The long white dress worn by Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the final scene of the original 1977 Star Wars film A New Hope is believed to have long since been destroyed after the film was made. was
But this iconic dress was recently found in a London attic and will go up for sale at a live auction on Wednesday.estimates it could sell for up to $2 million prop storea company that sells film and television memorabilia and hosts auctions.
In the film, Princess Leia wore this dress at the award ceremony, a ceremonial gown made from lightweight silk and styled with a silver belt. In this scene, the Resistance leader Princess presents medals to Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) and Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill) for her service to save the galaxy.
The dress is believed to have been destroyed after filming ended. Prop Store COO Brandon Allinger said it was common for costumes to be destroyed or returned if rented in 1970s filmmaking.
“When the first film was made, there wasn’t much emphasis on preserving this material,” Allinger said.
The dress was among the items that were to be scrapped, but the set crew recognized it and kept it. Allinger said the dress sat in storage for years until it was recently discovered in the attic of a film crew’s home in London.
“When we first saw it, it was in pretty bad shape,” Allinger said.
After the dress was discovered, textile restorers in London spent eight months removing the dust and dirt that had built up on the dress and re-sewing open seams, according to Propstore.
“It’s kind of a very tough job,” Allinger said. “Imagine someone leaning over a microscope or magnifying lens looking at a small hole and trying to fill it with a similar material.”
This dress was invented by John Moro, who won the costume design award for “Star Wars” at the Academy Awards. March 1978.
“It’s very important because it literally ends up in the original Star Wars movie,” Allinger said of the dress. “If you’re a fan of ‘Star Wars’, I think you’ll fall in love with this as soon as you see it.”
In the final scene of the film, no words are spoken except for the guttural sounds of Resistance warrior Chewbacca and the beeping of the droid R2-D2.
In that scene, the main characters Luke Skywalker and Han Solo walk through a long hall filled with crowds for a ceremony. Princess Leia places a medal on Solo and another on Skywalker’s neck. Skywalker and Solo bow before Princess Leia and turn to the crowd gathered in the Hall of Heroes.
The dress, which opened May 31 with online proxy bidding, started at $500,000 and sold for $750,000 in absentee bidding, Propstore said. Bids can be submitted online or in person at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
The dress is one of more than $12 million worth of television and movie memorabilia to be sold at auction, with bidding ending Friday. Items include shield Worn by Brad Pitt as Achilles in the 2004 film Troy.
