SDCC 2014 Day One - Part 2: Her Universe Fashion Show

This year, Her Universe held its first ever Geek Couture Fashion Show at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel. The event was free for all badge holders and I was lucky that I had a badge for this particular day. I again opted to get badges just for Thursday and Sunday, which I will never do again. I totally regret not having badges for Friday and Saturday!

Anyway, the show was so fun! I'm a huge Her Universe fan and own several pieces from their collection. While I also love all things beauty and fashion, I'm also a little bit of a geek, so a "geek couture" fashion show was right up my alley. It was so great to see an amazing group of talented designers, all of which were inspiring and beyond creative. There were 36 designers in all and at the end, a panel of celebrity judges that included the always awesome and gorgeous Chloe Dykstra, picked a winner, the grand prize being a collaboration with Her Universe and Hot Topic to design their very own collection. The audience was also given the opportunity to vote for their favorites. I have to admit, I felt very much like Nina Garcia "judging" everyone that walked down the runway.

Check out the rest of the post under the cut to see who won!

(Warning: it is picture heavy)


The show actually started off with models showcasing clothes from the actual Her Universe collection. Afterwards, Ashley Eckstein came out in her amazing custom made Totoro-inspired gown, designed and created by Catherine Elhoffer.

The runway show began immediately after Ashley's introduction. Each designer had their own video introduction and they were presented in groups, which was nice because imagine having to judge 36 designers, one after the other.

Here are just some of the designs. Some of the models were moving way too fast and would pause at their mark for literally 2 seconds and my good ol' point and shoot just couldn't capture them properly. Also, by the end, my camera's battery was dying so I couldn't take a billion shots and had to really save it for when I could get a good one.

Effie's Trinket (Hunger Games) by Lauren Bregman

Modeled by the lovely Adrianne Curry.

 I am selfish. I am brave. (Divergent) by Kathryn Henzler

Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four) by Maggie Chan

Arcee (Transformers) by Tara Reich

Golden Age Gloria (Devil May Cry) by Cindy Henry

Luna (Harry Potter) by Linda Heredia

Whovian Scarf Dress w/ Tin Dog Purse ( Doctor Who) by Tanya Nicole

Loki Evening Dress (Thor) by Betsy Waddell

Dalek Wedding Dress (Doctor Who) by Leetal Platt

The Hobbit Wedding Gown (The Hobbit) by Cressie Lewis

Padme's Rainbow Gown (Star Wars) by Caitlin Shindler

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games) by Amanda Avery

Thrace (Battlestar Galactica) by Grace Duval

Arya Stark (Game of Thrones) by Andrea Schwartz

The Iron Throne Gown (Game of Thrones) by Victoria Schmidt

And the winner is...

Great Skirt, Marty! (Back to the Future) by Amy Beth Christenson

Coincidentally, this was also the design I picked. I thought that out of all of the designs, it was the most creative and innovative and definitely one that I didn't expect. What I loved about it was that the whole look tied together perfectly, top to the bottom. I saw elements of the movie in every single piece, right down to the ombre tights and shoes. Another favorite of mine was the Loki Evening Dress. I feel like if Female Loki were to attend a cocktail party, that's exactly how she would dress. Absolutely divine. I also liked the Devil May Cry gown. I think I would actually wear that. To where? I don't know, but I would totally rock it.

The audience favorite was a design by Andrew Maclaine called "Regina's Curse" inspired by the show "Once Upon a Time." It was a 2-in-1 kind of a deal and very... ferocia coutura. The model walked on with a sort of pant suit outfit and what I'm assuming is not at all dissimilar to what Regina wears in the show. About halfway down the runway, she stripped off everything to reveal a gown undearneath. I, unfortunately, did not get a single picture of this that wasn't blurry or off in color.You can, however, see it here.

There was a 45 minute intermission after the runway show and they were to announce the winners after and a band called All Time Low was going to perform. I didn't stick around as I was on a schedule that day and I had set a time for my driverbrother to pick me up. Plus, I have no idea who All Time Low is so I thought I'd probably be a little bored.

That's all for day one. I'll be back with another SDCC post later on. Watch this space!!