By: Nina He

The Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction had a treat: it included the gown that Princess Leia, played by the late Carrie Fisher wore in the Star Wars movie. Princess Leia’s dress was expected to reach up to 2 million dollars with bids closing on Wednesday.

But, in a shocking twist, the dress wasn’t sold at all. The bid didn’t meet the seller’s

minimum price. The final bid was $975,000, $1025000 away from the highest bid, two million.

Propstore, the company behind the auction, said they were still accepting post-auction bids on 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.

The gown is believed to be the only surviving Princess Leia look from the film that launched a cultural phenomenon. Later, the 1977 film or Episode IV, a New Hope, features the gown in the last scene. It is the costume that Princess Leia wears as she gives out medals to Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

Brandon Alinger, the chief operating officer of Propstore, said, “The dress is a real relic. It’s an absolute piece of film history. When Star Wars fans see it, they stop in their tracks, they gasp a bit at the sight of it, because they recognize the significance of it.”

The budget for the original product only had a budget of 11 million dollars, which explains why the team only made one version of the dress for the filming and pictures.

The dress, created out of white silk with a single golden belt, was made by Joho Mollo, a designer who won the 50th annual Academy Awards in March 1978. It features a scooped neckline and an empire waist.

People thought that it had been destroyed, along with the other costumes, but it turns out it was in a London attic. It took eight months for the team to get all the dust off the dress and patch up the holes.

“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.”

Even though the dress didn’t get sold, there’s a chance that the dress belongs in a museum rather than in a private collection.