The 10th annual Her Universe Fashion show at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 opened dramatically with a powerfully sung, slowed-down rendition of Katy Perry’s “Roar” performed by Michael James Scott.
It was a perfect demonstration of the show to come. It was a gorgeous showcase of talent that at times lost momentum. Just as Scott sometimes struggled to stick to the slower pace of the song as it built, the show featured some gimmicks that felt a little meandering.
Her Universe wasn’t the only brand celebrating an anniversary. The show was sponsored by Mattel, which had three birthdays to highlight: its own 80th, Barbie’s 65th, and Polly Pocket’s 35th. In true Her Universe style, all three were featured as dresses. First was Barbie, of course, featuring state-of-the-art projection technology.
Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein wore a dress that was transformed with lights and projections into multiple classic Barbie looks including the new 65th-anniversary look before the long, pink, sparkly, massively-bowed final dress was revealed. Unfortunately, the dress was impractical and she tripped several times until Scott started helping her out.
After that was a video featuring several of the past winners discussing how much Her Universe meant to them and how strong and welcoming the community is, followed by many of them walking the runway in new looks. Out of all of the great pieces, my personal favorite was the Cheshire Cat look.
Once the former designers had strutted their stuff, Scott and Eckstein returned to the stage to have a blast in retro Barbie and Ken looks and talk. There were a lot of people to acknowledge, including a member of Eckstein’s team dressed as Ken that much of the audience kept going wild for. It probably didn’t hurt that he looked a lot like Ryan Gosling.
Then, at last, it was time for the competition. Between groups of contestants Eckstein and Scott popped out in different looks including Eckstein’s Polly Pocket dress (that suffered an unfortunate malfunction) and Scott’s Hot Wheels look.
The talent on display was undeniable, however, and the audience choice winner Candice Miller stunned everyone with the incredible textural details on her Warrior Princess of Dune look. Her use of materials showed a real mastery of fabric arts. Meanwhile, the judge’s choice winner, Wes Jenkins, worked magic to create a complete look out of Barbie clothing.
Special mentions go to Duy Truong, creator of the Sailor Moon-inspired look, and Bunny Jones, creator of the Monster High-inspired look—not just for their pieces, but also their performances on the runway.
The 10th anniversary Her Universe fashion show once again displayed the powerful creativity of geeks and the potential beauty in fandom. I look forward to seeing what’s next.
Stay tuned for more SDCC ’24 coverage from The Beat.
