fairly minimal, with retail features grayed out. However, registering for updates triggers an in-universe email from SCXR Academy’s Dean of Admissions Lilith Aranea welcoming new students to the academy with the somewhat ominous welcome message, “we can’t wait to see you on campus…The Academy is always watching“.

SCXR’s main character Scarlet, potentially providing a sneak peek at some of the featured fashion

In the project’s launch video, Zhang explains that the SCXR line takes place within the fictional world of SCXR Academy, and centers around Scarlet as the protagonist in a story that should appeal to fans of stories that touch on coming-of-age stories, dystopic thrillers, and mystery / ARG narratives.

While Zhang is still a University of Toronto student, she also built a massive presence as a Canadian online influencer, with almost 6 million followers on Douyin and TikTok alone. Her content leans towards musical covers with a healthy dose of fashion and cosplay thrown into the mix, although she was also one of the more vocal figures explaining Chinese social media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu (“RedNote”) to US audiences worried about a potential TikTok ban.

In an interview with Gary Guo that touched on the project in January, Zhang explains, “it’s kind of a unique clothing concept because I have a lot of reoccurring character personas in my videos. I have a red haired girl, I have a black haired girl, and they’re very different. And my clothing brand is going to be something similar to using these characters to reflect their styles, versus using me as Sugar to reflect their styles…it’s going to be a virtual influencer brand.”

And it doesn’t seem like that earlier reference to ARGs is hyperbolic: this virtual influencer brand looks like it has some secrets to uncover.

Puzzle shirts featured in *Hung Out to Dry*, via Edoc Laundry co-founder Shane Small

During its third season, CSI: NY aired the episode Hung Out to Dry, revolving around a series of grisly murders. Each victim was found wearing a mythologically inspired t-shirt, with the logo Kodecon emblazoned on the collar. Solving the puzzles embedded in the shirt’s design would reveal information about the motive for murder, both through the hidden meanings woven into the shirt’s design and through a video clip unlocked on the Kodecon website.

Hung Out to Dry was inspired by the real world company Edoc Laundry, founded by a number of 42 Entertainment veterans to use a line of designer clothing to introduce players to the band Poor Richard, and unravel the mystery of who killed its lead singer. And while Edoc Laundry’s narrative puzzle shirts may be over a decade out of print, there’s been a recent resurgence of experiences that hide stories in fashion.

Solve Our Shirts’ games *Escape From the Maze of the Minotaur* and *The Treasure Trove of Pirate Cove*

Solve Our Shirts: This T-Shirt Comes With Its Own Sea Shanties
When the pandemic shut down escape rooms and immersive theater companies across the globe, designers explored different ways to recreate the escape room experience for players in the comfort of their own homes. Many rooms translated their existing rooms into online Zoom experiences, where players instructed in-person avatars on how to navigate the room’s challenges. Some experimented with audio escape experiences, mashing up escape rooms with tabletop gaming. Still others effectively re-invented alternate reality games, by asking what an escape room experience would look like if the narrative was no longer enclosed within a single building.

While Illinois escape room company CU Adventures also created their own series of more traditional “play-at-home” escape games, their foray into fashion with Solve Our Shirts is what really sets their at-home offerings apart.

Introductory postcards from Solve Our Shirts games, along with unlockable envelopes

To play a Solve Our Shirts game, “wish you were here” postcards themed to the game provide login instructions to CU Adventures’ at-home player portal, where players are tasked with a series of tasks that ask them to more deeply interrogate the secrets hidden within the shirt. After completing certain puzzles, players might also be instructed to open a series of marked envelopes to aid them in their journey through the shirt.

Tag: wearable arg

SCXR Academy: A New ARG Fashion Line?

Excuse Me, There’s A Puzzle on Your Jacket: The Wearable ARG Experience

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