Her Universe celebrated its 9th Anniversary with a tribute to 100 years of Disney. If you’ve interacted at all with Ashley Eckstein or Her Universe over the last few years you know how important Disney is to her personally. In creating her fashion brand and even her show Ashley heard a lot of ‘No’s‘ and skepticism, but she persisted and over the year has built a community and a brand that is truly fan-centered.
Every year fans wait to see the outfit reveal that opens the show, and this year didn’t disappoint. Ashley’s cinematic-themed dresses brought together the talents of a Disney imagineer and a fashion designer. Ashley was a walking piece of art, showcasing a variety of films and characters including the open crawl of Star Wars.
The evening also included several giveaways to fans from generous donations as well as a Disney themed swag bag with Disney goodies.
Ashley again bought a co-host who has been a friend of hers for several years and a broadway star in Michael James Scott. The pair thrilled the fans with their banter and stunning costume changes. Once again the show picked two winners, an audience winner and a Judges choice. Raeven K as the audience winner with her Storm from the X-Men themed Mistress of the Elements.
The judges pick was Totally Minnie by Rachel Petersen.
July 21, 2023 (San Diego, CA) – The 9th annual Her Universe Fashion Show returned to San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) to a colossal crowd of more than 2,000 fans for a standing-room only celebration of geek couture fashion. The evening celebrating 100 years of Disney was presented by Her Universe and Hot Topic and hosted by acclaimed actress and Founder of Her Universe Ashley Eckstein with multi-talented co-host Michael James Scott (The Genie in Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway).
Ahead of doors opening, Hot Topic and Disney joined forces to entertain audience members with a whimsical and immersive fan experience in the Her Universe Fashion Show lobby themed in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. The transformed lobby thrilled the crowd with fun photo opps and more.
Ashley Eckstein opened the show with a one-of-a-kind couture design that infused technology and fashion in a way that has never been done before. Teaming up with Walt Disney Imagineer Daniel Joseph, an incredibly talented inventor and illusionist who brought his unique set of skills and ideas to this creation, Eckstein’s design featured flexible OLED screens, which wrapped around Eckstein like a film strip, played video content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars. Disney Producer & Director John Gleim (Adventure Thru the Walt Disney Archives on Disney+) curated the video content with Eckstein while designer Andrew MacLaine once again designed and made Eckstein’s groundbreaking look.
Special co-host Michael James Scott donned two couture looks designed and made by Andrew MacLaine (Genie and Darth Vader) and one by Kristi Siedow-Thompson (Thanos, one of Marvel’s most powerful villains) while serenading the audience with performances including a special rendition of “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Disney’s Cinderella and “Friend Like Me” from Disney’s hit Broadway musical Aladdin.
Throughout the evening, the competition runway was ablaze with couture designs from the 25 talented designers from around the country, all eager to impress with their inspired creations. The crowd was wowed with designs inspired by Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, National Geographic and more!
The evening was a love letter to the fans when Ashley Eckstein and Michael James Scott also delighted the audience with a multitude of incredible giveaways! Eckstein shocked the crowd when she debuted and gave away a new Ahsoka Tano lightsaber set to two lucky winners. Other feature prizes consisted of Disney on Broadway prize packs which included ticket vouchers to both hit musicals Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin, premium figures from Sideshow Collectibles, D23 Gold Memberships, FŪL Bags Disney Minnie Mouse Rolling Luggage 3 Piece Set, and the ultimate prize of the night: a three-night stay in a two bedroom villa at the brand new The Villas at Disneyland® Hotel, a Disney Vacation Club® Resort opening this fall.
The evening reached brand new heights of excitement when it was revealed the winning designers would be creating two collections for Her Universe: one with Her Universe and Hot Topic and one collection with Her Universe envisioned for Disney Parks. Two winners were selected from an audience vote and the 2023 judging panel which included 2022 Her Universe Fashion Show winning designers Cindy Guillermo and Michael Burson, SVP Hot Topic Merchandising, Robin Motts, Director of Concept Art and Story Development at Disney Consumer Products, George McClements as well as actor, artist and owner of Bungalow Modern, Bret Iwan.
This year’s winning designers, who will begin their work starting today at Comic-Con, are below:
Judges winner – Rachel Petterson (@pigsinpajamas) for her Totally Minnie look inspired by Minnie Mouse
Audience winner – Raeven K. (@thatssewraevenk) for her Mistress of the Elements look inspired by X-Men’s Storm
Article by @YogiKai Be sure to follow Kai as she navigates SDCC for Fantha Tracks.
Her Universe Fashion Show images by Brian Sims. You can follow Brian on Twitter @BrianMSims.
- Hardcover Book
- Blake, Olivie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 592 Pages - 08/29/2023 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
