MEMORABILIA
Who paid $175,000 for Princess Leia’s original bikini from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi?
The famous bikini worn by Carrie Fisher in Episode VI of George Lucas’s original trilogy has changed hands again.
Props used in movies are coveted collector’s items, especially those from iconic films like the Star Wars saga. Recently, one of these items was auctioned for the staggering sum of 175,000 US dollars: none other than the bikini worn by the late Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi, the third film in George Lucas’s original trilogy.
Carrie Fisher’s Return of the Jedi bikini sold
On July 26, a Heritage Auctions event in the US concluded the auction of the bikini worn by Fisher as Leia in the 1983 movie when a private bid of $175,000. That’s right, for all us keen to know the identity of the bidder, the right to stay anonymous was preserved, at least for the time being.
What is included in the Princess Leia bikini?
This garment is a seven-piece set that includes the bikini itself, a wrist bracelet, and an arm bracelet. It was created by Richard Miller, chief sculptor at Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects company founded by George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars.
It is one of the most coveted items by Star Wars fans, having been auctioned for $96,000 in 2016. It is one of the saga’s most iconic costumes, which turned Fisher into a sex symbol around the world. Fisher herself once stated that when Lucas first showed it to her and told her to put it on, she thought he was joking.
“I felt almost naked. It was not my style at all. Nor was it my choice,” the actress confessed. This costume was not only used in the film but also for a photoshoot done in 1983.
The justification given in the movie for the character wearing these clothes is that she is captured and enslaved by the evil Jabba the Hutt on the planet Tatooine.
Why is movie memorabilia worth so much money?
Objects that have been part of a film’s production are highly coveted in the world of collecting and auctions for two main reasons: they have been used in the actual movies and, as such, have never been available to the public, making them extraordinarily rare.
The fact that one of these items has been worn by a particular actor or actress also fuels passion among individual fans of the performer. This interest grows exponentially if that person has passed away, as is the case with Fisher.
Another famous movie prop that was also auctioned in 2024 for an exorbitant amount of money is the door from Titanic, on which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character “couldn’t fit” near the end of the film, ultimately dying from hypothermia and drowning in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. And there are many others: the iconic sword of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) from the Lord of the Rings trilogy was acquired by another collector for $400,000, and Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber (Mark Hamill) from Star Wars was claimed by another private investor for $450,000.
As we mentioned, there are private collectors who have both the desire and the financial capability to acquire these props originally used in movies, to preserve these pieces of film history for themselves.