Fit For A Princess

Jennifer
Nov 20, 2016
3 min read

Updated: Sep 26, 2019

Princess Leia's wardrobe from the original trilogy is extremely iconic from the buns over her ears to the Slave Leia outfit. Her influence has been huge on today's pop culture.

Star Wars IV A New Hope

On the surface, Princess Leia’s costumes remain almost always the same in terms of color. In the entirety of A New Hope, she is wearing white. There is only one costume change and that comes in during the last two minutes of the movie.

The White Gown

The Traditional Gown of Alderaan Royalty. Simple, elegant and easily identifiable.

Also when wearing this outfit, George Lucas said no undergarments , because they didn't wear undergarments in space. They had to tape her chest down.

Leia's unique hairdo in has come to be known as the "doughnut" or "cinnamon buns" hairstyle, and is iconic of the character

The Ceremonial Gown

This is for the dress Princess Leia wears when she presents Luke and Han their medals at the end of “A New Hope”. The dress is a floor length A-line dress, lined, and has a short train at the back. The ‘sleeves’ are open and fall to the floor, often being referred to as “wings”.

Star Wars V Empire Strikes Back

Hoth Jumpsuit

On Hoth, Leia wears a white jumpsuit meant to keep her warm in the snow. Over the jumpsuit she wears a quilted vest. The white is a symbol of her royal ties to her now destroyed planet of Alderaan.

Bespin Tunic

You truly belong here with us among the clouds-Lando

Leia is seen in this outfit for only a few moments while she in Cloud City with Han Solo. It is a belted burgundy tunic worn over pants of the same color. The sleeveless blue coat/vest is shear with ornate embroidery. I am currently in the process of creating this. It's simple yet elegant and it looks comfortable too.

Star Wars VI Return of the Jedi

Slave Leia ( Aka Hutt Slayer)

There are a lot of interesting facts about this iconic outfit that Princess Leia is forced to wear.

The costume was inspired by fantasy artist Frank Frazetta's artwork, Egyptian Queen.

There were different versions of the costume: a metal version for scenes where Fisher didn't move, and a rubber version for performing stunt work.

The original design called for twenty five yards of fabric that would flow throughout the palace, but they couldn't get it to work.

The inflexibility of the metal version meant that "wardrobe malfunctions" were common. Several scenes had to be re-shot because of accidental exposure.

Despite Lucas' intentions, Fisher was apparently not happy about the Slave Leia costume. She later called it "what supermodels will eventually wear in the seventh ring of hell."

The first official Slave Leia toy wasn't released until 1997, as "Jabba's Prisoner" in Hasbro's Power of the Force collection.

The costume has become a huge part of pop culture, and is frequently worn by celebrities and non-celebrities alike. Some notable examples include Jennifer Aniston on the TV show Friends, by Yvonne Strahovski on the TV show Chuck, and Kristen Bell in the movie Fanboys.

Recently , however, since Disney has purchased Star Wars they have changed the name of this costume from Slave Leia to Leia the Huttslayer.

Endor Military Scout Outfit

During the briefing before the final battle with the Empire, Leia wears the military inspired outfit of blue pants with a yellow stripe, a khaki shirt, and olive green vest. Once she is on Endor she covers up with a camouflaged poncho

Leia in the Ewok Village

While celebrating the victory over the Empire, Leia wears this forest gown. It appears to be a suede dress with a white linen under dress. The stitching is visible and there are laces at the neck. The skirt comes to a point in the front and the back and there is a belt at the waistline. It is in this outfit that Leia comes to terms with the fact that Darth Vader is her father and Luke is her brother.