This year marks the 100th anniversary of Disney, and Star Wars actress Ashley Eckstein is helping fans to celebrate in style this summer. As a huge lifelong Disney World fan herself, she’s hosting the annual Her Universe Fashion Show at San Diego Comic-Con to embrace all things Disney. She spoke with CinemaBlend before the event, and on top of sharing a message for Star Wars fans ahead of the Ahsoka series, Eckstein opened about her love for Disney and how the upcoming SDCC Her Universe Fashion Show will celebrate the company, complete with a special Disney co-host!
The Her Universe Fashion Show has been a standout part of San Diego Comic-Con for the better part of a decade, including one year when it went virtual to bring geek couture back in a time of lockdown. The 2023 event will bring together designers from across the country for a showcase of fandom fashion, with a grand prize of designing a collection with the Her Universe brand. The show is doing something different this time as well!
For the ninth annual fashion show this year, Ashley Eckstein – known for voicing Ahsoka Tano across the Star Wars franchise and founding fandom fashion company Her Universe – is joining forces with Broadway’s Michael James Scott, a.k.a. the Genie in the stage production of Aladdin. When I spoke with her before the Her Universe SDCC event, she reflected on her years as a Disney fan and working with the company:
If you know me, you know that I am just the biggest Disney fan. If you don't know me, what's important to know is that I grew up in Orlando, Florida and my dad was a Disney cast member and I grew up Disney. I mean, I practically was raised on Main Street, USA. My parents used the Disney parks and the Disney stories as a part of education, almost. You could definitely say I grew up Disney, and it's a part of the way I think, it's the way I'm inspired. I use the stories of Disney as my inspiration, and so it's very much a part of my DNA in the fabric of my entire being. To work with the Disney company, both with Her Universe and personally as an actress and as a creator and designer and storyteller, is really a dream come true.
Ashley Eckstein has had plenty of opportunities to celebrate Disney over the course of her career, including when her Star Wars Mindful Matters shorts were made available at every Walt Disney World Resort. Now, she can celebrate (and help fans celebrate) all things Disney with the ninth Her Universe Fashion Show at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20. The company is of course comprised of a number of brands, ranging from Star Wars to Marvel to Pixar. The Her Universe founder shared what it is like to honor them all in one fashion show:
For the first time, we are only celebrating one studio at the fashion show, which means even the designers' looks are only going to be Disney this year, which we've never done before. I would never do that unless it was a big enough umbrella, of properties that were under that umbrella. Like you said, everything from Walt Disney himself to the parks to Walt Disney Studios animation to Disney Studios to Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic, Fox, all of the Disney parks. I mean, there was so much to play with and celebrate. There's no way we can highlight it all, but we're doing a good job. We're going to celebrate a lot in one show. I'm very excited and honored that Disney would want to partner with us in this way and allow us to help them celebrate this incredible anniversary and milestone.
The fashion show is designed to be fun for the whole family (and free!) with giveaways throughout the night on July 20, and it turns out that the co-hosts already had a long history together before they joined forces for Her Universe at SDCC this year. When I asked Ashley Eckstein about how her collaboration with Michael James Scott came about, she shared that she was “so excited” I asked because there’s an “important piece of backstory” that wasn’t in the initial announcement about the show. Eckstein explained:
Michael and I are really good friends and it dates way back to high school. We both grew up in Orlando, Florida, and we both went to a theater magnet school, where we were theater kids together. We were in several shows and plays, and we were in theater competitions. We have just been the best of friends ever since we were freshmen in high school, and I'm just thrilled that we're doing the show together. We were both kids growing up in Orlando, Florida that dreamed of working with Disney... That we're co-hosting the fashion show this year, celebrating 100 years of Disney, but the fact that we've both made our Disney dreams come true, is really, really special.
What could be more fitting for a Disney celebration than for it to make dreams come true for two longtime friends and fans? All signs point toward an event that will be special for attendees as well as the hosts, as Eckstein went on to explain:
So you're gonna see that chemistry on stage because we're just two high school kids, just giddy about the fact that we've been able to make our dreams come true. And I'm so proud of him! Michael has become one of the top Broadway stars. He is starring as the Genie in Aladdin on Broadway right now, but he also has such an incredible Broadway career, and I'm honored that he's going to perform in our show, and that the Comic-Con audience is really going to get to know him. It's just going to be a lot of fun.
Ashley Eckstein didn’t spoil all the details of what kind of performance to expect from Michael James Scott during the Her Universe show, but it’s safe to say that anybody who was cast as the Genie in Aladdin on Broadway knows how to entertain a crowd! The Ahsoka voice actress (whose Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars performances can be found with a Disney+ subscription) went on to share what to expect from the show:
Expect lots of laughs, and we're going to have a really good time. We're gonna be interacting with the audience all night. We're going to be giving away a ton of prizes, lots and lots of prizes, and so Michael and I are going to be going out into the audience, interacting with the audience. It's going to be a lot of fun.
You can attend the 2023 Her Universe Fashion Show as part of San Diego Comic-Con to celebrate 100 years of Disney on Thursday, July 20 starting at 6 p.m. ET, with doors opening for the general audience at 5 p.m. PT. The event will be located in the Harbor Ballroom of the Manchester Hyatt Hotel. On top of showcasing the geek couture of designers across the country, Ashley Eckstein will wear a one-of-a-kind design that will combine technology and storytelling!
