Her Universe Says Aloooooha! and puts the power in the princess’ hands.

The Her Universe Fashion Show Update panel consisted of Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein, Ed Labay the Vice President of General Merchandise Management for Hot Topic,  and the 2017 fashion show winners Grace DuVal, Lindsay Orndorff, and Rose Ivy.

Her Universe was founded by Ashley Eckstein. She was raised in the Disney mindset with a father who worked as a cast member at Disney World. She also announced her book tour for “It’s Your Universe: You Have the Power to Make It Happen” which begins this year. The theme of her book is

“Dreaming and wishing, there is no age limit”

and

“If you can dream it you can do it, anything is possible”

Ashley Eckstein in her book calls for people to be “Dream Warriors” and she will be going on tour to promote her book.

The Disney store working with Her Universe will be releasing “Our Universe” in April 2018

Destination Disney

Last year’s winners from Her Universe Fashion Show 2017, were awarded the opportunity to create the Destination Disney Collection. This collection is planned to be released the week before San Diego Comicon 2018.

The designers took inspiration from fan art of Disney Princesses with protest signs, demonstrating the power they hold. The winners explained how they studied to come up with their designs, hours upon hours of watching the films and listening to soundtracks.

Winner Grace Duval chose to create designs based on Ariel and Jasmine. The Ariel ensemble is inspired by the quote “ready to stand,” and consists of a scalloped top with purple shell details and bell-sleeves. The jeans have fish scale detail, and shoes finish the outfit with holographic print and are embossed with King Triton’s Castle. In addition, Grace Duval designed a dinglehopper makeup brush set, and a Jasmine inspired sueded magic carpet purse.

Designer Rose Ivy chose to create a design based on Rapunzel from Tangled. She described Rapunzel as being naïve but ready for the adventure to come. Rapunzel is represented by a sleeveless dress with lace-up back and sun motif around the neck, a prominent feature in the movie, as well as a purple to pink ombre down the body. The dress is paired with Pascal earrings and a Flynn Rider bag. She said she was inspired by Rapunzel’s encouragement to “live your dream.” Rose Ivy also mentioned designs based on Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, with the song, “Almost There”.

Designer Lindsay Orndoff chose Mulan as her inspiration, and got down to business. Her design is an athleisure ensemble representing “warrior’s reflection”. This Ping inspired outfit combines both masculine and feminine elements, combining a fitted top with pants, and high-top shoes, dubbed “Mu-Shoes.” The top is hooded with sword and armor details, and the pants have the medallions to represent the weights, discipline and strength. She also designed a makeup palette contained in the armor cabinet and sword shaped makeup brushes. Orndoff also was tasked with designing a Moana themed ensemble which will include a Hei-Hei themed purse with crazy eyes, as well as paired with a perfume.

The final announcement Ashley Eckstein made was the addition of a youth category to the Her Universe fashion show this summer. Young designers are offered the opportunity to show their designs based on The Powerpuff Girls. This also opened up a new franchise to the brand, which will also work with Cartoon Network for this category.

For more coverage from Wondercon Anaheim 2018 check out : Wondercon 2018 – A Big Con with a Small Con Feel

And for our coverage of the fashion show this panel discussed check it out here