Many people working in the geek fashion industry were inspired to enter the field because they didn’t see what they wanted to wear available. As a result of their work at companies big and small, the area expanded to offer more options than ever before. A lot of the gaps that once existed in geek fashion, especially for women, have been filled, but not all. There are still parts of geek fashion that can be improved and grown as well as new areas that can be added as fans continue to look for what they want to wear to express their fandom. Realizing there is still a need for a certain type of geek fashion is just what inspired Sandra Botero Mounts to create her company Heroicouture.

Heroicouture offers custom clothing in design styles you can choose from on their website. The company also sells accessories and Mounts is beginning to design her own fabrics too. Noticing a gap in current geek fashion is what inspired her to try her hand at making nerdy clothes. While she attended comic cons for many years, she didn’t have this realization until she started going to conventions with her boyfriend, now husband, artist Paul Mounts. While at his artist alley table, she saw how there weren’t too many geeky sophisticated options for women. Not seeing what she wanted to wear, she was soon making her own clothes, jewelry, and scarves to wear to comic cons and others noticed. According to Mounts, fellow fans would ask her where she bought what she was wearing and eventually, she began taking orders from them for pieces.

“I realized there was a kind of niche there. A market for women who were not necessarily in their 20s or early 30s, maybe a little bit older for lack of a better way of putting it, that wanted to wear nerdy clothing, but without it screaming out at you,” she told GeekFold. “There’s a lot of wonderful clothing out there that does scream out at you and if I was younger I’d probably wear it, but at my age it’s probably not that appropriate.”

Looking at what is currently available in geek fashion, Mounts told GeekFold she thinks options now are fantastic and wishes they had been around when she was younger. Mounts has a daughter in her 20s who loves what’s available and wears items from Her Universe and others. It’s a very different selection from what Mounts saw when she was younger and would often have to wear men’s T-shirts that she would rework.

While Mounts loves what’s available, she does feel that most options don’t work for her. She told GeekFold she sees a lot of clothing that’s a little shorter and younger-looking than she would wear.

“What I hope to see [in the future] is more fashion along the lines of maybe skirts or dresses that are not short or too far above the knee. At the knee is fine, even a little bit above is fine, but a lot of things I see are miniskirts and there are a lot of dresses that are bodycon dresses,” she said. “I know Torrid is carrying more of Her Universe’s designs and clothing which is great and there are some of those I can definitely wear, but there’s still not a lot out there for even more sophisticated clothing if somebody wants to wear something to work and they just want a little subtle nerdiness.”

Her interest in fashion began at a young age, as did her interest in nerdy areas. She grew up in the ‘70s and early ‘80s during the time when Lynda Carter was Wonder Woman and Christopher Reeves was Superman. Wonder Woman was the only role model she seemed to identify with then.

“She was strong, smart, pretty, and all of those things and she didn’t lose who she was. Many times the role models for women were they cook and clean and they might work and they have children and that just wasn’t me,” Mounts said. “I wanted somebody strong that I identified with and as soon as I identified with Wonder Woman I started reading more comics and seeing there were other women who were very much like her in the sense that they were strong and intelligent and didn’t put up with men’s crap and that type of thing and men who accepted them for who they were. That’s what drew me to comic books. I just started reading more and more of them and I became a huge fan.”

She thought of becoming a fashion designer in high school, but Mounts explained she was pretty much told by her parents that was not going to be part of their plan for her.

“In those days I was not as aware as I am now of scholarships or even financial planning for that or anything of that nature. I pretty much thought if my parents aren’t paying for my college, what am I going to do? I have to do what they want me to do,” she said. “Of course years later I realized that wasn’t necessarily the case, but I never gave up my love of fashion and I’ve always been sewing and drawing. I did it as a hobby and I’ve been doing it as a hobby until I decided to do Heroicouture.” 

Now with Heroicouture, Mounts hopes to grow the small business into a company that provides more options for geeks.

“I'd love to see Heroicouture as an inclusive geek fashion company, providing sophisticated clothing and accessories for all ages and sizes of women who prefer to show their fandom in different ways,” she said. “I'm looking forward to possible collaborations with other geek designers. I truly believe in lifting others up and supporting fellow geek fashion designers. There is always room for fresh ideas and contrasting styles in this new fashion ‘genre.’ I'm a true believer in that helping others we help ourselves.”

There is certainly a need for more office wear and similar chic geek styles, despite the area growing in recent years, alongside the more obvious options. It’s an area ready for development by companies like Heroicouture with the spirit of wanting to not only offer all types of choices for all geeks but to work with others in the community as well to make sure everyone feels represented in geek fashion.

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