Designing - This feature has moved from the boutique to the apartment. The number of items you can design has been cut down with items such as tights and the special items like school uniforms have been removed. Stage Costumes are a new item that you can design. The number of patterns and motifs you can use whilst designing have been reduced slightly as well.
Shopping Bags & Logo - You can now create a unique logo and shopping bag to use at your shop. These can be accessed via the Design menu but only a few designs can be stored at a time.
 |
| You can now design shopping bags to use at the boutique. |
Design Portfolio - The space to store designs has increased in Styling Star and there are now two sections: one for your own designs and one for designs you have downloaded via the Design Centre.
Apartment - The option to decorate your apartment has returned in the new game. You can purchase furniture and miniatures to decorate your apartment with from various shops in the city. You can change items such as the bed, wallpaper and flooring. Some items are required and you cannot remove them, for example table and chairs set.
 |
| Redecorate the interior of your apartment. |
Hair Salon Requests - You no longer need to answer questions and guess a customers style in Styling Star. The questions still appear occasionally but they are much more simplified and customers are more relaxed with their requests for hair styles.
Hairstyles - New styles and fringes have been added to the game and some hairstyles have been removed. The up-do category has disappeared and the styles from there have been moved into the three basic categories of short, medium or long. Hairstyles now unlock automatically as you progress through the main story line and you no longer need to unlock them.
Make-up Sets - These do not need to be located and unlocked in Styling Star. Make-up sets will become available at the Beautician whilst you play through the main story line. The style of make-up sets have returned to the ones like in Trendsetters with a similar design look. You can no longer design your own make-up sets like you could at the Make-Up Lab in Fashion Forward. The method for selling make-up sets to customers has changed and you can just pick them now in the make-up menu.
 |
| Example of a make-up set in Styling Star. |
Make-Up Menu Layout - Make-up items are now displayed by color palettes according to the shades at the Beautician and Apartment. You need to purchase each shade in each make-up item category individually now (you can buy lots of shades at once) from the Beautician and the items range in price.
Nails - A new feature to the game that allows you to paint your own nails or the nails of customers. There is a range of styles available and a guide on Nails can be found here.
Colours - The frustrating and time consuming task of unlocking colours has been removed in the new game which delighted many players. Colours now become available at the Beautician and Hair Salon whilst you play through the main story line. Rainbow is no longer a character in the game.
Miniatures Shop - This shop has been split into four stores in Styling Star. The Florist sells miniatures from the Plants and Animals category. The Cake Shop sells miniatures from the Food category. Talk to Michel at the Bakery to receive bakery themed miniatures from the Food category. The Lifestyle Shop sells the remainder of the miniatures such as furniture, clothing, lights, etc. The Lifestyle Shop also sells the interior and exterior decorating styles for the boutique.
 |
| Interior of the Lifestyle Shop. |
Caprice Chalet - This cute feature that allowed players to create themed rooms and rent them out to customers or upload online has been removed. Say goodbye to that sweet rent money you used to be able to get from renting out rooms each day. The elements of Caprice Chalet have been redesigned and are now used to decorate the interior of the boutique.
Fashion Shows - Probably the most challenging aspect of Fashion Forward that saw you create outfits to match a certain theme and try to achieve the perfect five star score. Fashion Shows sadly have been removed and nothing has replaced this feature.
Train Station - This location has been redesigned to the Station. You cannot however visit locations from the Station and the only use it serves is occasionally talking to NPC's there if they appear or travelling to locations with the idol girls during the main story line. Places like The Meadows and Bougainville are no longer available.
Live Music Club - Whilst the location still appears in the game, it's purpose has been altered. The only actions that occur here is being able to talk to the owners Jo and Vincent, the latter who will only talk about food yet you cannot actually eat there. During the main story line, a few events will occur here. On Saturday nights, you can watch a performance by Vincent occasionally which is just a short animation.
 |
| Vincent is always talking about food. |
Photo Studio - This location has been removed and the option to take photos in the game has been moved to NIN10. Jim is the new photographer and the photo system has changed as well. You can now change the background and character aspects of the photo easily as well as take multiple photos at a time. Photos now need to be edited using the Album feature and you cannot add frames whilst taking photos.
Modelling Jobs - Another fun feature that has been removed in Styling Star. Modelling jobs are no longer available and the miniatures that you used to unlock from them are available to just buy from different shops.
NPC Events - In Fashion Forward, characters would invite you to locations and you could hang out with them and take photos together. This feature has been removed in Styling Star and has been slightly altered to only occur during the idol girls story lines at some points (i.e. on holiday with Angelique) or with a few NPC's like the insect girl. However you can no longer by invited places regurarly like you could with characters like Callie or Sophie. Miniatures are no longer given as gifts from NPC's apart from Michel and the ones you receive from Lorelei during the main story line.
 |
| Example of an event that occurs during the main story line. |
Streetpass - One of the main features of many 3DS games is streetpass but sadly this feature was removed in the new game. Not that it had exciting features in Fashion Forward and if hardly anyone plays the game where you live, there's not much point to it. I've only ever streetpassed the same 3 people in Fashion Forward.
Local multiplayer - The game basically has none this time around and was pretty lacklustre in the previous game. It is better to use the online features anyway.
Online Content - Nintendo finally worked out that people wanted to share outfits online for others to purchase and we did get this feature with Shopdo and the Design Centre. However Nintendo made the feature region locked so unfortunately most content is unavailable unless you live in the same region as the player you want to visit. Shopdo and the Design Centre are the new online features and you upload designs, your boutique and three outfits instead of a Caprice Chalet room now.
Amiibo - Some of the original amiibo items from Fashion Forward are now available from Purple Moon. The few items that are included are available throughout the year in the basic colour of the item. Amiibos now unlock emblems and designs rather than items in Styling Star. The number of unique items available from amiibos have been reduced to basic amiibos such as ones from series such as Mario, Kirby, Zelda, Splatoon and Animal Crossing. The previous game included amiibos such as Samus, Wii Trainer and more amiibos from the Mario series.
 |
| Emblems can be unlocked with certain amiibos. |
Story line - Each Style Boutique game focuses on a different story line and this time round, Styling Star has taken the Idol route. The story line is in-depth with character development and takes a fair while to complete it. There is not many opportunities to interact with characters outside the story line however, making the game feel a tad empty. Fashion Forward had a number of main characters that you would constantly interact with at the boutique and various locations around the city.
Messaging - A new feature that is quite restricted. You can send three requests a day to customers who you have enough hearts with. You will also receive messages from NPC's much like in Fashion Forward talking about meeting you at certain shops.
Deleting Photos - You can only delete 15 photos at a time now. In Fashion Forward, you could delete more than that number at once. You could even delete all the photos you had taken at the same time.
Awards - A fun new feature that gives players achievements to work towards. Some are easy to obtain whilst others will take some time. For a guide on all the awards available in Styling Star, please visit the Awards Guide.
AR Functionality - The ability to use the AR Mode in Style Boutique has been removed from the new game. It was a fun little side feature that allowed you to project characters from the game into the real world using the AR technology built into the 3DS console.
Miiverse - Nintendo shut down Miiverse recently so this was one feature that definitely wasn't going to appear since the service is now defunct. Contests are no longer available.
Contact Cards - These were a feature in Trendsetters and now have a more detailed appearance in Styling Star. Contact Cards display useful information about customers including items and outfits they have purchased from the boutique. Hearts have replaced the old stamp system from Trendsetters.
 |
| Camilla's Contact Card |
Glasses & Earrings - You can now wear both these items at the same time. The previous game prevented you from wearing both as they belonged to the same category and the game wasn't programmed to allow both on a character at the same time.
Bottom 3DS Screen Display - When visiting shops or the boutique, the bottom 3DS screen now displays customer cards instead of NPC icons or symbols.
Clock - Styling Star runs off a in-game clock system instead of a real-time system like Fashion Forward. Days move much quicker now in game and shops are open all the time unlike in Trendsetters (which also had a in-game clock) where they would shut at certain times.
Menswear - A lot of players are rejoicing as the feature to dress male characters has returned! Male characters in the game will not visit the Menswear Shop run by Xiaobai to request new outfits.
 |
| You can now dress the male characters in the game at the Menswear Shop. |
Customer Frequency - It seems at the boutique, the number of customers who will visit during the day has been cut down. Previously in Fashion Forward, you would have a steady stream of customers at the boutique. In Styling Star, it's common to not have customers in your boutique at all at certain points of the day.
Boutique Style - In Fashion Forward, you could decorate the interior to attract a certain image style of customers to shop at the boutique. In Styling Star, the set interior designs have been removed and replaced with the Caprice Chalet decorating system. It seems you will get a variation of image styles from customers with most interior layouts. You can customise the interior to fit a certain theme (i.e. bold) but customers from various images will still visit.
 |
| Example of a boutique interior. |
Customer Requests - The developers really messed with the request system in the new game. In Fashion Forward, most customers would ask for full outfits or outfits of a certain style. In Styling Star, the types of requests you will get are more board and you will often get customers only asking for one certain item. From conducting research, the most common image requests I received during the course of one month at the boutique were girly or baby-doll image, casual dresses or an item of a particular colour.
Commission Requests - The Designer Lounge has been removed from the game and you can no longer complete requests to design items for brands. The only items you will be requested to design during the main story line are a t-shirt and stage costumes.
Selling Designs - You can no longer sell designs at the boutique as commission requests have been removed. You can upload your own personal designs online for other players to download.
 |
| You can now upload designs online for other players in your region to purchase. |
Exhibition Hall - This location is now placed over one level instead of multiple levels. A new shop called VIP has been added and the brand representatives from Fashion Forward return to represent the brands once again in Styling Star.
Brand Representatives Choice - When visiting brands at the Exhibition Hall, there is a new option that allows you to get recommendations for items from the brand representatives. This doesn't work in a particular way and it just selects random ones. If you keep pressing it, it will eventually select all the items on the screen in that category.
Sales - Sales have returned at the Exhibition Hall. On the days ending with a number five (i.e. 5th, 15th and 25th), two selected brands at the Exhibition Hall will hold a sale. All items from the brand are available at a cheaper price. This is a good time to stock up on expensive brands such as Purple Moon.
Sporty Image & Streetflow - The fun sporty image and it's associated brand Streetflow have been removed from Styling Star. Items from the brand have been moved to other brands within the game. Please refer to the Streetflow Guide for more information.
 |
| Streetflow items have moved to other brands such as April Bonbon. |
Character Eyes - The option for double or single eyelids is now available in the character customisation menu.
Assistant - The feature to have an assistant at your boutique has returned. In an earlier game in the series you could have an assistant but the option for that was removed in Fashion Forward. In Styling Star, you can change your assistant once you complete the main story line. You can change the outfit that your assistant is wearing as well.
 |
| One of the assistants in Styling Star. |
Stock Space - The developers of the game finally realised that the store room space at the boutique was way too small. There is now no limit and you can store every single clothing and accessory item in the game! You can also reorder items straight from your phone using the restock app.
Window Display - The customisation options for the boutique window display have been reduced. You can now only change the background/floor and the mannequin. You can no longer place miniatures in the window display.
 |
| Example of one of the backgrounds available for the window display. |
Has there been changes to using the mannequin? In the previous game, I could sell outfits with multiple PURPLE MOON items (such as the full Mii costume for example) fairly easily. Now when I display them, no one seems to buy them and I'm not sure if this can be changed by filling in their contact card hearts completely or not.
ReplyDeleteThere hasn't been any changes to the mannequin. The reason why the Purple Moon items worked in the previous game was because some outfits from Purple Moon all belong to the same thing whilst some have different themes for each item. So with some outfits, you can't sell all the items together as customers will complain that there are too many styles or everything clashes. I've found Purple Moon items can be a tough sell in Styling Star and rarely sell them apart from using one item (say the star sign t-shirt or Apple skirt) on the mannequin. The hearts and contact cards make no difference with Purple Moon items, characters will only buy outfits off the mannequin if it matches their exact style with all the items.
DeleteI know you say you can store all the clothes in the boutique stock now (and even the game says it when you reach the max limit) but there seems to be a huge discrepancy between max shop stock and what I have in my wardrobe? Like - and this is after the main storyline, after I made a personal goal of buying every item, which I am pretty sure I completed - I have around 21000 things in my wardrobe, my max stock space is about 18800 or so, can't remember the whole number, and my restock app is around 18500 something, and even the promotional material claims there's "over 20000+ items" so I can't exactly figure out what the true number of in game items is.
ReplyDeleteYes this is a tricky one to figure out. The assistant tells you that you can store everything and not have to clear out stock, but I think maybe the game doesn't believe that you'll ever hold every single item in the game at the boutique. I've currently gone over your stock space number, so I believe you can hold a fair amount of items at the boutique. I've collected about 80% or 90% of the clothing and accessory items at the moment.
DeleteI believe the 20,000+ items remark in the promo material includes the miniatures as the previous games promo material and guides did the same thing.
Okay I have actual concrete numbers here: my store stock space, at post game and max stylist level, is 18874. My restock app gives me 18834, and my wardrobe has 21922 in it. So why there's a huge huge discrepancy between my wardrobe and restock app is kind of baffling considering for MOST of the clothes I had to buy them from the exhibition hall in order to get them in my wardrobe in the first place?
DeleteI believe the game calculates numbers that following way:
Delete- The stock numbers that appear when you visit the Exhibition Hall only relate to items you purchase from the Exhibition Hall. The game limits you on how many items you can store that were directly brought from brands. 18874 is the maximum number.
- Items brought through the restock app don't count towards this number and just add to your stock. That is why you can have a higher amount of actual stock available at the boutique than what the game states at the Exhibition Hall.
- You can only buy a certain amount of items at a time through from the Restock App. I use it all the time to repurchase expensive items rather than waiting for them to appear at the hall.
Ah, no, I'm sorry, what I really mean by numbers is how I have 21922 items in my WARDROBE but only 18834 in my restock app available for restock purchase. I know we're gifted clothes from each brand but either we're gifted more than I thought or the game just does not allow you access to every item via the restock app?
DeleteDon't worry, I totally understood your numbers :) The items you are gifted shouldn't matter as they are just ones you can buy from the brand anyway. You can only purchase 999 items from the Restock App at a time and it doesn't seem to include all the items at once as my wardrobe number is higher than the number as well. For example, when I search for April Bonbon items in my wardrobe it comes up as 1942 but in the Restock App it's 1705. So it just doesn't include all the items at once for some reason. No clue why, Nintendo made some weird decisions with this new game and this just happens to be one of them.
DeleteI'm a little disappointed that I can't rent out rooms in this game. In Fashion Forward, I could rent out nine rooms at a time and earn up to $9,000 from it. I bet if that feature had been moved over to Styling Star, we would be able to earn those $1,000,000 and $1,000,000,000 awards faster.
ReplyDeleteIt is rather disappointing isn't it? At first I just missed the aspect of designing different rooms than someone reminded me of the rent money and I flipped out. It would be so useful to get that money everday.
DeletePlus I feel like collecting miniatures doesn't have as much of a purpose now. I have all these bakery and food themed miniatures yet I run a boutique. I can't decorate a boutique with bread haha.
I loved so many elements from Fashion Forward that are just gone now. I don’t get any pleasure out of hairstyling or makeup because I don’t get paid for it, I’ve had terrible luck with getting the customers I want in my shop—I feel that unless I sell Marzipan Sky I won’t be selling much at all, and designing the shop hasn’t worked well either. I’m sad! I was so excited about this game, but I think I like Fashion Forward more.
ReplyDeleteI feel exactly the same, the game just feels quite empty. I loved the challenge of fashion shows but now that's all gone. I haven't been doing anything in the game besides collecting all the items. Don't worry, I barely get any customers either. Maybe 8 tops per day. Honestly I think Fashion Forward is the more superior game. I love the new clothing items in Styling Star, but everything else is just a bit boring.
DeleteI still play the first Style Savvy game. I believe Trendsetters was destroyed by my dog, Fashion Forward was an e-shop purchase, and so was Styling Star. Style Savvy was the first DS game I bought with my own money, and it has aged well. I have my own ideas about what elements from the series should be put into a new game, if Styling Star is popular enough.
DeleteThere's elements of both Fashion Forward and Styling Star that I would like to see in the same game. I just miss the challenging aspect of the game, the game feels like it's holding your hand through the entire thing with nothing to work towards unlocking. I often talk about what I'd like to see in the game over on my personal blog because there's just so many amazing things they could do with the game.
DeleteI know right?! Ughh, it totally sucks! New games are supposed to take old features and expand and improve upon them, not cut them down and remove them! It really feels like the developers got lazy with this one... *sigh* I prefer Fashion Forward, but there are some aspects of Styling Star I really like that I wish I could somehow transfer to Fashion Forward lol. Like for one thing, I'm really glad for the nigh infinite stock space, as well as the ability to buy any item you've purchases previously from a catalog. Those two things were probably the most annoying aspects of Fashion Forward lol. I was constantly running out of room for clothes and when I did want to restock I couldn't buy more of particular clothing items. I also kinda like how Styling Star no longer runs on real time like Fashion Forward does, time is sorta sped up, so you can progress a lot faster and get to experience all the seasons without having to wait for that season in real life (i.e. having to wait until winter irl or change your 3DS's clock in order to buy and sell winter clothes.) Apart from that though, Fashion Forward is the best Style Savvy game hands down! I love the fashion shows, the photo shoots, and Caprice Chalet. It's so hard to make money in Styling Star without Caprice Chalet lol. Ah well, here's hoping the next Style Savvy game will have the best of both worlds! I wonder if they plan on making one for the Nintendo Switch?
DeleteI think I like Styling Star the best of all of them. While I miss the fashion contests (to an extent - I preferred the ones in Trendsetters to Fashion Forward), I love the ability to restock on my favorite clothing items whenever I want through my phone instead of waiting for them to be available at the Exhibition Hall. And the perks for finishing the main storyline are pretty great too - for one thing, you can start it over again with your current funds and wardrobe completely intact. You also get the option to take an entire in-game month off if you're impatient for new clothing stock (like I am prone to be)
ReplyDeleteAnd the characters are all pretty endearing too. I have actually laughed out loud during a couple of my encounters with Johann, I cheered for Yolanda as I progressed through her story, and I am in love with Rosie and Camilla's relationship. I never could reach that personal level with the characters from the previous games.
The ability to restock is amazing as is the larger stock space. I haven't had the interest to restart the story line, but it's good that they included that for people who wish to replay the story.
DeleteIf only we could get a mash-up of Fashion Forward and Styling Star. Whilst I love the new items and nails, I just miss the challenging and social aspects of Fashion Forward. I feel you don't get to interact at all with the characters, I've gone quite a few years ahead in the game and there hasn't been anything expect for the one time the girls changed their outfits for the season. The smaller story lines do repeat which is annoy because no one else comes to my boutique now because the girls like Molly are always there.
first off, amazing post! thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteone thing i was thinking about but dont know if i’ve misses out on, it used to bugg me a lot to have a lot of items in my personal wardrobe in the earlier games. is it possible to delete/hide items in the wardrobe?
No it isn't possibly to hide items unfortunately. All the items will appear unless you enter search terms to narrow down the selection when choosing items. The personal wardrobe is the same as previous games, all items including designer items will appear there.
DeleteThank you for visiting my blog :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem... I started playing this game on my birthday, the 17th of March. I recently read that you can get gifts on your birthday in-game, but this didn't happen. Is there a way to reach my birthday without playing through an entire year? That just seems like a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteIf you have completed the main story line, there is an option that lets you take a 30 day break and jump to the next month. Otherwise you just need to progress through the days.
DeleteHonestly you don't get anything exciting on your birthday. I won't say what you get in case you want to be surprised, but it's three items you can easily purchase at a shop. Nothing exclusive or exciting. It would be too much effort to skip forward to your birthday for such as small reward.
Can you please make a Purple Moon guide? Thanks in advance!
ReplyDeleteI will be making some Purple Moon Guides soon on the new items. My other blog about Styling Boutique has guides on the outfits from Purple Moon which are the same ones from Styling Star apart from the Valentines and Cherry Blossom set.
DeleteCan you unlock more design patterns without amiibo's? I had so little options when they asked me to design a T-shirt for the festival, it honestly made me a little mad. Don't praise me for a stupid shirt with stripes! I only have stripes, flowers and the animal pattern now. (Really game-designers, if you're going to strip an already overly simplistic portion of the game, just don't bother with including it in the game!)
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I love that I don't have to chase customers through the hair salon, beautician, random locations throughout the town and the other locations just so I have some customers to sell clothes to! Fashion Forward forced you way too much to do everything possible with customers instead of what you love to do. Except, I liked seeing the customers walk through the shop, being able to easily see the mannequin and not having to reload the shop 3 times to get customers. Do not miss the requests for self-designed items though.
You can't unlock any more design patterns beside the amiibo ones. The only ones you 'unlock' are the stage costumes in the main story line. I totally agree about the tshirt! I made the ugliest design ever because there wasn't much to pick from and now it haunts me in the game because characters still wear it. It's so annoying that they removed designer items and patterns from the game, I loved the bear tights!
DeleteIt is great not having to follow and find the customers anymore. I have hit a problem in the game though. After I finished the main story line and played a bit, the side story girls from the main story line (i.e. Molly and Hafsa) keep coming to my boutique. I finish their story lines and they just reappear! I've progressed at least 3 or 4 years into the game and all I get are those girls hanging in my boutique now. So annoying.
Wow, I was hoping maybe some of the features I loved in Fashion Forward would come back and the reason I hadn't seen them yet was because I haven't progressed far enough. Nope. Apparently no more fashion shows or modelling jobs. Wth Nintendo? Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad we can get all the colors now with little trouble, I like the idea of dressing up guys too and glad we don't have to unlock all the hairstyles anymore because I swear I've had Fashion Forward for a long time and still haven't been able to unlock every hairstyle! Still, I'm sad. I miss the modelling and now I'm left wondering how I'm gonna make a lot of money without Caprice Chalet. I'm also really disappointed we can't sell our designs in-game anymore, either. I also really enjoyed selling my designs in Fashion Forward. The ability to buy any item you previously owned is a welcome addition, but still... I spent $40 on this game, and it seems to have less content than Fashion Forward which I bought for $30. Fashion Forward, which had more, was $10 cheaper than this game! That's not right!
ReplyDeleteStyling Star is pretty lackluster when you step back and look at all the features compared to ones in previous games. I'm getting sick of the developers removing features from the games rather than adding to them. Now I love all the new clothing items but I felt no challenge to Styling Star and once you complete the main story line, there isn't much to do at all.
DeleteI've seen a lot of people bring up the price comparison thing. I believe Styling Star was cheaper than Fashion Forward here in Australia brand new, but it's much less of a game than its predecessor.
This is a nice guide! I personally prefer Fashion Forward over Styling Star, because of FF having more.
ReplyDeleteI made a list featuring the pros and cons of both games: https://www.reddit.com/r/stylesavvy/comments/jh588q/fashion_forward_vs_styling_star/
I've also updated it to include a link to your page!
Thank you so much for your blog! It's so helpful when I play the Style Savvy games
ReplyDelete"There is now no limit and you can store every single clothing and accessory item in the game!"
ReplyDeleteThen why am I being told that I need to clear out my stock to get more things?????
The stock thing is really weird in this game. Been ages since I've encountered this but once you reach a stylist rank later on in the main story line, your assistant will tell you about more space becoming available and how you'll never have to delete/clear stock items ever again. The game probably thinks you cannot hold every item at the game but I've gone over the stock numbers at my boutique without deleting anything.
Delete