By: Herald Koh

On Wednesday, July 5, a 1977 original Princess Leia dress was planned to sell for 2 million dollars in Los Angles. However, the plans didn’t go through. The final bid was 975,000 dollars, which the owner deemed to be too low for purchase.

John Mollo is the designer that made the 1977 original Princess Leia dress. He won the 50th annual Academy Awards in March 1978 for “Best Costume Design.” Referred to as Princess Leia’s “ceremonial gown, the floor-sweeping frock is made of slim-fitting silk and adorned with a single silver-plated belt” (NPR,2023).

The last time Princess Leia wore her original dress was in 1977, in Episode VI of A New Hope. Originally, the dress was put into the burn pile, but a crew member swiped the dress out and stored it in a bag in a London attic after being worn once to a party.

Several years later, crew members found the dress again. Professional textile conservators had been restoring the dress for over eight months by removing dust and patching small holes in the fabric.

In 2015, the franchise’s iconic gold bikini get-up, called “Slave Leia,” only sold for $96,000 dollars. In 1980, a Darth Vader helmet sold for $898,420 dollars, and in 1983, a Han Solo blaster was sold for $550,000 dollars.