Why Your NASA T-Shirt Is Behind the Curve

The NASA logo has been having a moment in fashion. But one designer believes a new hot technology deserves its time in the sun.

Since 2017, requests for the use of the space agency's logo have reached an all-time high, according to NASA's multimedia liaison, Bert Ulrich. The distinctive blue circle has been adopted by everyone from Balenciaga to Ariana Grande, and Ulrich told CNN that he had received over 11,000 requests to use the branding in 2021 alone.

But space exploration may not be the only scientific achievement worth celebrating, especially in the age of climate crisis.

Gabriela Hearst is one of New York's most influential and acclaimed fashion designers. Her fanbase includes the likes of Kate Middleton, Angelina Jolie and Jill Biden. But, since 2021, her focus has turned to a more unusual muse: nuclear fusion.

"In October 2021, I saw an article in the Financial Times about fusion and I started reading. And I just thought this is it," Hearst—founder and creative director of her namesake luxury label as well as creative director of Chloé—told Newsweek. "I found the Holy Grail."

Nuclear fusion is a technology that creates energy in the same way as the sun. It involves smashing two atoms together with such force that they combine into a single, larger atom, releasing huge amounts of energy in the process.

Fusion could have the potential to offer a nearly limitless source of clean energy that does not produce carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. Unlike nuclear fission—the nuclear reaction that is used in the energy sector today—fusion does not produce radioactive waste and involves no risk of nuclear meltdown due to the delicate nature of the reaction process.

There is one major problem: nuclear fusion requires vast amounts of energy to achieve due to the high temperature and pressure needed for the reaction to take place. As a result, scientists have not yet managed to get significantly more energy out of a fusion reaction than they put in.

'Fusion Needs To Be Heard'

Since the 1940s, fusion has been regarded as the energy source of the distant future. But recent breakthroughs in fusion research have fueled hopes that commercial fusion energy could become a reality in the next few decades.

"I see clearly how this could become a solution and I really want to see it through," Hearst said. "I just want to be able to tell people that 'hey, there's good news coming.' And the more I get informed the more I think 'yes, this is it.'"

Hearst grew up on a ranch in Uruguay, surrounded by nature. "My neural pathways have been developed in an environment where humans are small and nature is the force," she said.

As a result, sustainability has always been at the heart of her designs. "[We have done this] through changing packaging, measuring the carbon footprint of shows, creating different types of stores, sticking to really noble materials that have the lowest impacts," she said.

"But for me, most of all sustainability is an energy issue—you talk to any fashion sustainability department of any company of any size and the key issue is always how much energy it costs for something to be made and where did that energy come from?"

Since learning about fusion energy, Hearst has made it her mission to spread awareness of the technology. "I cannot justify what I do, which I love doing and am finally getting good at, without knowing that I'm doing it in a greater sense," she said. "Fusion [progress] needs to be heard.

"A lot of people still think 'is it really going to happen,' but humanity has done a lot of things that we thought 'is it really going to happen,' and there's nothing that needs to happen more than fusion."

Fusion Influencer

And so, Hearst decided to focus the Chloé 2023 Spring Summer collection on fusion. "I took my team with me to design the collection, and you can imagine how they looked at me when I said 'we're going to study fusion,'" she said.

"It was an all-encompassing design—we took inspiration from the pieces of the tokamak [fusion reactor] right down to looking at the isotopes [involved in the fusion reaction.] It's been fascinating to learn about [fusion] and to dip my toes into the physics."

In September 2022, the collection was revealed in Paris. The designs included looks that were inspired by the metallic fusion reactor itself, bright fuchsia colors to reflect the pinky hue of the fusion plasma, and a circular motif with two dots inside to represent the isotope of hydrogen used in the reaction.

"I think it was received really well," Hearst said. "Some people didn't understand what I was talking about [...] but then in December the Lawrence Livermore breakthrough came out [where scientists managed to produce more energy from a fusion reaction than what they put in]. That created a lot of awareness and people were finally saying 'oh you were talking about this and now it's all over the news.'"

Hearst continues to spread awareness about fusion technology on her social media platforms, representing perhaps the first ever "fusion influencer."

While some are still skeptical about the advances of this technology, Hearst has conviction in her belief. "I am called crazy everyday, just a disclaimer," she said. "But if I cared about what other people's perceptions were, I wouldn't have done half of the things I do today.

"For me, in terms of sustainability, this is my holy grail, and I'm going to put all my effort into trying to communicate this.

"We have entered the Anthropocene and we are living in Armageddon times. They're here. But when I talk to people in fusion, when I talk to the 'star builders,' I see hope. And I want to offer my platform to illuminate this. We don't have time to waste."