San Diego Comic-Con is quickly approaching this summer, which means one thing: the annual Her Universe Fashion Show is on the way! Star Wars fan favorite Ashley Eckstein returns to host the fashion show for the eleventh year, and she won’t be alone. Broadway legend Michael James Scott is joining her on the stage for his third time as co-host, and the two longtime friends are embracing Wicked in a big way for the 2025 event, sponsored by Universal and opening the door for talented designers to win a grand prize to advance in the industry.
It’s also only the first of two big collaborations between the duo, and I was fortunate enough to speak with Eckstein about what to expect from SDCC’s annual home of “geek couture” with its Universal twist in 2025.
Her Universe Fashion Show 2025
after the Mattel partnership in 2024, you may be in for a surprise with what Universal and Her Universe are bringing to SDCC this year. The event, which takes place on July 24 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, is celebrating the idea of defying fashion. Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba would surely approve!
How to Train Your Dragon to anything Jurassic, but attendees can likely expect to see plenty of pink and green as the co-hosts embrace Wicked ahead of Wicked: For Good debuting late in the 2025 new movie release calendar.
And with a Wicked theme, who better for Ashley Eckstein to have as a co-host than a Broadway vet known for productions like Aladdin, Something Rotten, and The Book of Mormon, to name just a few? Eckstein opened up about why teaming up with Michael James Scott was a “perfect fit” for Defying Fashion and going full Wicked, saying:
It’s truly a perfect fit! Michael, we’ve had so much fun co-hosting the show together the past two years, but this year, I mean, to have a Broadway superstar on the stage with me, it really couldn’t be a better fit. So I’m excited. We’re Defying Fashion, I mean, in every sense of the word. We tried to imagine the show with that [approach] of let’s throw out all the rules, throw out all of the expectations. What can we do with it? Do we need to use traditional materials? How should we tell this story in our own way? So we’re excited.
Anybody who is familiar with the Her Universe Fashion Show knows that Defying Fashion for geek couture will likely go well beyond the kinds of cosplay on full display elsewhere at San Diego Comic-Con. Ashley Eckstein didn’t reveal if she or Michael James Scott will lean more in a Glinda or Elphaba direction as co-hosts, but she did promise one element that should be a delight for anybody who enjoys a good old-fashioned musical:
I think you’ve come to know if Michael’s on the stage, there will be singing! So stay tuned for that. We’re still finalizing details, but I’m trying to get even a little more singing in there from him. So it’s like, ‘Hey, can you give us another song? How about another song?’ [laughs]
The Ahsoka voice actress has opened up in the past about why hosting the Her Universe Fashion show is nerve-wracking to the point that it’s “the most nervous I ever get and most nervous I am for anything, period.” She only had good things to say in advance of the 2025 event, which will feature designers from across the country competing on the catwalk in pursuit of the grand prize of designing a collection with Her Universe.
She went on to praise Michael James Scott in a way that really establishes why the duo would want to start their second collaboration this summer. Eckstein told me:
I am such a proud hype friend of Michael. You know, we’ve been friends since high school. As I look back on his Broadway career now, I mean, he’s literally a Broadway superstar. But to see how many shows he’s done, not only with Aladdin, which he’s done more shows as the Genie than any other actor in the show. He’s now the longest-running Genie, but he’s done countless Broadway shows. So we’re so lucky that he is able to share his talent with us again this year, and I get to share the stage with him.
So, what is this second project for Ashley Eckstein and Michael James Scott? You can count on a new podcast that relies on the friendship that the actress has spoken publicly about since they first co-hosted the Her Universe Fashion Show’s Disney event in 2023.
Ashley Eckstein And Michael James Scott’s “HypeFriend” Project
Ashley Eckstein wasn’t kidding when she described herself as “such a hype friend” of Michael James Scott, with their new weekly podcast literally called HypeFriend! The two childhood pals are aiming to start a “friendship revolution” with episodes delving into what makes a true friend. As you might expect from two people who have worked across showbiz and heavily with Disney over the years, they have plenty of friends to bring in as guests who listeners will likely recognize.
In fact, in the first three episodes that are available on July 11, you can count on voice actor Bret Iwan – a.k.a. the official voice of Mickey Mouse – and Andrew Levitt, better known as Nina West from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Eckstein actually co-hosted the Her Universe Fashion Show with Nina West back in 2022, sharing the story of how she “slid into Nina’s DMs” back in the day.
Segments of the podcast include “Hypes & Gripes,” “Good Gossip,” “Ashley Bakes,” and “Neighbor Drop-In” with guests. To promote – or perhaps I should say hype – the podcast, Michael James Scott said:
Ashley’s over here giving you the recipe for friendship—and I’m the friend who shows up, in a FIERCE outfit, ready to eat the cake, even if it’s burnt. And with Ashley’s baking, you never know! Honestly, doing a podcast with my lifelong bestie where we overshare and laugh too loud? That’s my love language. HypeFriend is like a big, glittery group hug but with jazz hands.
The first three episodes are available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. If you’re going to be in San Diego to attend the fashion show at SDCC on July 24, you can also check back in with Ashley Eckstein and Michael James Scott on July 25 when they tape a live after-show at the Neil Morgan Auditorium of the San Diego Central Library.
As for the Her Universe Fashion Show, the event with its Wicked theme takes place on Thursday, July 24 at 6 p.m. PT in the Seaport Ballroom at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, with wristband distribution starting that morning at 10 a.m. PT. The event is free to attend, and SDCC badges are not required. This will be the fashion show’s first year in a bigger venue, and it’s a safe bet that it’ll be a full house.