Style Lab Fashion Design Review and Giveaway

I've always loved painting shirts. A custom painted shirt is one of the best ways to express individuality, and all it takes is a shirt and some fabric paint. I still have one of the first (and the best) shirts I've ever painted, of an elephant with red painted toenails, that I did when I was fourteen, and I've personalized many shirts since then. Here's one that my sister, my friend and I did when we got together with our kids to organize an at-home "cousin camp" (we made ourselves "camp counselor" shirts):


The Pea has grown up in my footsteps, and there's nothing she likes better than to paint and personalize her own shirts. Here's one she did a couple of years ago:

Her flair for creativity and personal expression is one reason why The Pea loves Ubisoft's Style Lab line of games for Nintendo DS. Style Lab Makeover lets her experiment with different makeup and hairstyle looks (without the mess and fuss of actual makeup), and Style Lab Jewelry Design lets her create one-of-a-kind jewelry. Both games have given her many hours of entertainment! From design-your-own jewelry, it's just a short step to design-your-own fashion -- and I'm so happy to see that Ubisoft has made that step with their introduction of their newest Style Lab game, Style Lab Fashion Design.

Ubisoft (though the Clever Girls Collective) recently sent us a copy of Style Lab Fashion Design to review, and I have to say this is the best Style Lab game of the three. It is so much fun being able to design your own shirt, hat or bag! You can choose any color from the color wheel, choose fonts, and choose from a library of hundreds of images. Images can be resized, flipped, moved around, and you can put multiple images on your clothing item. You can save each item you design, and try it on your virtual model:

The Pea has already created quite a few clothing items, and she's only been playing with it for a week! She says she loves it because she gets to create exactly the design she wants, and it makes her feel special to think that no one in the world has the same design as hers.

But the coolest part of Style Lab Fashion Design is the ability to upload your design to an online Boutique, and then have that design come to life in a shirt, bag or hat through Zazzle! It's almost like painting your own shirt, since your own design is on the shirt, but it's printed neatly and professionally so you don't get all the paint smears and the mess to clean up!

The Pea has not yet ordered any of the Style Lab shirts she has created on the DS -- yet -- but I think Ubisoft made a great choice with Zazzle. Zazzle is a company I know and love -- I'm in charge of tshirts at our kids' elementary school, and all our shirts are made by Zazzle. My experience with Zazzle has been nothing less than perfect, with crisp, clean designs printed on high-quality shirts and bags. My kids have worn their school shirts countless times, and the design has not faded even after countless washings. If my experience (and the experience of tons of happy parents at our school) is anything to go by, whatever item your child orders through Zazzle will come out exactly as she designed it on Style Lab Fashion Design.

Will The Pea ever order one of her Style Lab Fashion Design creations on Zazzle? I wasn't really tempted to do so with Style Lab Jewelry Design -- it was enough fun to just create jewelry on the DS -- but the thought of seeing The Pea in a shirt that she designed herself is too irresistible. Pretty much the only reason we haven't done it yet is that she hasn't settled on the design (and at the rate she creates them with Style Lab Fashion Design, it's just going to get more difficult). Maybe I can convince to create a design of an elephant with red painted toenails!



Here's more information about Style Lab Fashion Design
Ubisoft's innovative Style Lab brand brings you another game-to-reality title, Style Lab Fashion Design! Now, not only can players design their own fashions in the game, but they can wear them in real life, too! Develop your own distinct style of customized clothing and accessories, share your unique creations with friends in your own web gallery, and wear the designs that you've made!

Key Features

Create AND Wear Your Own Fashions! — Players can design t-shirts, hoodies, hats, and bags using a variety of colors, tones, fonts, and hundreds of images that can be resized, flipped, and re-colored. Then they can order, own, and wear their unique in-game creations by uploading them to the Style Lab website and purchasing them. Prices range from $9.95 to $39.95 depending on the item.

Develop Your Fashion Design Technique — Players can explore a variety of styles through fun creative challenges and show off their designs in fashion events.

Share Your Creations with Friends Online — Players can easily upload their creations from the Nintendo DS™ system into their online Boutique via the Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, share designs with friends, and showcase their unique fashions in the online Style Lab gallery

More information about ordering your customized creations — Ubisoft has partnered with Zazzle to manufacturer the clothes and accessories. Zazzle is the world's leading platform for quality custom products, and our unique partnership allows users to order their one-of-a-kind designs on a wide array of products, the majority of which are manufactured to order within 24-hours.


Style Lab Fashion Design retails for about $29.99; you can find it in stores like Target or Toys R Us, or on online sites like Amazon.



Win a Style Lab Fashion Design game for Nintendo DS
One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will receive a Style Lab Fashion Design game for the Nintendo DS, courtesy of Ubisoft and the Clever Girls Collective.


Required Entry
Leave a comment on this post and tell me which of the Ubisoft Style Lab line of games your child would love to receive for the holidays.


Extra Entries
For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment on this post for each extra entry, with a way to verify the entry (i.e. tweet link, blog post link, blog comment link, Facebook id, Twitter id, etc.).


1) Grab my blog button and post it up on your blog (1 entry).

2) Subscribe to Bonggamom Finds updates (1 entry).

3) Write this on the Bonggamom Finds Facebook wall (1 entry):

I entered the Style Lab Fashion Design giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/22khbav

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6) Follow UbiParents on Twitter and tweet this, up to once per day (1 entry per day, leave a comment with the tweet link for each tweet):

Enter to win a Style Lab Fashion Design DS game fr @ubisoft @ubiparents @bonggafinds http://tinyurl.com/22khbav #giveaway #ubichamps

7) Join my Petz Nursery 2 giveaway (1 entry).




The Rules
This giveaway ends at midnight PST on November 30, 2010; I will draw a winner at random on December 1. I will post the winner's name in the comments section after he/she confirms acceptance. Continental US residents only. For additional giveaway rules, click here. Good luck!


Disclosure: This is a compensated review. I also received a sample game to help form an honest opinion of the product. While Ubisoft sponsored this review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Ubisoft, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.