'Definitely Fake It 'Til You Make It': Ashley Eckstein Reflects On Spread Of Geek Couture And Her Universe Fashion Show's 2024 Mattel Partnership

It's something that I'm beyond proud of, and it is something that I will take a bit of credit for. Not for the geek fashion trend – fans were designing geek-inspired fashion for years and years and years. I just saw it at San Diego Comic-Con, I saw that the fans were using the hallways of San Diego Comic-Con as their runway, and I just thought it was such a travesty that the fans didn't have a proper runway to walk on. When we started the first fashion show, I had to talk about it with confidence, and so I came up with the term 'geek couture.' That phrase did not exist before our fashion show. I literally made it up. But I talked about it like it was a thing. Definitely like a 'fake it 'til you make it' type of thing.

I was like, 'Oh yeah, geek couture! It's totally the emerging trend.' [laughs] I was like, 'Yeah, haven't you heard of it? Geek couture!' And so now, when I hear it – like you said – everywhere, even beyond San Diego Comic-Con, I always have a little bit of a giggle and I'm just so proud of how far it's come. I'm proud that designers and fans have their own space, that it's recognized. It's not just written off as this thing that only exists at Comic-Con. No, geek-inspired fashion is very much a thing and now we do see it infiltrate the Met Gala or the runways at at Fashion Week in New York and Paris and Milan. It is a thing.

Especially as we're talking about brands like Barbie and empowering brands, especially as women. I'll be the first to say, I naturally sometimes try to hide my voice and say, 'Oh, well, isn't that cool? Yeah, I didn't really do that.' But no, I am proud that it started here. It started at the Her Universe Fashion Show and it's grown beyond that. I'm proud of our team and I'm proud of the designers and I'm very thankful to San Diego Comic-Con for giving us the opportunity to do it. And now it has become a thing. It is something that I'll take ownership for a little bit. I'm like a proud mom that has seen this thing that we've built go off and almost go to college, you could say, and it's something I'm very proud of.

I do feel the magnitude of ten years. I think whenever you hit a milestone like this, you do feel the weight of it. There's also an expectation with it, especially now. Last year our sponsor was Disney. This year, our sponsor is Mattel. When you have big studios like that, and a major corporation like Mattel – which was practically my childhood – being your sponsor, we get to play with properties like Barbie and Polly Pocket. Literally the toys that I grew up on and that I loved. There is naturally going to be a weight to that, and I just want to do it justice. I'm very excited about and proud of what we're putting together.

In fact, one of my nicknames is Polly Pocket, because people when they meet me, they don't expect me to be so short. That's the number one thing they say. They're like, 'Oh wow, you're a lot shorter than we thought.' And so people have often called me Polly Pocket because they're like, 'Oh, you're pocket size!' But I've owned it. I never took that as like a negative because I love Polly Pocket. Just like Polly, I've always been in my own world. I kind of beat to my own drum. I like to design my own world, so I loved Polly Pocket... You will see the passion I have for Mattel in their brands is very genuine, so I'm excited to celebrate almost 80 years of Mattel.