The suits, designed by Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim, the co-founders of the brand Monse, will be worn by the crew on board the New Shepard Blue Origin rocket for their approximately 11-minute trip past the Kármán line and into zero gravity.
Sanchez, who is a journalist, children’s author and philanthropist, told The New York Times: “Usually, you know, these suits are made for a man. Then they get tailored to fit a woman.”
This time, every crew member was 3D body-scanned so the suits could be made exactly to their measurements.
Garcia said: “We really didn’t know where to start. There’s no precedent. All the references are men’s spacesuits.”
But once he saw the suit on, he said he thought: “Damn, you look good. You’re going up in space looking hot.”
Sanchez said, quoting Perry: “We’re putting the ‘ass’ in astronaut.”
The Monse Blue Origin suits look like a cross between Star Trek up top and the outfits Elvis Presley wore in his Vegas years down below. They are made of a flame-resistant stretch neoprene, rather than the shiny polyester-looking fabric of the original Blue Origin suits worn by Bezos on a flight in 2021, according to the NYT.
Some commentators on social media compared the tighter-fitting outfits to those worn by Marvel’s superheroes and The Fantastic Four.
The jumpsuits have 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 zip on the side of each calf, so the wearer can create a flared effect according to personal taste. They also feature a darker, ombre effect on the sides to shade the body.
Garcia said he “almost put a corset” in Sanchez’s suit, but they agreed that it might pose problems: “We’re going to be in zero gravity. So we have to be able to move.”
Sanchez said: “I think the suits are elegant, but they also bring a little spice to space.”
“Simplicity was important, and comfort, and fit. But we also wanted something that was a little dangerous, like a motocross outfit. Or a ski suit. Flattering and sexy. We even had a meeting on what underwear Lauren is going to wear,” Garcia said, in which Sanchez responded: “Skims!”
Perry said the suits were “all about the four Fs: function, fashion, flare and the future”.
The crew will experience weightlessness and have around four minutes to take in the stars and Earth below before coming back down.
Women only make up about 11% of those who’ve ventured into space. This crew will be among the most diverse set of women to ever go to space at once.
Bowe said: “If there’s one thing that people take away from this, it’s that there is nothing that you can’t do, and you cannot allow others to define success for your life.”
“We have a saying in our house, ‘Life takes off on the other side of fear,‘” added Sanchez, who is believed to wed Bezos in Venice between June 24 and 26 after the mayor last month boasted it would generate millions for the city.
The guest list reportedly includes Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter, and her husband, Jared Kushner.
It is not known whether Trump, who has until now been close to Bezos’ Space X rival Elon Musk, will be invited to the all-female Blue Origin launch.
Either way, some of the crew have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure they will look the part for Monday’s flight.
Bowe, who worked at Nasa as a rocket scientist, said she wanted to put her chosen hairstyle to the “test”.
She told Elle: “So I skydived in Dubai with similar hair to make sure I would be good — took it for a dry run."
Nguyen, also a former Nasa rocket scientist, said: “I think it’s so important for people to see us like that. This dichotomy of engineer and scientist, and then beauty and fashion.
“We contain multitudes. Women are multitudes. I’m going to be wearing lipstick.”
