“We are really loving what we do,” Benjamin Jouffret says. It’s our art.
As costume designer and character lead for Ubisoft’s franchise, Jouffret oversees the human-centric philosophy powering the newly released Just Dance: Decades of Hits, which launched on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, relying entirely on physical craftsmanship rather than neural networks.
The Hands-On Paris and Shanghai Costume Pipeline
Bringing digital avatars to life inside the franchise requires a rigorous, physical workflow that spans two major studio locations in Paris and Shanghai. Rather than leveraging algorithmic rendering to generate wardrobe concepts, the team—overseen by Jouffret across his eight-year tenure—begins each asset by listening closely to the target track and examining its corresponding music video.
Following a rapid one-day brainstorming sprint, designers pull references from cinema, historical fashion archives, and contemporary pop culture to build comprehensive mood boards. Sketching and final design execution take roughly two to three weeks. From there, production requires an intense four-week window dedicated to material sourcing, fittings, hair and makeup tests, and choreography rehearsals to ensure every garment withstands rigorous physical movement.
Filming takes place over a single day against a green screen, integrating real performers wearing handmade costumes, wigs, and makeup directly into the game’s mapping engine. Across each annual installment, the international studios produce approximately 100 distinct costumes.
Ergonomic Constraints and Textile Engineering
Engineering stage-ready apparel for professional dancers demands strict adherence to ergonomic constraints. Early development iterations included experiments with 3D printing, but the resulting polymers proved far too heavy for performers to execute complex choreography comfortably.
Today, additive manufacturing is strictly sequestered to lightweight accessories requiring fine, intricate structural details. Garments intended for high-motion routines rely instead on traditional textile engineering, leveraging specialist artisans skilled in corsetry, mascot fabrication, and casual streetwear.
The operational timeline leaves virtually no room for structural failures during the single-day shoot. Every piece must successfully marry the distinct aesthetic identity of real-world artists—such as Lady Gaga, Zara Larsson, Bad Bunny, and Billy Joel—with absolute kinetic freedom.
Preserving Seventeen Years of Heritage in Paris
The franchise’s 17-year history has generated hundreds of physical costumes, all currently preserved in a centralized storage archive in Paris. Editorial teams and developers frequently pull from this historical repository when revisiting legacy narratives or expanding character lineages.
For the newly launched Decades of Hits, this continuity manifests in the introduction of Lyra, a brand-new character who traces her narrative roots directly to a protagonist featured in an earlier installment. Studio leadership has floated proposals to display the physical archive through a public exhibition or a runway presentation, though many of the garments require careful structural repair following the inevitable wear and tear of active filming cycles.
