Princess Leia’s ‘Return of the Jedi’ bikini sells at auction for $175,000
The seven-piece outfit, which also includes hip rings, an armlet and a bracelet, went to an unidentified bidder during a two-day sale featuring over 500 items of Hollywood paraphernalia.
Worn by Princess Leia after she is captured by Jabba the Hutt and forced into slavery, the costume has become a cult favorite among “Star Wars” fans. Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which hosted the sale, described it as being “among the most memorable” outfits in the franchise’s history.
But the costume has also attracted criticism for sexualizing Fisher and her character. In 2016, the late actor described her discomfort at being “nearly naked,” telling NPR: “It wasn’t my choice. When (director George Lucas) showed me the outfit, I thought he was kidding and it made me very nervous.”
Based on sketches by costume designer Nilo Rodis-Jamero, the outfit was created by jeweler and sculptor Richard Miller using resin and urethane. In a behind-the-scenes documentary, Miller later said that the costume’s “skimpy” appearance had been intended to illustrate how Fisher’s character had grown through the course of the original trilogy.
“George (Lucas) said, ‘We want to show that Princess Leia is growing up,’” recalled Miller, who died in 2022 aged 80. “The three episodes spanned a certain amount of time, so she got mature. And that’s why the slave costume was introduced.”
Miller recalled that Fisher “didn’t like” the bikini, which he attributed to it fitting poorly. He had designed the garment using a mannequin cast from Fisher’s body, but when it came to shooting the movie “she must have lost 10 pounds if not more,” he said, adding: “So the costume really hung on her.”
The two-day Heritage Auctions sale, which concluded Friday, fetched a combined $5.9 million. The auction’s other big-ticket item was another piece of “Star Wars” history: a screen-used model of the Y-wing that leads an attack on the Death Star before being destroyed by Darth Vader in 1977’s “A New Hope.”
The work of modelmaker Colin Cantwell, the starfighter sold for $1.55 million to become the third-most expensive screen-used “Star Wars” prop ever to go under the hammer, according to Heritage Auctions. (The current record is held by an X-wing model, which sold for $3.1 million last October, while an R2-D2 unit fetched $2.75 million in 2017.)
Elsewhere, an original “Scrooge McDuck” artwork sold for over $312,000 and the Oscar statuette awarded to Celeste Holm in 1974 for her Best Supporting Actress performance in “Gentleman’s Agreement” fetched $93,750. A wand prop used by Daniel Radcliffe in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” meanwhile sold for nearly $94,000, with a hammer from “Thor: The Dark World” and a sword from “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” also achieving five-figure sums.
“I’ve said it repeatedly: Collectors’ desire to own a piece of Hollywood history remains intense and insatiable, and we take great pride and pleasure in sharing these indelible moments,” said Heritage Auction’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, in a press release following the sale’s conclusion.
The costume, featuring fashion elements like hip rings and an armlet, sparked discussions about style and its impact on the character's development. In an exploration of the costume's creation, the jeweler responsible mentioned intending to illustrate Leia's growth through the franchise with a more revealing outfit.
