Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo by Nicholas de Monchaux
Last updated 5 October 2026
Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo tells the story of the suits Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore on the Moon in July 1969. They were made by Playtex, the bra and girdle company, and custom-sewn in 21 layers by seamstresses who usually worked on underwear.
The MIT Press edition costs £29.87 on Amazon UK, against a £35 cover price, and has 4.5 out of 5 from 69 ratings there. It won the American Astronautical Society's Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award in 2011. Prices and ratings were checked on 5 October 2026.
What Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo is about
NASA's engineers first wanted hard, armour-like suits from military contractors. Those designs could not cope with how a human body moves, so the job went to the International Latex Corporation, the company behind the Playtex brand. Its soft, layered suit is the one that went to the Moon.
De Monchaux tells the story in 21 chapters, the same number as the suit's layers. He uses the suit to talk about much more than spaceflight: Christian Dior's New Look, Atlas missiles, cyborgs, latex, the image John F. Kennedy built for himself, the CBS studio for the Moon landing broadcast and NASA's Mission Control.
His wider argument is about design. A suit built by adapting to the body worked better than one engineered to override it, and he applies that lesson to technology and to how we plan cities.
Who wrote it
Nicholas de Monchaux is Professor and Head of Architecture at MIT and a partner in the architecture practice modem. His work has been shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale and SFMOMA, and he is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. His biography and the book's full description are on the MIT Press page for Spacesuit.
Key facts
- Author: Nicholas de Monchaux.
- Publisher: The MIT Press, 2011.
- Length: 380 pages, with 26 colour and 114 black-and-white illustrations.
- Size: 7 by 9 inches, about 18 by 23cm, a little smaller than a sheet of A4.
- ISBN: 9780262015202.
- Award: Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award, 2011.
- Other formats: an audiobook, £7.49 on Amazon UK.
Who it suits
It suits space fans who want the human side of Apollo rather than the rocket science. It also suits designers, architects and people who work in fashion, because the book is really about how things get made. And it makes a good gift for someone who has read the usual astronaut memoirs and wants a different angle.
For more space reading, Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin is a short book on the physics, and the Apollo 11 Haynes manual covers the hardware. Our designers gift guide has more ideas for people who care how things are made.
The limits
This is a dense, academic book from a university press, not a picture book. The chapters jump between the suit and much wider subjects, and readers who want a straight technical history of the spacesuit may find that frustrating. The illustrations are mostly in black and white.
It is also not cheap at close to £30, and Amazon UK had only three copies in stock when we checked, with more on the way.
Where to buy it
Amazon UK sells the MIT Press edition for £29.87, against a £35 cover price. The audiobook is £7.49.
Buy Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo on Amazon UK
Frequently asked questions
What is Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo about?
It is the story of the Apollo spacesuit, made by Playtex in 21 layers, and how a soft suit designed around the body beat the hard suits built by military contractors.
How much does Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo cost in the UK?
It was £29.87 on Amazon UK on 5 October 2026, against a £35 cover price. The audiobook was £7.49.
Who made the Apollo spacesuits?
The International Latex Corporation, best known for its Playtex brand of bras and girdles. Its seamstresses sewed the suits worn on the Moon.
How long is the book?
380 pages, according to the MIT Press, with 140 illustrations.
Is it a technical book?
Not really. It explains how the suit was made, but it spends as much time on fashion, politics, television and design as on engineering.
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