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Ashley Eckstein And Jennifer Tisdale Encourage Fangirls To "Dream Big"

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By Marilyn Weiss

The Her Universe Fashion Show is gaining traction as one of the must see events each year at San Diego Comic-Con. The show, now having completed its third year, is an opportunity for designers to design couture outfits that embody some of their favorite fandoms. During the show the judges and audience pick their favorite designs, and the winners get to designs a fashion collection with Her Universe to be sold at Hot Topic. This year there will be a third winner chosen by Comic-Con HQ viewers at home.

After the show was over, I got to sit down with Her Universe creator Ashley Eckstein and producer Jennifer Tisdale to talk about the show, upcoming Her Universe collections, and that famous Lego dress.

Bleeding Cool: So this year's show is over. How does it feel now that it is done?

Jennifer Tisdale: It's funny. It's not completely done for us because we are going to receive an edit tonight because the live show will air on Comic-Con HQ on the 28th so as producers we still need to get that show ready to air.

Ashley Eckstein: Yes and then the third winner is still yet to be chosen. So after the episode airs, once it's live we're going to have online voting on HerUniverse.com for a third winner. I think that will be up for two weeks. And once that third winner is chosen, then we go immediately into work to designing a collection with the three winners for Her Universe to be sold at Hot Topic for spring 2017. But I will say now we can relax because the fashion show, it's kind of like planning a wedding. It's a major event and we were all working really hard and we were really nervous. We wanted it to be perfect for the designers.

JT: I was naïve enough to think that I was going to go out afterwards. I felt like I was hit by a train. It was insane. I was so tired. But it was great!

BC: You guys were a lot more involved with the designers and their entire process this year. How did that feel seeing those designs walk down the runway since you were more involved?

AE: We're so proud!

JT: I feel like parents. Like they're all my kids.

AE: We do! You know we literally got to visit with each and every designer. And this is why we don't have votes, because we get too connected. There's absolutely no way I could have picked one winner. And I didn't want that. We do select the designers that are going to compete in the show. We narrowed it down from 245 to 27, which that was torture because honestly we had narrowed it down to the top 100 and I didn't know how we were going to narrow it down from there. But after a 3 ½ hour deliberation we narrowed it down to 27. We wanted to have 25 and I said "Nope! I can't narrow it down past 27." But that's why we have the audience pick, the at home audience and then the judges, because there's no way we could pick between the 27. And they're all winners at that point. Several of the designers in the past have gotten professional jobs from the fashion show even if they didn't win. And I really think that's going to be the case for several of the designers this year as well.

JT: I also think being able to follow them and getting to know them better, they also got to know each other better because they got to watch each other's episodes and really understand each other and each other's personalities. So when they came in, when they checked in for rehearsal they all were like "Oh my god, it's so nice to finally meet you! Oh my god I love this too!" And it was really great to see that comradery as a result of getting the ability to know each other.

BC: Did that change the way things ran backstage this year because there was a familiarity between the contestants?

AE: The designers created their own private facebook group separate from us. And it was incredible. They were so supportive of each other. And they really became friends. And some of what I call the veteran designers that have been in the fashion show before really helped out the first time designers. And at Her Universe we try really hard to keep it positive and keep it any drama or negativity out. And I think by setting that tone as a company the designers kind of took that on and became really supportive of each other rather than super competitive.

JT: I think I noticed more so this year than any year prior; the designers are always doing finishing touches, they have a million thing to do. For me, last year they were all doing it in their rooms because no one really knew what each other's designs were and it was a little bit more secretive a sense. This year they were all in the backstage area. A lot more people were just around throughout the rehearsal process and kind of wanting to do it all together. Like "oh, you're doing that? Oh I have to do this too! Let's do this together, let's spend time together!" That was really cool to see.

BC: Now I have to ask, everybody is freaking out about that dress. How hard was it to walk in that dress?

AE: It was made of over 10,000 Lego bricks. It weighed over 20 pounds. And at first it was really difficult to walk in it because it actually had a train on it and I was stepping on the Lego bricks. So we cut the train off and made it just a floor length gown. It was heavy but it was evenly distributed and my shoes hurt so bad because they were brand new. And I didn't actually feel the Lego dress because my shoes hurt. The only casually was that the Lego but the back of my calves, so afterwards I did feel that, that kind of stung a little bit. But you know, no pain no gain.

JT: Steps were a little harder, but walking was fine.

AE: Yeah walking was fine. Steps were a little difficult. But you know what? It's never been done before. So to have the ability to break a record like that, I'll put up with the pain, no big deal.

BC: How did it feel to embody Aksoka in a way that you hadn't done before? You voiced her, you dressed up as her before, you've gone out on panels and talked about her. How did it feel to be wearing her and have the braids and have that new embodiment of the character?

AE: You know what's interesting? My personal theme for the show this year, and I talked about it in the opening video a little bit, has been "Powerful Women Hit the Runway." And it's funny, a lot of the designers just happened to kind of embrace that theme without even know that was my personal theme. And even though I'm incredibly biased about Ahsoka, I'm probably the biggest Ahsoka fan, Itry to be impartial and try not to be too overbearing about my love for Ahsoka. And so I wasn't going to do an Ahskoka gown. I was going to do something inspired by a different female character. And after the season finale of Star Wars; Rebels in season 2, it was such a powerful moment and such a powerful time for Ahsoka. And I am so proud of her. She is such a powerful female character. And I really feel like she started a little bit of a movement. I mean she was the first female Jedi that's a lead in the Star Wars Universe. Before Ahsoka there hadn't been a lead in the Star Wars Universe that's a jedi that's female. And I thought, you know what, I'd be remiss not to honor Ahsoka with this design. So Dave Filoni had just done that Ahsoka sketch in time for the season finale. And so I got his blessing. I said "do you mind if we use your sketch as the art for the dress?" And I went to Nathan and Dave had said "yes you can use the sketch but I think you need to add color." So I went to Nathan and I said "Can you take this sketch and can you add color to it?" and he's like "no problem, I got you." And so that was an important moment to me, to honor Ahsoka and what she means for powerful female characters on the dress.

BC: During the intermission when you guys are counting the ballots you invite the fans to come up and walk the runway. And everybody love it, has a great time with it, and at least as an audience member it seems like a lot of the designs were getting a little more intricate. The costumes were a little bigger, grander this year. Do you think it's going to get to the point where it's rivaling what's already out there?

JT: I was really surprised how many fans wanted to walk this year. I looked down and I was like "Oh my god, the line is as long as the runway right now. And that was crazy. I do think, I remember last year and even the first year, it is just a celebration of geek fashion. Even though were doing this competition. We've always encouraged people to come to the show dressed in their own geek fashion. And I don't think it can ever rival the couture premise of the competition but I do think we're going to see more and more people coming in their own pieces.

AE: Yeah, well what happened this year especially, last year it was honestly a happy accident that the fans walked the runway. We had some ideas for the intermission because we wanted to keep it short. Honestly as fast as they can count, my husband counts the ballots, as fast as they can count the ballots is how long we want intermission to be because we want everyone to stay and we don't want people to get tired and leave. And so I think it was the morning of last year I said "You know what? I don't even know if we're allowed to do this but I want to celebrate the fans. I want the fans to walk the runway!" And we didn't even know if they would be into it.

JT: Yeah, last year I went out, I was online interviewing people in line and I was talking about the show. And I had Hot Topic gift cards and when I saw people in an outfit I was like, "Hey, here's a Hot Topic gift card. Do you want to walk the runway?" and they were like "Sure!"

AE: This year I think the fans were looking forward to it and they were expecting it. And what happened this year is, we had a lot of young designers that weren't old enough to enter the fashion show, because you have to be 18 or older. And so we encourage some young designers. We said "Look you can't enter but we want to give you the opportunity to show up in your own design and walk the runway." And so several of the little girls that were there, that was pre-planned by them. And we had invited them to come in their own designs and have that moment. Because you know Jen has a little six year old girl and I have so many young girls that are fans of Her Universe that I've gotten to watch grow up over the years and it's so important to me to encourage them to pursue their dreams and to become fashion designers if that's what they want. And I want to provide them with that opportunity.

JT: But it's really funny that you mention that because my daughter walked the runway last year in her Her Universe Star Wars dress. And this year she's like, "Mommy. We have to design something I need to walk the runway in. I'm in the show!" And I was like, okay, because I'm not a fashion designer. And she goes "I want to be Wonder Woman." So I was sewing stars on this weekend, and apparently I did way more work than I needed to do because the designers were like "You can just do the corners, you don't have to do the whole star." And I was like "Okay, good to know." But she really was like "no, I need a whole look." And she was actually the first one to walk and she had her whole look.

AE: Jen was multitasking. She's producing a show, watching the feed, sewing on stars for her girl's costume. It was true mom-multitasking.

BC: What are you guys excited for going into next year?

AE: I feel like we learned so much. The open call truly helped. Even the winner, Cameille. We were saying that, I don't know that she would had been chosen had she not come to the open call because I don't know if I would have believed her, that her designs could reappear and disappear.

JT: I didn't.

AE: And she literally did her research and she brought us a sample of thermos chromatic pigment and showed us in front of her eyes that It could appear and disappear. And had she not done that I don't know if we would have picked her because we wouldn't have understood it, we wouldn't have believed it. And I don't think we would have had the vision. So the open call is so important and I would love to be able to maybe even go to different cities to give more designers the opportunity to meet us in person so we can see their designs and hear their explanation.

JT: I'm looking forward to it and not looking forward to it at the same time. We had 245 this year. I think we'll have a lot more next year. I think it's going to be really hard, because Ashley and I both really think it's important to go through every single submission. And that takes time, really, to read though their entire application because they submit three different looks. It's a lot to go through. So I'm really excited because I think more and more people are going to enter, but it will be harder to narrow that down.

AE: Yeah and the designs get better and better. I mean the talent is insane. And the thing that is beautiful about it is there are designers that want to be professional designers and designers that are just doing it as a hobby. And there's so much talent. I don't know how they continue to raise the bar. There's LED lights, appearing and disappearing, transformation, crocheting with giant PVP pipes. I don't know how they are going to top themselves but I know they will.

JT: They will.

AE: It's going to be unreal!

JT: I remember calling Ashley the day after the Met Gala, which the theme was supposed to be technology. And I was like, "our designers could have made more inventive dresses. We have more inventive dresses!

AE: Yeah, we said, "We're on trend!" Here's the Met Gala, and this is the high fashion world, the Meca of fashion and several of the designs that were on that red carpet is what our designers were designing for the fashion show. So it's really exciting.

BC: Well I noticed you guys are wearing some Her Universe stuff today. You've got the Rey sweater on, you've got the Rebels shirt on, and we saw a bunch of wonderful new designs going down the runway. What pieces are you most excited for from the new collection?

AE: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek we collaborated with Think Geek and were doing this beautiful Star Trek Collection, so we debuted that. There's a fur tribble coat, not real fur, no tribbles were sacrificed to make our coat, even though there's many of them. But we have an awesome tribble coat and beautiful dresses and skirts. What I really like about that collection is that it's work-wear. It's something that you could wear to work, it's very professional, you can wear it to a holiday party. It will be out in time for the holidays so we're very excited for that. Also we debuted a Women of Marvel Collection, an Agent Carter dress, a Captain Marvel dress, and a Spider-Gwen jacket. Which the story behind that is Lindsay Hamilton, who is a designer from the fashion show, she's another one that I call a Three-peate, she's been in all three years. Last year she designed the Spider-Gwen jacket, which her model wore on the runway. And Hot Topic loved it so much that even though Lindsay didn't win, Ed Labay called me up and he's like "we could sell that jacket right now! Do you think we could buy that design from Lindsay and sell it?" And so we did! We approached her and we said "we'd like to buy your design and sell it in stores" and so it's coming out with this Women of Marvel collection. I think it's an exciting time because a couple years ago there's no way you could sell an Agent Carter dress, or you know they said "the Women of Marvel wouldn't sell merchandise, it's only Captain America." We're doing a collection dedicated to the Women of Marvel! It's really cool that these powerful, strong female characters are getting their time in the spotlight.

BC: Do you guys have any messages for all of the fangirls out there?

AE: I encourage them to watch the series and they will be inspired. There's no way you can watch these designers and not be inspired. From Adria who did the Wonder Woman design, a year and a half ago she was working at the Gap and didn't know how to sew. And he taught herself how to sew and she's on the runway now in a transforming gown. I think these are great example of they're living their dreams and anything is possible. Just believe! Camille is another good example. She literally dreamed big. She had this crazy idea that even she herself was like "I think I overreached. Was I too cocky to believe that I could pull this off?" And I said "No! You have to dream big!" And she did it and she won.

JT: Yeah I feel like Dream Big is such a big message for the show. These girls were like "I've never beaded before but I'm going to learn how to bead because I want to make this dress." So from me; Fangirls, just keep pushing yourself! Don't let anyone ever get you down!

AE: And don't say it's not possible, just say, "why not?"

Be sure to head over to Comic-Con HQ and watch the final episode of The Her Universe Fashion Show: Fashion Meets Fandom, which will include the 2016 Fashion Show in its entirety. After viewing please go online and vote for your favorite designer for the Comic-Con HQ Winner. Voting ends on August 11th!

Marilyn Weiss is a contributor for Bleeding Cool and loves her job as a children's librarian. You can find her on Twitter @marilynjweiss


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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