Good news for those who have aspirations of either playing Leia or Jabba the Hutt in a Return of the Jedi cosplay fantasy. The actual metal bikini that Carrie Fisher wore in the film is going to auction and regular, everyday people will have a chance to purchase it for their own use. Well, as long as those regular, everyday people have $80,000-$120,000 laying around picking up dust. According to Rolling Stone, that’s how much the costume is set to go for at an auction being overseen by Profiles in History.
The costume, designed by Richard Miller, is expected to fetch between $80,000 to $120,000, and is billed as part of “the most important and complete compilation of original Star Wars pieces to have survived production in private hands.” The wares included in the lot were used on set, though the costume seen in the movie was a resized version made to account for actress Carrie Fisher’s weight loss while shooting.
All right, so maybe it’s not exactly the costume Leia wore onscreen, but that’s not all that will be going on sale. The bidder who plunks down the most cash for the bikini will also be getting a plethora of memorabilia which would have made 12-year-old you (and current you, too) convulse with a joy that borders on danger.
The lot also includes various alternate iterations of the costume nixed by George Lucas, as well as several design and paint studies, and a letter of authentication signed by Miller. “It’s every schoolboy’s fantasy but it’s also a very signature, iconic piece,” Brian Chanes, consignment manager at Profiles in History, told The New York Post.
If you’re not all about Princess Leia (why, though?), there are other things to bid on, including posters, script pages, and a prototype Darth Vader helmet that is likely to go for $30,000-$50,000. Why so expensive? Because every one of these items is actually from the production, and that kind of collectible is very rare these days. Kind of makes me feel bad that I gave the Russian-printed Star Wars T-shirts of my childhood to charity. They’re not from the production, but I bet I could have at least bought a year’s supply of Big Macs if I’d sold them.
(Via Rolling Stone)
