Fashion, Fandom, and Femininity
Her Universe Fashion Show winner and geek couturier Adria Renee is reimagining “the nerd” image by reclaiming her femininity
By Aya Sato
December 6, 2021
Nerd culture keeps growing exponentially and mainstream. San Diego Comic-Con International attracts over 100,000 attendees from over 80 countries and more than 2,500 media personnel every year, and it’s San Diego Convention Center’s largest annual event. Comic Con brought in almost $150 million to the regional economy with $88 million in direct attendee spending. And from those numbers, women make up half of the attendee population. Comic Con 2015 saw 50–50 gender parity. “As the geeks have inherited the Earth in more recent years, the gender balance of fandom has shifted markedly,” says The Washington Post.
As female geeks, along with fans of color, get more visibility in fandom culture, the image of “the nerd” is changing.
One such female geek and artist who is directly changing the stereotypical image of the “the nerd” is Adria Renee, a self-proclaimed “self-taught designer, and all-around giant dork from San Diego, CA.”
Renee was the Judge’s Winner of the 2019 Her Universe Fashion Show at San Diego Comic-Con with “Destination: Isla Nublar,” her Jurassic Park and Latin resort inspired look. The HUFS is a contest where geek couture designers compete for the opportunity to collaborate with the fashion brand.
Her Universe itself is a testament to the changing image of “the nerd” and more inclusive fandom culture; founder Ashley Eckstein, known as the voice actress behind Star Wars’ Ahsoka Tano, creating Her Universe in 2010 with a mission to create stylish merchandise specifically for female sci-fi fans.
Renee is a Mexican-Puerto Rican designer, now based in Nebraska, who was primarily raised by a single mother. She barely had any sewing experience, yet still won First Runner-Up in her very first Her Universe Fashion Show in 2015. Now a Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and working on her thesis project that will examine the “intersections of fashion and fandom” through the Star Wars saga, Renee talked to me on her fashion design journey and creating a space for women and people of color in geek communities.
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I read on your website’s “About Me” page that you were “raised in a household of strong and artistic women.” Tell me more about those women and what they taught you!
I was raised primarily by a single mom, but we’re Latino so we have like a multi-generational household. So I had my mom in the house, and then her sister, my Nina (madrina, aunt), who is also very artistic and, you know, I guess laid that foundation. But my grandma also had kind of a role in that as well. She passed away when I was very young; I was about four or five when she died, but [left] that kind of legacy. She was very artistic, and did sewing and floral design and all these types of things. And my mom, she did a Doctorate in nutrition, but she’s very artistic too and does a lot of crafty home projects and that sort of thing. And so her creativity comes out in different ways. But it’s always been kind of instilled in all of us and been like a really big part of how we interact with the world.
Also in your “About Me,” I loved that you wrote that you are an “unabashed girly-girl.” I’m not sure if you got to see it before but for my Bachelor’s honors research thesis back in May (Femininity & Feminism in Marketing Through the Disney Princess Lens), I wrote about the evolution of the Disney Princess brand and how the characters’ marketing was developed over the years with both femininity and feminism, and how they’re not mutually exclusive ideas.
Working in fashion, but also being part of fandom culture, do you feel a pressure to not be overtly “feminine” in order to be taken seriously?
Yeah, that’s actually a really interesting point, especially with my whole journey with fashion. I would say once upon a time, I did definitely feel that kind of pressure. Growing up, I was always like, totally into Disney Princesses, and, like, really loved any type of period fashion or period movies. You know, Titanic was the one that really got me into it. I was in second or third grade, reading every book that I could find on the Titanic, because I was obsessed with the costumes. And that was what got me interested, you know? And yeah, totally into fashion, and like, pretty things, but you know, over time, you have a lot of well-intentioned people who are like, “Well, shouldn’t you think about something more serious?” Or, “What do you really want to be when you grow up?” Over time, I feel like I did kind of temper that interest and tried not to show too much of my girly side.
As I grew up, I realized that fashion was kind of my way to anchor who I was. A way to stay true to myself, especially when I was in high school. Because I was raised by a poor single mother who’s putting herself through grad school and I couldn’t afford — like, all of the kids back then wore Abercrombie and Fitch, and we couldn’t afford that. So I was thrifting, I was wearing my mom’s old clothes…you know, I was having to make do with what was available. And so I ended up dressing very differently from other people.
“I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.” — Agent Peggy Carter (Marvel’s Agent Carter)
I started working at Old Navy and I just had such a blast working there. What I realized while working there is that women tend to kind of resign themselves to not care about fashion. But then when they are given the opportunity to really find the joy in it, it does wonders for confidence. Or just that act of being creative and coming up with outfits or owning your femininity, I started to really see the power in that. At that point, I was like, “I’m not gonna keep shying away from this,” and really coming into my own and completely owning the femininity. I think there’s power in reclaiming the things that we’ve been told are too much.
Yeah, it’s cool that we are talking about this because again, like that is what I explored in my thesis as well with the Disney Princesses and how we can have like princesses like Moana and Elsa, for example, who don’t have a prince and don’t really wear dresses per se and are more like warrior princesses. But we can also still love and appreciate the classic princesses with their big ballgowns. Femininity and feminism, it’s about having choices.
Totally. Yeah, I would really love to read that because that sounds amazing.
I have like the book version I wanted to show you actually! It was like my first big academic project. So I’m really proud of it. And I made it pink. I did not like shy away from the femininity aspect.
Yeah, like seriously, that is a beautiful bound book.
Thank you! Ok, so there have been many discussions and critiques of many fan communities for not being the most welcoming. Especially in fandoms like Star Wars and Marvel, that are seen as more male-dominated.
How have you used the “intersections of fashion and fandom” to create a space for women in the community? Especially women of color who are often even more unexposed in fandom culture?
I love this question. The scholarship up until really recently has been incredibly white male centered. Like, that is, you know, who we think of when we say “geek” and it’s constantly shown to us in media. The Big Bang Theory is the kind of classic example of “the geek” and it’s primarily white men.
Whereas, the fandom and especially fan works — the people that are producing fan fiction, fan art, cosplay, etc. — it’s women! Women are the primary drivers of this productive fandom, which I think is a really interesting phenomenon because up until recently, we’ve been totally ignored. In my own work, I don’t necessarily center my Latina-ness in my work but I think that there’s value and power to claiming space in extremely white fandom or making it more welcoming just by showing up.
Speaking of representation, and especially in sci-fi and Star Wars in particular, in the original trilogy, Leia was one of the very, very few women on screen. I saw a picture of a Kenner catalogue that showed that out of 92 action figures, only 5 were women — and all of those were Leia.
Carrie Fisher had often critiqued how she had to lose a weight to play Leia, she couldn’t wear underwear, and got sexualized at a young age by fans. But Carrie and Leia were also incredible icons for women and women nerds and you have a Carrie quote on your website (“Stay afraid, but do it anyway”). How did Leia and Carrie inspire you and do you think the Star Wars fandom is doing a better job at depicting women and being welcoming to women fans as well?
I think representation and how women are represented in Star Wars has come a long way since Leia. I think Leia, and Carrie Fisher, resonate with so many people because she wasthe only one for so long. There’s a lot about Star Wars that resonates and appeals to everyone. But, you know, I think for women and women of color, especially, we for a really long time had no option but to identify with her. She is iconic because she was a trailblazer. And I think Carrie was such an incredible person to represent and bring us Leia because she took no shit, you know? She called out the bullshit when she dealt with it; she’s never shied away from talking about some of the crap that she had to deal with. It’s an interesting dynamic, because, “How much do we have to put up with to be taken seriously?” Women identify with her, because we are her. Now in the sequels we have Rey, and Rose was a huge part of the message of The Last Jedi. She’s like, a scruffy, geeky mechanic and I love that we’re getting different kinds of representation now. Admiral Holdo too, a very feminine figure within the kind of spectrum of women that we’re shown and so yeah, we’re getting like a larger picture.
“Stay afraid, but do it anyway” — Carrie Fisher
In the original trilogy too, Leia is a princess but she doesn’t like, fit the stereotype of a princess.
She’s breaking the mold. We hear “princess” and we think of the pretty, poofy dress, traditional image of a princess. But she’s dressed down. She’s there for business.
When I was looking through your portfolio and resume, and your incredible pieces for the Her Universe Fashion Show over the years, one of the things that absolutely blew my mind was how you made the “It’s Bigger on the Inside” Dr. Who coat and dress after you had only been sewing for 3 months! What inspired you to go and take on this often really intimidating skill?
Well, so at the time, I had barely gotten into cosplay. I’ve always been a geek, but like I had never dressed up before in, like that sort of sense. I guess I didn’t know what I was getting into. And so I didn’t have reasons to be intimidated. I went in blind and was like, “Well, let’s just see how we do.” Just fumbling as I went or looking up YouTube videos, it was really just trial and error. And then submissions [for the 2015 Her Universe Fashion Show] opened up in March that year. Thankfully, they took a chance on me. And then I ended up getting Runner Up.
Your first time competing and you get Runner Up?! That’s incredible!
Yeah, it was pretty crazy. I was like, “Are you kidding me? Like, wow!” That was a lot of fun. And it was like a total affirmation that I could do it and to keep at it kind of thing. When lightning strikes, it strikes. I guess this is what I’m supposed to be doing!
Let’s talk about your winning piece, “Destination: Isla Nublar”! What made you design around Jurassic Park, and combining dinosaurs and feminism?
I love Jurassic Park and the subtle feminism of Jurassic Park is one of my favorite things about that movie. With its discussions of man vs. nature, really strong female central characters who save the day, women inheriting the Earth… and I think it’s one of the reasons that that movie in particular has stood so well over time.
Then with my own journey of reclaiming my femininity, I really wanted to play with that idea of taking this really rugged, adventurous property that’s always given a utilitarian treatment in all of its merchandise, I was like, “Let’s play with that.” This is a feminist movie, it’s got feminist messaging, so let’s give it a feminine treatment. And then, [Jurassic Park] takes place in Costa Rica so I thought, “Let’s do a Latin-inspired, resort wear kind of look! Giving it this very romantic treatment, which is totally not what you’d expect but ultimately is right on the line with the film’s messaging.
And because you were Judge’s Winner, you got to collaborate with Her Universe and Hot Topic to create a collection for Wonder Woman 1984 with Sarah Hambly! It must’ve been such a cool feeling working on a Wonder Woman collection having made that stunning transforming Diana on the town dress [for 2016 Her Universe Fashion Show]!
When I heard what we were going to get to design for, I like totally lost it. Because it really felt like it was coming full circle. Wonder Woman was kind of early in my journey. And then rounding it out with Wonder Woman again, it was really special for that to be my “capstone” in my Her Universe Fashion Show experience.
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You can see more of Adria Renee’s geek couture portfolio on her website www.adriarenee.com and on social media @adria.renee.
