The Her Universe Fashion Show took San Diego’s Manchester Grand Hyatt by storm once again this year with a positively powerful display of geek couture celebrating this year’s theme of the Disney 100 years of Wonder campaign.
In total, 25 designers were tasked to participate with categories that included Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, National Geographic and more! Once again, there were two winners this year, Judges Pick was Rachel Petterson (@pigsinpajamas) for her Totally Minnie look inspired by Minnie Mouse and Audience Pick was Raeven K. (@thatssewraevenk) for her Mistress of the Elements look inspired by X-Men’s Storm.
Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein cohosted this year with Broadway’s Michael James Scott. Judges this year 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.
Ashley Eckstein opened the show with a one-of-a-kind couture piece created by designer (and 2014 Her Universe Fashion Show winner) Andrew MacLaine. Teaming up with Walt Disney Imagineer Daniel Joseph the outfit featured flexible OLED screens, which wrapped around 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.
Co-host Michael James Scott featured in several looks including two couture looks also made by Andrew MacLaine (Genie and Darth Vader) plus another by Kristi Siedow-Thompson (Thanos). He put is Broadway calliber skills to good use treating the audience to performances of “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Disney’s Cinderella and “Friend Like Me” from the Broadway musical version of Aladdin.
Special challenges this year surfaced in the form of the SAG-AFTRA strikes which Ashley shared during a surprisingly candied emotional moment towards the end of the show. She mentioned she worked very closely with SAF-AFTRA to ensure that the show remained in full compliance.
Justin Arthur, Sr. Manager of D23 Creative & Programming for the official Disney fan club was also on hand as part of the special giveaways that took place during the show!
The Designs
The Winners
The winning designers will be creating two collections: one with Her Universe + Hot Topic and another collection with Her Universe + Disney Parks.
Runners Up
Ever the consummate professional, Ashley came out after the show (in yet another outfit) to meet and greet with fans.
See it for Yourself
San Diego Comic-Con took place July 19 – July 23, 2023.
But Wait, There’s More!
Don’t miss out on any of our coverage across the MouseInfo Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts for the latest from the event!
MORE INFO: Get all of our Comic-Con coverage at mouseinfo.com/sdcc
