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What do you wear for your first trip to space?<\/p>\n
If you are like most people, probably whatever spacesuit or astronaut outfit the company (or government agency) you are flying with provides. However, if you are Lauren S\u00e1nchez \u2014 journalist, pilot, children\u2019s book author, philanthropist and fianc\u00e9e of Jess Bezos \u2014 the second-richest man on the planet, you have another idea. You think, \u201cLet\u2019s reimagine the flight suit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, you know, these suits are made for a man,\u201d Ms. S\u00e1nchez said recently on a video call from the West Coast. \u201cThen they get tailored to fit a woman.\u201d Or not tailored: an all-female spacewalk, planned in 2019, had to be canceled because NASA did not have two spacesuits that fit two women. (Instead they sent out one woman and one man.)<\/p>\n
But Ms. S\u00e1nchez is part of the first all-female flight since Russia sent Valentina Tereshkova on a solo flight in 1963. She will be going up on a Blue Origin flight with a pop star (Katy Perry), a journalist (Gayle King), two scientist\/activists (Amanda Nguyen, Aisha Bowe) and a film producer (Kerianne Flynn). Feeling like yourself is what makes you feel powerful, she said, and you shouldn\u2019t have to sacrifice that because space has been \u2014 well, a mostly male space. Even if you are a space tourist, rather than a full-fledged astronaut.<\/p>\n
So five months ago, Ms. S\u00e1nchez got in touch with Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim, the co-founders of the brand Monse, who are also creative directors of Oscar de la Renta (Mr. Garcia and Ms. Kim made Ms S\u00e1nchez\u2019s 2024 Met Gala outfit). She wanted to know if they would work with Blue Origin, Mr. Bezos\u2019 space company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI was like: right away!\u201d Mr. Garcia said over Zoom.<\/p>\n
The result of their collaboration will be unveiled on Monday, when Ms. S\u00e1nchez and crew climb into the Blue Origin rocket in West Texas, and take off for their approximately 11-minute trip past the K\u00e1rm\u00e1n line and into zero gravity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI think the suits are elegant,\u201d Ms. S\u00e1nchez said, \u201cbut they also bring a little spice to space.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Gayle King tried hers on, she said, she loved it. She thought the suits looked \u201cprofessional and feminine at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which, when it came to space, happened to be \u201csomething we had never seen before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Monse Blue Origin suits, which were produced by Creative Character Engineering, look like a cross between \u201cStar Trek\u201d (on top) and the outfits Elvis wore in his Vegas years (on the bottom) and are made of a flame-resistant stretch neoprene, rather than the shiny polyester-looking fabric of the original, baggier, Blue Origin suits, as modeled by Mr. Bezos on a flight in 2021. (Ms. S\u00e1nchez helped design those suits as well.)<\/p>\n
Still, \u201cWe really didn\u2019t know where to start,\u201d Mr. Garcia said. \u201cThere\u2019s no precedent. All the references are men\u2019s spacesuits.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Because Blue Origin fliers do not go out into space, Mr. Garcia and Ms. Kim did not need to incorporate the life-support system of the classic astronaut suit, but they still had to work within technical specifications.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimplicity was important, and comfort, and fit,\u201d Mr. Garcia said. \u201cBut we also wanted something that was a little dangerous, like a motocross outfit. Or a ski suit. Flattering and sexy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Kim added: \u201cI, personally, would want to look very slim and fitted in my outfit.\u201d<\/p>\n
They batted ideas back and forth with Ms. S\u00e1nchez. \u201cWe even had a meeting on what underwear Lauren is going to wear,\u201d Mr. Garcia said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSkims!\u201d Ms. S\u00e1nchez responded.<\/p>\n
The result is a body-con jumpsuit, with a compression layer, a slight mandarin collar, a dual-zip front that can look like it is open to the waist, a belt, and a zipper on the side of each calf, so the wearer can create a flared effect according to their own taste. \u201cYou\u2019ll be able to zip or unzip,\u201d Mr. Garcia said. (Ms. King said she liked the bell-bottom idea.)<\/p>\n
The suits also feature a darker, ombre effect on the sides that works to shade the body, almost like trompe l\u2019oeil. There are small pockets on the arms, but leg pockets were dropped because they were too bulky, Ms. Kim said. Every crew member was three-D body-scanned so the suits could be made exactly to their measurements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost put a corset in your suit, because I know you wouldn\u2019t have been against it,\u201d Mr. Garcia said to Ms. S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI probably wouldn\u2019t have,\u201d she said. But \u201cwe\u2019re going to be in zero gravity. So we have to be able to move.\u201d When Ms. S\u00e1nchez first tried the prototype on, she said, \u201cI was stretching. I was doing a back bend. I was like, \u2018OK, let\u2019s make sure it doesn\u2019t split up the back in space.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Garcia said when he saw the suit on he thought, \u201cDamn, you look good. You\u2019re going up in space looking hot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Amanda Nguyen called the suits \u201crevolutionary.\u201d Clothes are about identity and representation, she said, and by allowing women to look like women, the suits are a statement that \u201cwomen belong in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blue Origin is not the first private space company to enlist a fashion brand for help in outfit design. Axiom Space has also been working with Prada on their Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit, otherwise known as the suit that NASA\u2019s astronauts will wear when they walk on the moon during the Artemis III mission in 2026 (prototypes were revealed last October). Similarly, Elon Musk worked with the costume designer Jose Fernandez, the man behind the \u2018fits of \u201cThe Fantastic Four\u201d and \u201cThe Avengers,\u201d on the SpaceX suits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
As to why fashion designers were suddenly so popular with the astrophysics set, Mr. Garcia said, \u201cif we make suits look approachable and like something anyone could wear, then space might feel a little bit less distant.\u201d Maybe, Mr. Garcia said, when people saw the Monse Blue Origin style, they might even think they \u201cwant to buy that spacesuit to go to the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, he went on, he and Ms. Kim were thinking they might \u201cset up an office on Mars.\u201d In both cases, he was joking. Sort of.<\/p>\n
It turned out Mr. Garcia, Ms. Kim and Ms. S\u00e1nchez were already working on something else for Blue Origin, related to \u201cthe moon.\u201d Blue Origin has been selected by NASA to develop the human landing system for the Artemis V mission to the Moon, but Ms. S\u00e1nchez would not say if Monse would have anything to do with that.<\/p>\n
She was, however, excited to give space travel a new look.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t what you would call \u2018normal,\u2019 but neither is sending six women into space,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you want to do glam, great; if you don\u2019t, great.\u201d The point was everyone gets to choose.<\/p>\n
Then she quoted something she said Katy Perry had told her: \u201cWe\u2019re putting the \u2018ass\u2019 in astronaut,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n