By: Leia Chen
Princess Leia’s formal apparel is a stunning floor-length gown, constructed of slim-fitting silk and decorated with a single silver-plated belt. The gown was expected to steal all of the attention on the auction site, but surprisingly this wasn’t the case.
Princess Leia’s gown from Star Wars: A New Hope was to be sold at Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction. It was expected to bid to $2 million, but went unsold as it couldn’t meet its minimum selling price of $1 million. The final bid price was 975,000.
The company holding the auction, Propstore, said they were still accepting post-auction offers for the dress. “It may be sold after the auction in a private-treaty sale, or may be re-offered again in a future auction,” the company said to NPR.
The outfit made a cultural impact in 1977 when the movie was released, “The dress is a real relic. It’s an absolute piece of film history,” said Brandon Alinger, the chief operating officer of Propstore.The costume is said to be the only existing Princess Leia outfit from Star Wars. It was featured in the last scene of the film, where Princess Leia presented medals to contributors of the rebel alliance, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.John Mollo, the designer of the piece, even won the Oscar’s best costume design in 1978.
The costume was thought to be destroyed with the rest of the original sets, until it was allegedly found in a London attic, alone. “It was 10 or 12 years ago that we first became aware of the piece,” Alinger said. “It was such a moment when we first learned of this and then, ultimately, when the Star Wars fandom learned that this piece still existed.”
According to the auction description, a professional textile team spent 8 months restoring the costume with a “meticulous, museum-caliber” procedure, removing dust accumulated and patching small holes in the gown.
The auction catalog hinted that because the hem and seams were restored at the highest archival standards, one could let the seams out if Fisher’s shape doesn’t fit. However, looking at the selling price of the piece, it is more likely that it is destined for a collection purpose rather than personal clothing.