Imane Anys has been mastering waist-up fashion way before most of us had even heard of the term. Twenty-five-year-old Anys is a streamer and content creator, most popular as Pokimane on Twitch, where she has 8.2 million followers. Bubbly, beautiful, and a talented gamer (though, truth be told, that’s not my area of expertise), she can hold thousands of people’s attention for her streams, which can go on for over eight hours, as she plays the video game Among Us with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, makes sushi with a pro chef, or unboxes Pokémon cards. Her YouTube channels (she has two: one for her typical content and one for more lifestyle content) provide her fans with an even deeper look into her life, beyond her gaming room.
Since so many people are tuning in to watch her, she’s learned to cultivate her gaming room into a set that reflects her aesthetic. Like any performer, she has to make sure the props and costumes are all in a row. Unlike a typical performer, she has to keep the show going, on her own, for hours on end. When I meet her over Zoom, she’s wearing a cute red top with a V-neckline and—truth be told—I can’t tell what else, other than the fact that it’s black. Her bouncy hair is perfectly curled and her winged eyeliner sharp. The LED lights behind her, a staple in any content creator’s room, are turned to a pink setting. “Not to ruin any of the magic of it all, but I will say that over the years, I’ve picked up some tips on how to dress for a stream,” she says. “The main one being, dress for what people can see. I’m not going to do all of my hair perfectly if people can only really see the two front strands.” Let it be known that those two strands are always perfectly coiffed.
Anys seems to really take joy in doing her makeup and getting dressed. In a male-dominated industry like gaming, she stands out for her cute, feminine style. She loves A-line skirts and statement tops (again, another way to dress for the camera), as well as matching sets and the occasional tee highlighting a classic game. To settle in for a day’s work, she starts with skin care and makeup. “I don’t know about everyone else, but I find doing my makeup to be quite a therapeutic, fun activity,” she says. “I really like taking my time to do that and dress my face up however I feel. That’s usually also my alone entertainment time, so I like to set up my phone beside me and watch my favorite new YouTube videos.”
Then she’ll step into her closet to find an outfit that will make her feel most confident for the day ahead. As she points out to me, she is her own boss, so sometimes she’s entitled to a pajama day. Most of the time, though, she chooses a top in order to “dress for what people can see.” “I love to dress for the occasion,” she says. “I played in an online chess tournament, so for every single day of that, I created some outfits inspired by Beth Harmon from The Queen’s Gambit. I also do cosplay for the various games I’ve played. I did an Among Us cosplay, League of Legends characters, I’ve even done some Fortnite outfits.”
