The Her Universe Fashion Show turned ten this year with an standing-room-only crowd in this fan-favorite celebration of Geek Couture. In partnership with Mattel, who celebrate 65 years of Barbie this year, the night was a love letter to the fandoms and imagination of childhood, and the milestones so many favorites have achieved.

Photo by Mark Edwards

Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein wowed the crowd with an array of digitally-projected designs onto a special fabric that recreated many of Barbie’s iconic looks from the last sixty-five years. According to Her Universe:

To pull off Eckstein’s groundbreaking opening Barbie look, she and show director Jeremy Merrifield worked with a team of more than twenty designers, engineers, illustrators, carpenters, animators, and musicians. The team used a 40,000 lumens precision BARCO projector to celebrate 65 years of Barbie with seven iconic Barbie fashions using a single dress made with cutting-edge projection fabric from AV StumpFL. The eighth Barbie couture look was a pink design created by audience winner of the 2014 Her Universe Fashion Show, Andrew MacLaine.

In honor of the tenth anniversary show, the previous winners put together a video talking about all the ways their lives have change from being involved in the Her Universe community, with many of them returning to walk the runway in original designs to the delight of the audience.

Photo by Mark Edwards

The show also featured inspirational stories from Eckstein and memorable moments including other Mattel-inspired looks worn by Eckstein and co-host Michael James Scott, best known for his role as the Genie in Broadway’s Aladdin.

The 25 designers rose to the challenge with pieces inspired by everything from Barbie to Castle Grayskull to the kids’ show Bluey. Other favorites included a look inspired by a Magic 8 Ball, a beautiful homage to Sailor Moon, and several looks inspired by Barbie herself.

This year’s winning designers will design a fashion collection with Her Universe and win $10,000:
The Her Universe Fashion Show footage will be available online next week exclusively at www.youtube.com/user/HerUniverseChannel.
Fans should follow Her Universe on social media (@heruniverse on IG, X, Facebook and @officialheruniverse on TikTok) and use hashtag #HerUniverseFashionShow for special behind-the-scenes event content.