It’s a valid enough question. In 2019, NASA had to update a planned all-female spacewalk to feature one man and one woman because it did not have enough spacesuits for two women. Except that Perry et al. were not wearing astronaut garb, but snazzy, figure-hugging blue and black catsuits that were somewhat reminiscent of Sue Storm’s Fantastic Four uniform. They were designed by the media-savvy founders of Monse, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim, who also currently design for Oscar de la Renta and have dressed Sanchez in the past.
For most, the billions spent on the space jaunt raised an eyebrow: are we really making space tourism a thing? In this economy? And while the style component is now somewhat of a footnote in the whole thing, its involvement does pose a tantalising question: does fashion belong in space?
Many years ago, in the early stages of the first Trump administration, Karl Lagerfeld staged his Autumn/Winter 2017 runway presentation for Chanel around a life-size rocket in the middle of the Grand Palais in Paris. There was a countdown, a liftoff, and Elton John’s “Rocket Man” closed the show. The whole thing is fondly remembered by most of the fashion community as a peak in Lagerfeld’s monumental tenure at the label, the epitome of fashion’s ability to contextualise and materialise our collective dreams and fantasies — “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” and all — even while addressing our general mood. (The show was, in part, inspired by some NASA discoveries from the time, combined with an appetite for escapism and inklings of a renewed Cold War.)
Space travel for the everyman seemed entirely fantastical then. It seems that now that it’s not as far-fetched, in a present-day where pop stars and TV personalities go to space, the idea is within grasp and therefore subjected to the perils of realism and our current reality. Could space tourism become an actual industry? If so, it’s not far-fetched to imagine that luxury brands would follow.
