Princess Leia’s Ceremonial Dress From ‘A New Hope’ Is Up For Auction
Originally slated for destruction as a prop from a film not expected to soar to the pop culture phenomenon it became, the original long white dress worn by Princess Leia in the awards ceremony of A New Hope has finally been rediscovered, in the most curious of places.
Tucked away and forgotten in the London attic of one of the film’s crew members, the dress was in a “poor state” and required eight months of restoration by textile conservators following its discovery, as Brandon Alinger, chief operating officer at the memorabilia company, Propstore, told The New York Times:
“There was not a great focus on saving this material when that first movie was made.”
The painstaking, eight-month-long effort involved removing accumulated dust and restitching seams, but resulted in a beautiful restoration worthy of its hefty online proxy bids, which started at half a million dollars on May 31.
And it is not difficult to see why. The brilliant dress worn by Princess Leia in the final moments of the original film, which resonates with Star Wars fans all over the world, was designed by John Mollo, who won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for his work on Star Wars in March 1978. Alinger commented:
“It’s incredibly important because it’s literally the last thing that you see in the original ‘Star Wars’ film… I think if you’re a Star Wars fan, you look at it and it just gels for you.”
The dress is set to go up for auction on Wednesday, 28th of June at Propstore’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, and is expected to sell for around $2 million USD. There will be over 1400 original prop costumes and more from around 500 film or television titles up for auction. You can find more information on the auction here.
Rosalie Lambert is a law student from Australia with a deep love for Star Wars, fantasy, and epic stylistic storytelling. Growing up in the country, Rosalie has always loved nature and outdoor activities, and has a passion for human rights and social justice that she wants to work towards in her field of study.
