Leia's Huttslayer costume

Leia's Huttslayer costume
Carrie Fisher and her support dog Gary visit her costume-wearing Madame Tussauds wax figure.
Basics
In-Universe Names	New Canon · Dancing-girl costume Legends · Huttese slave-girl costume
Out-of-Universe Names	IRL & Fan · Slave Leia [costume / bikini] IRL · Leia's dancing costume / Leia's slave dancer costume IRL · Jabba's Slave Bikini with Slave Collar and Chains IRL · Leia's slave bikini Fan · Leia's [gold / metal] bikini Fan · Huttslayer costume
Type	Costume
In Universe
Wearers	Leia Organa Diva Shaliqua Gardulla the Hutt's chorus girls and many other unnamed Twi'leks Legends · The Exile or their companion Legends · Zam Wesell
Purposes	Attire for dance performances Garb worn by women or fem-presenting people enslaved by Hutts or by Zygerrians Advertising Coruscant's underground
Materials	Jerba leather Lashaa silk Legends · Gold New Canon · Bronzium
Component Parts	Bikini top/bra Skirt or bikini briefs (with or without harem trousers) Jewelry/accessories (variable) Footwear (optional)
Out of Universe
Created For	Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
Concept Artists	Aggie Rodgers Nilo Rodis-Jamero Marilee Heyer (illustrator for Paul LeBlanc's hair designs)
Costume Designers	Aggie Rodgers Nilo Rodis-Jamero Richard Miller (sculpted elements and jewelry) Paul LeBlanc (hair design)
Materials	Leather Silk Paint "Treasure Gold" polish Rubber (urethane rubber for Carrie Fisher's performance; latex rubber for Tracey Eddon's stunts)

[Jabba] forces me to put on new clothes, some handy slave girl outfit that he had in all sizes. No actually, we princesses all come in one size. We were shooting the interiors in England in February during the coldest winter they have had. I was walking around in sandals and the fewest clothes I've ever worn in movies. I was shocked when I found out it was all George's idea.

It was funny at first. When we were in Yuma, my stand-in and I, the only girls on the set, both wore the outfits, and everyone else was dying! We would sunbathe and they would get angry because we weren't supposed to be tan, but we always had fun. We did it sometimes to be horrible to the crew, but you must do something when you're in this outfit, feeling slightly ridiculous.

— Carrie Fisher in 1983, on various aspects of her costume

Leia's Huttslayer costume first appeared in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi as one of the costumes Princess Leia Organa wore on Tatooine. In-universe, it's a Huttese slave-girl costume in Legends and dancing-girl costume in New Canon, the latter within a novel that canonized "Huttslayer", a fan-created title to emphasize Leia's actions instead of her enslavement when she used the chains Jabba put on her to kill him. Her costume has a bikini-style brassiere with metallic filigree on the cups, a skirt with two fabric panels hanging from a belt, filigreed suede boots, and coordinating hair accessories, earrings, armband, bracelet, and collar. Depending on the scene, either a thick metallic chain or several chainlinks hang from the collar. Actor Carrie Fisher and stunt double Tracey Eddon both wore versions of it.

Leia's costume has inspired various lookalikes and costumes clearly inspired by it within the Star Wars franchise. Trying to definitively determine what is/isn't one of these costumes in-universe is a headache, so this wiki article uses one specific element—the bikini top with characteristic metallic filigree on the bra cups—to say "ah yes, that's one of these costumes!" (so, it's not everything inspired by bathing suits/lingerie, worn by a dancer or not). Using that as the costume type's defining garment means the bottom half varies, but it usually shows the wearer's legs. These variations include:

• Metallic belt with skirt (drapes)
• Metallic belt with short loincloth
• Filigreed bikini briefs with thigh-high stockings
• Filigreed bikini briefs over harem trousers

Quick reference

Here's a compare-and-contrast for how Legends and New Canon overlap and differ in-universe regarding Leia's costume. Neither explicitly identify the IU textile used for the top.

In-Universe: Legends versus New Canon

	Legends	New Canon
Name	Huttese slave-girl costume	Dancing-girl costume
Top	Slave girl harness; gold slave harness	Bronzium harness; bronzium chest harness
Bottom material	Lashaa silk; silk	Lashaa silk
Boot material	Jerba leather	Jerba leather
Metal used	Gold	Bronzium

Leia's film costume

This section adapts content that originated on the Wookieepedia page "Dancing-girl costume". The material was originally or primarily created by the user Immi Thrax. As with content on Star Wars Fic Reference Wiki, it is licensed under the Creative Commons – Attribution-Share Alike License.

Conception

Initial design work

From the first film, she was just a soldier, front line and center. The only way they knew to make the character strong was to make her angry. In Return of the Jedi, she gets to be more feminine, more supportive, more affectionate. But let's not forget that these movies are basically boys' fantasies. So the other way they made her more female in this one was to have her take off her clothes.

— Carrie Fisher, in the Rolling Stone cover story on Return of the Jedi

"I was shocked when I found out it was all George's idea," Fisher told Starlog magazine of the costume and Star Wars creator George Lucas. Although she was critical of the use of gaffer's tape instead of an actual bra under her primary dress in 1977's Star Wars, she otherwise liked wearing her costumes in the first two original trilogy films. In 1980's The Empire Strikes Back she wore a white snow suit that she considered one of her favorites and later said that it had a "gas station attendant" look she enjoyed:

1981 concept art, illustrated by Nilo Rodis-Jamero in collaboration with Aggie Rodgers

Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand felt otherwise; he hated the costumes created by John Mollo for The Empire Strikes Back, particularly Leia's Cloud City attire, and thought they did not show how sexy he considered her to be. Costume designer Nilo Rodis-Jamero also found Fisher attractive and was another early proponent of creating a dancing costume for her to wear in Return of the Jedi. The costume was not actually all Lucas's idea.

From July 13 to July 17, 1981, Return of the Jedi screenplay co-writer Lawrence Kasdan and co-producer Howard G. Kazanjian met with Marquand and Lucas for a story conference in which they plotted out how Leia would end up wearing that costume. As they discussed the characters infiltrating Jabba's palace, Marquand suggested that she could enter in disguise and get discovered, then turned into a dancing girl; he also felt it would also be nice to add a chain. Kasdan asked how the group felt about Leia being the one to kill Jabba, and Marquand and Lucas both suggested that she use the chain to strangle the Hutt. The second draft of the script on September 21 included a description that Leia was "dressed in the skimpy costume of a dancing girl; a chain runs from a manacle/necklace on her neck to her new master, Jabba the Hutt." In the "Slave Leia costume" featurette for the 2011 Blu-ray set Star Wars: The Complete Saga, sculptor and jeweler Richard Miller recalled Lucas telling him the purpose of the costume's skimpiness was to show that Leia had grown up. In a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine, Fisher commented that the filmmakers had decided one of the ways to make Leia Organa more feminine was removing her clothing.

Rodis-Jamero said that Lucas always talked about a slave girl outfit, but the artist struggled and kept coming up with clunky concepts reminiscent of Ben-Hur. He met with Richard Miller, who was a friend of Industrial Light & Magic modeler Lorne Peterson and had created bronze sculptures in a style similar to Rodis-Jamero's concepts. Miller created three-dimensional representations and would later sculpt the faux metal components of the costume as the film's credited jeweler.

Two of Marilee Heyer's 1981 illustrations for Paul LeBlanc's hair designs. They are close to the finalized look.

I kept drawing it and drawing it and designing it and designing it. It was just George [Lucas], Joe [Johnston], Ralph [McQuarrie], and myself for the longest time, and every time we'd get into that scene I kept pushing that idea. Richard [Marquand] was pushing for it. I think Joe was pushing the idea as well. [...] I remember George saying, 'I don't know if you can convince Carrie [Fisher] to do that'.

— Nilo Rodis-Jamero, one of the costume's designers

Because Rodis-Jamero designed costumes from a conceptual point of view and did not have practical knowledge, he and co-producer Jim Bloom realized an experienced costume designer would be needed to execute the designs. Aggie Rodgers, who had previously worked with Lucas on his films American Graffiti and More American Graffiti, was hired in fall 1981. Rodis-Jamero and Rodgers collaborated to produce sketches of their concepts, with the former creating the actual illustrations. According to Rodgers, Lucas specifically requested that they create a bikini. She cited the paintings of Frank Frazetta, one of Lucas's favorite artists, as an inspiration for her. She has given conflicting statements regarding Frazetta and Lucas; she has said Lucas requested a Frazetta-inspired costume and that Lucas did not tell her "Frank Frazetta" when designing the costume. Rodgers envisioned having twenty-five or forty-five yards of silk flowing through the air, but it was not feasible.

Leia's hairstyle was designed by Paul LeBlanc as one of the hairdressers for the film, along with Patricia McDermott, while artist Marilee Heyer illustrated LeBlanc's designs. Heyer said LeBlanc was not an illustrator himself; he would sketch his designs but needed another artist to create polished illustrations to present the concepts, and she became that artist. She worked at his direction from his sketches as well as portrait photographs of Fisher to capture her likeness. There is a misconception from the SFGATE feature on Heyer that she was a concept artist for the costume, but she was not part of that design process.

Costume fitting and construction

Grace (audience member)

Hi, my name's Grace, I'd just like to know how long before filming you knew about wearing the golden bikini?

Carrie Fisher

Oh, I knew about the gold— is that for me or Warwick?

Grace

That one's definitely for you.

Carrie Fisher

George had me come up to San Francisco to show me sketches, and I thought he was joking. And because then they didn't have a lot of exercising, so I had to get leg lifts, stuff like that. But I really did think he was joking, he showed me sketches, that was a... couple of months before. So not enough time to really get in shape. No, but I was in shape permanently then.

— Carrie Fisher, at her final Celebration in 2016

Lucas had no objections to the costume concept but was doubtful that Fisher could be convinced to wear it. While there's a claim in Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy that she did not hesitate, Fisher's own accounts differ. About two months before filming began, Lucas invited Fisher to San Francisco to show her a picture of the costume. She later described herself as "aghast," thinking at first that he was kidding, and she was very nervous about it. For A New Hope, Fisher had been required to lose weight, while for The Empire Strikes Back, she was told to gain. Believing Lucas had shown her the picture to successfully frighten her into exercising, she grew preoccupied with how she would look in the costume. Fisher experienced body dysmorphia throughout her life.

It wasn't my choice. When he showed me the outfit, I didn't—I thought he was kidding, and it made me very nervous. And, you know, they wouldn't let me—I had to sit very straight 'cause I couldn't have lines in the side of—on my sides, you know, like a little crease. No creases were allowed. So I had to sit very, very rigid straight.

— Carrie Fisher, asked about the costume's appearance

Jeweler Richard Miller describes the structural components of the costume. The "metal" was metallic paint on rubber.

The so-called "metal bikini" was not made of metal. Instead of making a full-body or torso cast of Fisher, which Miller described as an extremely uncomfortable process that required getting naked and having plaster thrown on one's body, he utilized a wax casting technique used in bronze sculpting. The costume components were first sculpted in soft wax around bendable armature wire at his home studio, placed in an ice chest, and transported to Lucas's Park Way house. Fisher's friend and fellow actress Penny Marshall accompanied her there for the fitting with Rodis-Jamero, who explained the process to Fisher. By wearing the cold wax against her bare skin, her body heat warmed and softened the wax so she could shape it for a custom fit before he placed the structures back in the ice chest. Miller then used the wax to create molds and cast the final structural components in orange-colored, dense but flexible urethane rubber for Fisher to wear and a softer, more flexible latex rubber for Tracey Eddon's stunt version. The paint for the faux metal elements was touched up during filming with Treasure Gold polish.

When I did show George the finished costume, he's looking at it and looking at it and looking at it, and he turns around and walks away, and the art director goes with him. And I thought, well, that's the end of that one, you know, I guess he really hated it. Then in about five minutes the art director came back and he said, "He loves it, he loves it!" And I said, "But he didn't say anything." And he said, "Well, that's why we know he loves it."

— Richard Miller describes George Lucas's initial reaction

The finished costume was made of silk, painted resin, leather, and rubber. At a cost of $8,000, Miller produced a total of three sets of costume castings to have "one to use, one to lose, and one to break." When the castings were sent to ILM's San Rafael wardrobe shop, Rodgers' team finalized the costume with fabric elements, and added leather linings to the backs of the structural pieces to improve its wearability for Fisher. One of Miller's students at the College of Marin made the earrings, and boot maker John Shrader made the suede boots to which Miller added sculptural filigree.

Fisher arrived in England shortly after New Year's Day in 1982 for makeup and costume fittings prior to the beginning of filming at Elstree Studios. Due to Fisher's weight loss since the initial fitting, the costume did not have the intended snug fit. Miller made a replacement to send to England, but he was never fully satisfied with its appearance in the film. Miller had designed the bra's support cords to be crossed in front, but the on-set dressers instead crossed them in the back, telling Miller that it had looked too confining.

(Although not specifically about this costume alone, the 11th Saturn Awards in 1984 awarded Best Costumes to Rodgers and Rodis-Jamero for their work on Return of the Jedi.)

Production

Filming

The thing that killed me about this setup was, Okay you put me in this bathing suit—but then I have to stop talking from here on? Strip me—and I'm silent! I am defiant with everyone else—Tarkin, Darth Vader—but this slug really shuts me up. Any defiance I had in the other movies—all gone.

— Carrie Fisher, regarding Leia Organa's characterization when wearing the costume

"It was a problem keeping it in place," Fisher said in the ROTJ panel at the 42nd Annual World Science Fiction Convention. "It drove the wardrobe person nuts." Although not made of genuine metal, despite how it's sometimes described, the costume still had little flexibility on Fisher and did not move with her body. Surrounded by a predominantly male cast and crew, she was initially embarrassed before eventually finding that "dignity was out of the question." At first, a prop man would check after shots to see if the top had slipped, and she then began checking herself between takes and would be asked about her breasts before they resumed filming. She later made light of it to Star Wars Insider magazine: "It was like steel, not steel, but hard plastic, and if you stood behind me you could see straight to Florida. You'll have to ask Boba Fett about that."

Mark Hamill, on wearing Carrie Fisher's floral robe: "She LOVED I was willing to look ridiculous!" [...] "Didn't want to wear the robe but isolated in the desert she said 'No one will see you!' This is the exact moment she saw a photographer on a long-angle lens😳"

Uncredited wardrobe assistant Janet Lucas-Wakely, who dressed Fisher throughout filming, said Fisher was happy in her princess dress and fighting gear but hated the dancing costume and was uncomfortable in it. The throne room shoots at Elstree Studios were freezing cold, but the more confined studio set for Jabba's sail barge grew so hot from the lighting that Fisher may have been the only one relatively comfortable with the temperature while the fully-covered performers and crew struggled with the heat.

Fisher enjoyed joking around with Jabba's puppeteers during downtime; according to Marquand, Fisher loved Jabba during filming and would tell the crew operating the puppet's hand to pull the chain more taut so she would know how Leia felt. She later remarked that Leia's character changed when put in the costume, going from unafraid of Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin to barely speaking while chained by the Hutt, despite Fisher attempting to ad lib lines. Frustrated that Leia had changed from defiant to silent in the costume, Fisher said that she decided to become a writer while shooting the palace scenes.

In addition to her weight loss, Fisher was required to sit up straight in front of Jabba so that she would not have lines or wrinkles around her waist from bending or moving. The discomfort of maintaining the rigid posture while wearing the costume contributed to her satisfaction in the scene where Leia strangled and killed Jabba with the chain. She was asked if she wanted a stunt double to do the scene but said she really wanted to kill Jabba herself.

Ed Team

In the scene when Leia is chained to Jabba, I thought she should have acted more mortified!

Carrie Fisher

Absolutely! I was crazed that day! I came in and looked at the script pages and George was off ill. I said, 'Excuse me, but you guys take my clothes off then chain me up. After two films where I'm not afraid of Vader or Tarkin, why should I be afraid of a slug?' In the scene where I'm tied to Jabba, Han comes in and says, 'Where's Leia?' I say, 'I'm here!' and he asked how I am. I answer, 'I've been better!' I think we wrote that, Richard (Marquand), Dave Tomblin and I. Then as the others are led off, leaving me sitting there, Leia doesn't say, 'Well, good luck in the digestion process!' I said it in rehearsal. At that point I was amazed that Leia would just sit there, in those skimpy clothes, saying practically nothing. The only way they could justify that, I told them, was if Jabba pulled my chains real tight so I couldn't speak. I couldn't see my character not talking.

[Later in the interview]

Ed Team

So how does the more feminine Princess manage to strangle a huge creature like Jabba the Hutt?

Carrie Fisher

Her power. . .(whispering) "She's got the Force!" The idea, as written in the script, was Jabba's watching the action and the Princess sort of waits for her moment. She jumps up and hits a device, plunging the ship into darkness. Now Jabba can't move too well. When the Princess turns out the lights it sort of creates havoc among the crew. I took the chain, jumped over him and sawed his throat off. I just had to have someone hold the other end of the chain. And they didn't think I could do it!

— Discussing the costume with Starburst magazine

Tracey Eddon (foreground) and Carrie Fisher (background), not prioritizing suntan continuity

The desert exterior scenes were filmed outside of Yuma, Arizona in April 1982. In the downtime between filming, Fisher and Eddon would sunbathe in their costumes. Fisher told Starlog it angered the crew as they were not supposed to be tanned; she would later say they were popular with the crew during those times. Sunbathing gave her and Eddon a chance to have fun while feeling ridiculous in their costumes, and she would fondly recall decades later, "I liked working with my double, 'cause someone else was wearing the outfit, too, so we were like the Doublemint Intergalactic Twins."

Fisher wore the costume with a woven cloak over it and black goggles for a sandstorm scene that was filmed for Return of the Jedi but ultimately deleted. Sometime during the production, Fisher also wore the costume while portraying herself in footage shot for the unfinished mockumentary Return of the Ewok. The short film would have starred Warwick Davis as his Ewok character, Wicket Wystri Warrick. Davis shared a clip of Fisher's scene at the 2016 Celebration Europe convention. In it, Wicket asked the costumed Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Fisher where the Ewoks were supposed to report for filming Revenge of the Jedi.

Marketing

Audience member

When you were wearing the Slave Leia bikini, did you ever take it off the set and just, like, strut around in it a little bit because you looked so hot in it?

Carrie Fisher

I didn't know I looked hot because what was I, like, 23, and at 23, I defy any of you to have confidence, I mean real confidence. You know what I did that was really cool with the—no, I didn't wear the thing home. I must've known I looked good, you know, we did a photo shoot for the Rolling Stone cover? And we went up, like, north between Santa Barbara and California with all those animals. And did, like, this beach shot with me and the metal bikini and all these monsters; I don't remember who all was there. But I had this double and she was wearing the same outfit, and we used to go around together like the Doublemint Twins. That, I liked, that I liked a lot. And I really liked killing Jabba. They wanted to know if I wanted my stand-in to kill Jabba and I was like shhh—no. [briefly inaudible] Kill that drooling bastard from the first moment I saw him. So nah.

— Carrie Fisher at Dragon*Con 2011

Carrie Fisher in costume with unknown people dressed as Darth Vader, a Gamorrean guard, and an Ewok. She enjoyed this Rolling Stone photoshoot by Aaron Rapoport at Stinson Beach, California in summer 1983.

While in England in February 1982, Fisher did a promotional photoshoot wearing her various Return of the Jedi costumes, including this one. Those and other photographs of Fisher in the bikini were subsequently utilized in marketing for the film. Multiple artists also created poster concept art. Two proposals by John Alvin rendered the costume with a bikini bottom rather than a skirt. Ultimately, Japanese-American Kazuhiko Sano's artwork became the "Style B" poster, with Leia centered in the bottom half.

In 1983, a production still of Leia in the costume was featured on the cover of People magazine's June 6 issue, which included an interview with Fisher. She did a beach photo shoot with Aaron Rapoport for Rolling Stone, and the photographs were featured on the cover and in an interview with Fisher for the July 1983 issue. The cover depicts her as Leia Organa sitting on a beach towel alongside an Ewok, Darth Vader holding a boombox, and a Gamorrean guard holding a beach ball. Fisher later shared during convention panels (such as a cast panel at Dragon*Con 2011 and "Date with a Princess" at Celebration VI in 2012) that she really liked doing that photo shoot.

[Aaron Rapoport] quickly maneuvered the group through a series of shots on the beach party theme, and Fisher's all-in approach shows in the pics, from lifting the Ewok off the ground in a bear hug to posing fully enveloped in Vader's black cape. Ultimately, it was Fisher's idea that would render the most well-known images of the entire shoot.

I turned to her and said, 'Look how beautiful the water is,'" explains Rapoport, "and she said, 'You want me to go in?' It was her idea and she was fearless about it. That was how we ended the day actually, and she was just on fire."

— Retrospective on the Rolling Stone 1983 cover story

Costume and castings, post-filming

Closeup of film-used brassiere and skirt on a mannequin; flaking gold paint exposes the orange urethane rubber of the "metal"

The film-used costume was exhibited as part of Star Wars: The Magic of Myth at the National Air and Space Museum from 1997 to 1999 before going on tour with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. It has also been exhibited at some showings of Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition; further research is needed regarding the dates and locations that included this costume.

The Smithsonian Institution exhibited the costume again as part of Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Wars and the Power of Costume, which toured from 2015 to 2018. This exhibition included placards that contextualized the costume in cinematic history and audio narration. The website erroneously reported the costume had a "hard metal piece for scenes in which Fisher remained still" but the material listings on the relevant placard did not mention metal.

End of content adapted from Wookieepedia.

In 2015, Richard Miller compiled a collection of items as one lot for auction through the auction house Profiles in History. The lot included set-used costume castings, original and alternate wax master sculpts, and design documents. During the film's production, these particular costume castings were tried out on set but did not fit Fisher due to her weight loss, so they were sent back to the ILM model shop and replaced with altered versions. Gus Lopez, a Star Wars collector who operates The Star Wars Collectors Archive website, won the auction and later wrote an article about the items for StarWars.com. He included scans and photographs of the various items in that article and on his website.

Further auctions of production-used costume component castings took place in 2022, 2023, and 2024. As with Miller's auction, these items were created for the film production but were not screen-used (so they were not worn by Carrie Fisher for the actual film).

An auction through Propstore in November 2022 had a set of test castings with a paint job and reproduction textiles to complete the look of the brassiere and skirt. The castings were: a harness top (cast in white resin), bottom piece with four sections (urethane for front and sides, "and the back plate is an original wax piece"), bracelet (urethane), and spiral-snake upper armband ("an original wax element"). The lot included "prototype beige leather lace-up boots" said to have been worn by Fisher in costume fittings and depicted in a behind-the-scenes photograph.

A set that was auctioned through Julien's Auctions in September 2023 consisted of castings for the brassiere, faux-metal skirt pieces, and most of the jewelry, all with an intentionally-distressed recent paint-job. The winning bid was $38,100 USD. The lot description noted, "Only two other examples of production made and unused components have been publicly sold and no screen-used examples are known to exist outside of the Lucasfilm Archives." This description also made a claim about the screen-used brassiere: "For scenes where Fisher would sit absolutely still, a sculpted bronze bra by designer Richard Miller, Head Jeweler for the film, was implemented." This is not supported by Miller's own descriptions of using bronze casting techniques rather than metal, nor by the screen-used costume being bronze-less.

The most recent auction in July 2024 consisted of seven castings: brassiere, armlet, bracelet, two skirt plates, and two hip rings; reproduction textile elements and a wig were included in the lot for display purposes. The auction winner was the BikiniARTmuseum in Bad Rappenau, Germany, and it paid a total price of $175,000 USD (equivalent to 162,000 Euro; winning bid of $140,000 plus additional costs). In February 2025, the museum posted an unpacking video on Instagram with text that included: "soon you can marvel at it with your own eyes".

Carrie Fisher and the legacy of the costume

Ann Curry (reacting to footage of the barge scene)

Oh my gosh, look at you there! So that's gotta feel—

Carrie Fisher

Yeah, well, I wanna get back in the metal bikini and just, like, walk around the house like an idiot, you know? Answer the doorbell, 'What, what is it? Oh, this old thing?' I'm just wearing my, ha ha, my home-style metal bikini. I'll come out with a line of metal bikinis for women over 40.

Ann Curry

Really? Oh, very nice.

Carrie Fisher

Right?

Ann Curry

Okay, I might be interested in one of those...

Carrie Fisher

It's for dignity!

Ann Curry

Exa— Dignity is always important.

Carrie Fisher

If you want dignity, you wear metal bikinis over 40, that's all I'm saying. Go on Jenny Craig, and wear a metal bikini—

Carrie Fisher (in the style of a spokesperson in a commercial)

—And you, too, can wear metal bikinis over 40!

— Carrie Fisher, as a Jenny Craig spokesperson on the Today show

Carrie Fisher, photographed by Brian Griffin in 1982

Carrie Fisher seemed to have very mixed feelings about the costume in relation to her self-image, and she was constantly asked about it from before the film's release up until her death.

Fisher sometimes expressed pride looking back at her physical appearance in the costume; she told Star Wars Insider in 2003 that her daughter was falling asleep while watching the trilogy for the first time, "Then I realized, 'oh my God, there is me with the good body', and I tried to wake her up. 'You are going to get this body' I told her, 'so pay attention.' She doesn't care. But it's not a bad body to get, and of course I did not know that at the time. We were all younger then." She commented in 2015 when The Daily Beast brought up the photos with her stunt double, "I have serious body dysmorphia issues, but I must admit being somewhat proud looking back at the photos." During the time that she actually wore the costume, she did not have positive feelings about her physique. As a February 2011 guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, she discussed becoming a spokesperson for the Jenny Craig weight loss program, saying, "I didn't even realize at the time that I was sort of the Star Wars pin-up, the geek pin-up. I thought I was fat then, so now finally it all caught up with me."

Several months later, Fisher went on the Today show to discuss her resulting weight loss. Host Ann Curry prefaced a compilation video from Return of the Jedi with, "Oftentimes, I'm sure, you've been annoyed when television programs like this one start rolling that video of you as Princess Leia in that, what, metal bikini—" Fisher immediately began joking that it was like being Minnie Mouse, about the idea of wearing one to answer the door, and that she'd create a line of metal bikinis to wear over 40 and after going on Jenny Craig.

At Celebration Anaheim in 2015, James Arnold Taylor hosted Fisher's "Date with the Princess" panel, surprised her during it with a clip from Friends she had never seen, and then he interviewed her afterward. She discussed how she'd viewed the costume as she prepared to film and what it had become since then:

Carrie Fisher

I looked at that costume when [George Lucas] showed it to me and I thought: A. he's joking, B. how do I—how am I gonna look in that? How am I gonna—I have to make myself look better to be able to wear that, and then I got preoccupied with that, never thinking it was, oh, that would have been... how does one think like that?

James Arnold Taylor

Right, no, you can't. But to know that now it had such an impact on people.

Carrie Fisher

The worst thing about it, though, is they have these sites where they take people that were—what is that called? When you're a—sex! No, centerfold. Nothing to do with sex, except when you're alone. And so they did all these people that had iconic bathing suits and I'm there with, like, Raquel Welch—my peer—and Brigitte Bardot—also someone I identify with strongly. That crowd.

James Arnold Taylor

There you were.

Carrie Fisher

And that, I didn't like that, because you have to live up to something there, and I forget what it is, but it wasn't something I was really focused on in that way.

James Arnold Taylor

But you still got it, and they all still react to it, and it's—people love this character.

Carrie Fisher

They are paid to!

James Arnold Taylor

No!

Carrie Fisher

No, it comes from their childhood, though—worse, worse, it comes from their adolescence!

— Carrie Fisher, at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim

Continuing, she commented on how she could understand how women related to Leia as a strong woman, while it seemed that for men, it was about a strong woman who was in a revealing costume. After Taylor responded with a quip, he changed the subject to The Force Awakens.

In an interview she conducted with her sequel trilogy co-star Daisy Ridley, who portrayed Rey Skywalker, Fisher advised Ridley to fight if she ever got asked to wear similar costumes:

Carrie Fisher

Listen! I am not a sex symbol, so that's an opinion of someone. I don't share that.

Daisy Ridley

I don't think that's the right—

Carrie Fisher

Word for it? Well, you should fight for your outfit. Don't be a slave like I was.

Daisy Ridley

All right, I'll fight.

Carrie Fisher

You keep fighting against that slave outfit.

— Carrie Fisher and Daisy Ridley, with the former interviewing the latter

Fisher's final memoir, The Princess Diarist (2016), includes multiple comments on and anecdotes involving her faux metal "Jabba Killer" bikini. Killing Jabba the Hutt remained her favorite moment of her personal film history. She brought her emotional support dog, Gary Fisher, with her in May 2016 to visit Madame Tussaud's Star Wars wax figures, including Jabba the Hutt and Leia. The Leia figure was sweaty-looking, impassive, and dressed in "that fucking bikini" Jabba picked out for her instead of wearing a regular outfit like other characters. Regarding conventions, Fisher commented favorably on women and men cosplaying in the costume, and less so on how some fans wanting her to sign a "nude-ass picture" would seem disappointed or even resentful over how she'd aged since she'd been their first crush.

In her closing remarks, she wrote:

What would I be if I weren't Princess Leia? A great big nothing without one piece of fan mail to call my own? Someone who didn't have to defend her right to not look good in a bikini over forty-five? [...] Never have been asked if I thought I'd been objectified by silently wearing a gold bikini, while seated on a giant laughing cruel slug, while everyone chatted gaily around me?

— Carrie Fisher's closing remarks

She'd written in her 2011 memoir Shockaholic that reports of her death would include "a picture of a stern-looking girl wearing some kind of metal bikini lounging on a giant drooling squid, behind a newscaster informing you of the passing of Princess Leia after a long battle with her head." The Princess Diarist was published several weeks before her death on December 27, 2016. As she had predicted, obituaries and other articles published on the day she died highlighted her appearance in Leia's bikini costume, including those in:

• Deadspin (a sports blog), "Carrie Fisher Really Wanted You To Know She Hated The Metal Bikini"
• Los Angeles Times (a newspaper), which discusses it in the first few paragraphs
• The Hollywood Reporter (a trade journal), "Carrie Fisher And That Iconic Slave Leia Bikini" and "Carrie Fisher on That Infamous Gold Bikini, Drug Abuse and Hollywood's Female Double Standard"

And it wasn't just her own obituaries: some online obituaries for hairdresser Paul LeBlanc in 2019 (such as one on SYFY Wire) and for jeweler Richard Miller in 2022 (including The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood) emphasized their work on this costume and included photographs of Carrie Fisher in it.

I looked at her [Star Wars hairdresser Patricia McDermott] aghast, with much like the expression I used when shown the sketches of the metal bikini. The one I wore to kill Jabba (my favorite moment in my own personal film history), which I highly recommend your doing: find an equivalent of killing a giant space slug in your head and celebrate that. It works wonders when I'm plagued by dark images of my hairy earphones.

— Carrie Fisher, on drawing strength from filming the death of Jabba

Misinformation, rumors, and controversies

Fact-checked by Carrie Fisher

The Geek Twins blog published "15 Interesting Facts About the Slave Leia Costume [Movies]" in 2014. On Twitter in 2015, the user @Hamstachick referred to that article and asked Carrie Fisher, "Are these true? ;)" Fisher responded "cant believe I actually took the time 2 do this-tragic-okay" and provided her responses to each of the 15 items. In a follow-up to Fisher's tweet, The Geek Twins published a new article that listed their sources for their prior article; those included IGN's 2006 article "Star Wars Secrets: Leia's Teeny Bikini" and a "Slave Leia costume" article on Wookieepedia.

Fisher responded "NOT TRUE" to claims 1, 8, 11, and 12, which were:

• #1: The costume was created because she complained that her previous costumes left people unable to tell "she was a woman" in them. (The Geek Twins' source: IGN)
• #8: A moldmaker was replaced when he was too excited about prospectively making a mold of her torso. (The Geek Twins' source: Wookieepedia)
• #11: One wardrobe assistant checked after each take to make sure Fisher's breasts had not fallen out. (The Geek Twins' source: IGN)
• #12: She was unhappy with the costume and she called it "what supermodels will eventually wear in the seventh ring of hell." (The Geek Twins' source: Wookieepedia). The quoted phrase came from Fisher's 1999 Newsweek magazine article about The Phantom Menace premiere, so it was unclear to The Geek Twins what aspect of this claim Fisher considered untrue (was she disputing her own authorship?)

She affirmed as "TRUE":

• #2: Both she and Tracey Eddon wore it. (The Geek Twins' source: Wookieepedia)
• #9: She was shown the drawings and they frightened her into exercising. (The Geek Twins' source: Wookieepedia)
• #15: The costume is a huge part of pop culture. (The Geek Twins' source: Wookieepedia)

The Geek Twins were puzzled about Carrie Fisher remembering or not remembering things they believed would be unforgettable and marked as "DONT KNOW" or "MAYBE". Puzzle no more: Fisher frankly shared her experiences with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in her memoir Shockaholic, among other sources. She found ECT effective for her severe depression and worth the side effect of some memory loss. (While this isn't 100% definitively the reason she gave those answers, it's something to keep in mind whenever someone wonders why she didn't remember something.)

Black Series action figure

Carrie Fisher reacted via Tweets to the viral news story about a father and the Black Series "Princess Leia (Slave Outfit)" action figure. See reference for exact transcription of text and corrected-for-readability version.

On July 13, 2015, the news station FOX 29 Philadelphia ran a story titled (misleadingly) "Star Wars Action Figure Has Parents Furious", which was about one father who was shocked and "furious" that Target was selling the "Princess Leia (Slave Outfit)" action figure from Hasbro's Black Series. The news station approached other parents to show them the action figure and those parents also said they probably wouldn't buy it for their own kids. The news station said Hasbro did not respond to a request for comment, while Target's corporate headquarters said they had not received other complaints.

That story went viral and Carrie Fisher responded to it with Tweets about the "OUTRAGE" and how she used that chain to kill Jabba. When repeatedly asked to comment on the toy story, Fisher described how parents could explain to their children why Leia wore the costume: it was not Leia's choice, but she used the chain to kill Jabba and then took it off.

Michael Calia

There's been some debate recently about whether there should be no more merchandise with you in the 'Return of the Jedi' bikini.

Carrie Fisher

I think that's stupid.

Michael Calia

To stop making the merchandise?

Carrie Fisher

The father who flipped out about it, 'What am I going to tell my kid about why she's in that outfit?' Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him because I didn't like it. And then I took it off. Backstage.

— Carrie Fisher, interviewed for The Wall Street Journal

Banning the bikini?

J. Scott Campbell

Daisy Ridley won't have to fight against anything. Disney is already well on it's way to wiping out the "slave" outfit from any future products period. You will NOT see and future merchandising featuring the slave outfit ever again. Trust me.

Blake Northcott

Wait WHAT??? Are you serious??? How many women wear that outfit as cosplay to every single convention? I think girls like it better than boys do!

J. Scott Campbell

Very. I've heard it from two sources. We can't even draw Leia in a sexy pose at Marvel, let alone in that outfit! We also had a 3-D SL statue killed at a major manufacturer because there will no longer be any SL merchandise :-/

Alejandro Figueroa

Ariel´s shells bra is more revealing!!
Yes she s a fish on her bottom
but the upper part shows more skin than Leia

J Scott Campbell

Ariel's not "enslaved" though... But point taken. I never said their decision was logical.

— Via Facebook; typos uncorrected. This exchange and a viral news story got blended together in the rumor mill

Just days after the action figure drama began, another story about this costume went viral: a photoshoot in which comedian Amy Schumer wore it while holding a lightsaber in a mock pornographic pose. This led to commentary on both Schumer's photoshoot and the action figure. Then in October 2015, another was kicked off by comic book artist J. Scott Campbell, who said Disney was "wiping out" any future products, merchandise, or drawings of "Slave Leia". Although some commentary on the rumor would note this had not been confirmed or even commented upon by Disney/Lucasfilm, it was often reported as factual rather than alleged by one person. The Discourse™ became a mix of the costume itself, the Black Series action figure, the Amy Schumer photo shoot, and the rumored retirement by Disney. Basically, you couldn't swing a norg in the latter half of 2015 without hitting an opinion about "Slave Leia", especially regarding the sexualization of Leia's character.

Vanity Fair brought up the merchandise rumors in a feature story on Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy from its February 2016 issue. The magazine noted that outside her office, she had a statue of the ROTJ cast that included "Leia in her bikini". The magazine stated, "Despite rumors, Disney is not banning the image from future Star Wars paraphernalia." Kennedy doubted Lucas would put Leia in the bikini with a chain around her neck if the film was made today. Mellody Hobson, Lucas's wife, disagreed:

"George is not apologetic about that bikini," elaborating that he had said, "The one thing I know are boys." Hobson went on: "He thinks that was a very important scene. He would probably do the same thing today. He is not apologetic at all."

— In Vanity Fair

Disney/Lucasfilm has continued to approve licensed items with Leia wearing the costume and to depict her wearing it. This includes:

• Illustrations in A Little Golden Book of Return of the Jedi in July 2015
• Star Wars: 100 Images to Inspire Creativity and Relaxation, from the Art of Coloring aka Art Therapy coloring book series
• "Gambit on Geonosis," the finale of LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales on Disney XD in November 2015
• Hallmark's "Princess Leia^™ and Jabba the Hutt^™ itty bittys" plush set, an exclusive at San Diego Comic-Con 2016
• "Princess Leia" page spread in the original trilogy section of Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition (which they could have omitted from this 2018 release instead of repurposing material from the 1998 original-trilogy–focused The Visual Dictionary)
• Star Tots "Princess Leia Organa (Jabba's Palace)", diecast item given away to attendees of Collecting Track panels at Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019
• Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures online animated microseries, in the episodes "Luke vs. Jabba - Sail Barge Escape" and "Luke vs. the Rancor - Wrath of the Rancor"
• The Ultimate Pop-Up Galaxy pop-up book (strangling Jabba)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, video game released in 2022

The Huttslayer: from fanon to canon

Angie P., in 2015

Can we petition to replace the term "Slave Leia" with "Leia the Huttslayer"?

Angie P., in 2016

@swankmotron @FullOfSith I am seeing it now, oh my god. Wow, okay. I wasn't expecting credit in interviews, wow.

— Angie P. (as @tonks17), originating and then reacting to the canonization of "Huttslayer"

During the peak of the merchandising controversy, a Twitter user with the pseudonym Angie P. called for Leia to be known as the "Huttslayer" instead of "Slave Leia." While author Claudia Gray was in the midst of writing her 2016 novel Bloodline, which includes a character fascinated by Leia and how she killed Jabba, Gray learned of the fan movement that had grown around the name "Huttslayer". Bloodline does not refer to the costume as a slave outfit, instead calling it a "dancing-girl costume" that Leia happened to be wearing when she slew Jabba the Hutt and subsequently became legendary-in-universe for her actions rather than what she wore. Gray credited Angie P. for bringing the fanon term to her attention and told Wired, "When the fans come up with something really great like that, why wouldn't you want to fold it in?"

Anthony Breznican

Leia encounters a criminal figure who is fascinated by her because she's known as "The Huttslayer" in the underworld. He even has a holograph recording of her killing Jabba. What made you decide to revisit her time in that skimpy gold bikini?

Claudia Gray

Right around when I was working on this part of the book there was a movement that went around in some Star Wars fan circles — a lot of talk about how much people don't like the 'Slave Leia' outfit. That's her most powerless moment in the entire thing... It was a dancing girl outfit, but it gets called a slave outfit. I believe it was a young lady named Angie P, who said, "I petition that we call it The Huttslayer outfit," and I was like, "That is a great name and that is going to happen right now."

Anthony Breznican

And now "Huttslayer" is canon!

Claudia Gray

Not only did I like recasting that outfit as a memory of Leia being really strong and kick-ass, but think about it — for a human being to kill a Hutt with her bare hands? That's unbelievable. Anybody who would be able to pull that off would be remembered for it. That would be legend.

— Claudia Gray, on reframing "Slave Leia" as the fan-coined "Huttslayer"

The portion of The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition (New Canon) that adapts content on this costume from The Visual Dictionary (Legends) also uses the recent reframing:

Visual Dictionaries: Legends versus New Canon

	Legends	New Canon
Text	"Braving the dangers of Jabba's Palace in her quest to rescue Han Solo, Leia knew she could face torture or death if captured. Though she did not anticipate the grueling experience of serving as Jabba's slave girl, she endures her captivity with fierce spirit and keeps ready to turn on Jabba when the time is right."	"Leia braves the dangers of Jabba's palace in her quest to rescue Han Solo. Unfortunately, she is caught and imprisoned as Jabba's slave, but she endures her captivity with fierce spirit. Leia puts an end to the contemptible crime lord when the opportunity arises, succeeding where dozens of assassins have failed."
Label	"Slave girl harness"	"Bronzium harness"
Heading	"Jabba's Slave"	"Huttslayer"

Actually, R2 has been known to make mistakes...
This section contains a theory about Star Wars and supporting evidence for why it possibly could be true, but Star Wars Fic Reference Wiki may be like R2... from time to time.

The name "dancing-girl costume" may have been derived from the costume's description in the script of ROTJ, which describes Leia "dressed in the skimpy costume of a dancing girl; a chain runs from a manacle/necklace on her neck" to Jabba. Gray did tell EW that it's a "dancing girl outfit", but unlike "Huttslayer", she doesn't seem to have discussed exactly where she picked up that phrasing for what the costume is (or it just hasn't turned up yet in searches).

End of theorizing

In the Star Wars universe

Leia and her costume

Return of the Jedi has a kriffload of adaptations retelling its story, along with tales that are set in-between film scenes. Leia also looks back at that time in some books set later. How these stories handle it—such as emphasizing how Leia feels or how Luke, Lando, and Han feel—varies.

Film adaptations

Novelization

James Kahn's film novelization was published before the theatrical release. Luke and Leia have this moment when he approaches Jabba's throne:

Luke saw Leia seated there, now, by Jabba's belly. She was chained at the neck and dressed in the skimpy costume of a dancing girl. He could feel her pain immediately, from across the room—but he said nothing, didn't even look at her, shut her anguish completely out of his mind. For he needed to focus his attention entirely on Jabba.

Leia, for her part, sensed this at once. She closed her mind to Luke, to keep herself from distracting him; yet at the same time she kept it open, ready to receive any sliver of information she might need to act. She felt charged with possibilities.

— Possibility: Leia's going to be the Huttslayer, not him

When Jabba makes her drink from his glass, she mentally closes it off as something that wouldn't last and there were worse things. For her, that's Darth Vader torturing her on the Death Star. "She'd endured these pains, as she now endured Jabba's loathsome touch—with a natural, inner strength." Then it's time to kill him. She "grabbed the chain which enslaved her" and used it "like a garrote". It describes her as using her "life-force" instead of explicitly the Force, but the implication is there:

With a strength beyond her own strength, she pulled. He bucked with his huge torso, nearly breaking her fingers, nearly yanking her arms from their sockets. He could get no leverage, his bulk was too unwieldy. But just his sheer mass was almost enough to break any mere physical restraint.

Yet Leia's hold was not merely physical. She closed her eyes, closed out the pain in her hands, focused all of her life-force—and all it was able to channel—into squeezing the breath from the horrid creature.

She pulled, she sweated, she visualized the chain digging millimeter by millimeter deeper into Jabba's windpipe—as Jabba wildly thrashed, frantically twisted from this least expected of foes.

— Leia instinctively channels the Force

Radio drama

Leia

That's right, Jabba: You forgot one thing.

[Sound: She gathers the slack of the heavy chain, to use it as a weapon of revenge.]

Leia (INDICATING EFFORT OF ATTACKING HIM, TO GARROTE HIM WITH THE HEAVY CHAIN)

When you put a slave on a leash... the other end is attached to you!

Jabba

TRUMPETS IN DISMAY AND OUTRAGE AS SHE LEAPS BEHIND HIM, THROWING THE LOOP OF CHAIN AROUND HIS (WELL, KIND OF NONEXISTENT) NECK AND TIGHTENING IT.

Leia (THROUGH GRITTED TEETH, AS SHE SLOWLY CHOKES THE LIFE OUT OF HIM)

Now you know how it feels to have cold iron around your throat, Jabba!

Jabba

GASPS AND GURGLES, TRIES SUMMONING ASSISTANCE.

Leia

Call for help all you want. (GRUNTS WITH EFFORT; SHE'S GOT HER KNEE IN HIS BACK, HAULING BACK HARD ON THE CHAIN GARROTE) Your fine pack of cutthroats are too busy saving their own necks.

[...]

Leia (INDICATES SHE'S EXERTING ALL HER STRENGTH AND LEVERAGE TO FINISH HIM OFF)

Here's your... final payment... Jabba...

[...]

[Sound: Deck-shaking thud as Jabba collapses dead.]

Leia (OUT OF BREATH FROM THE EPIC CONTEST)

You're out of business.

— Extended dialogue that's unique to NPR's radio drama; capitalization in print

Unlike the film, Leia actually gets to speak multiple times while wearing the costume in National Public Radio's radio dramatization of ROTJ. She also talks about it with Lando and with Han in scenes unique to the radio drama.

First, Lando checks up on Leia while Jabba's palace is in sleep mode. She complains to him that the outfit isn't warm, the chain pinches, the collar chafes, and she'll get killed faster than Oola if she has to perform since her "dancing's not good". She gets additional lines as she kills Jabba, vocalizing how she's using the chain he'd put on her and now he knows how iron around his throat feels. (And then she quips about his death.)

Another scene is set on the Millennium Falcon after the deleted-from-film sandstorm. After Leia and Han bicker about their history, she excuses herself, "I'll go find some clothes that don't require a cabaret permit." Han asks if she's going to throw those away; she says "We'll see." When she and Lando bump into each other as he's coming in and she's leaving the cockpit, he sexualizes her to her face and then to tease Han. (The reference note includes a quote so you don't have to just take our word for it that it's really that bad.)

Junior novelization and young readers

The junior novelization by Ryder Windham from 2004 was revised for New Canon and republished in 2017. The revision removed sentences objectifying Leia:

Both continuities

Leia, eyes closed, lay slumped beside Jabba's slumbering form. She had replaced Oola as Jabba's slave dancer, and was worried about the acrobatic dances she might have to perform. She wore a collar around her neck that was secured to a long chain.

Legends only

She also wore a skimpy costume that left very little of her unexposed to view. Salacious Crumb — who remained awake — leaned over from his resting spot within the curve of Jabba's tail and peeked at Leia's bare stomach.

— Version comparison

(The worry about dances may be a reference to the radio dramatization.)

In New Canon, Beware the Power of the Dark Side! by Tom Angleberger is variously marketed for young readers, ages 8– or 9–12, or grade level 3–7. Like in Kahn's novelization, when Luke rolls up in Jabba's throne room, he senses Leia's feelings and has to stay focused on Jabba. But in this version, he's tempted by the dark side to kill the Hutt and anyone who gets in his way because he feels anger and hatred about Leia's situation. The writing no longer seems like it's for young readers: Leia is "miserable and helpless in a skimpy metal dancer's costume and chained to Jabba's throne"; Luke thinks, "to see her like this... a slave, forced to expose so much of herself before Jabba's greedy eyes..." After Luke defeats the rancor and Han calls out to her, Leia is "relieved that at least one person can't see her humiliating costume or the fact that Jabba is petting her with a slimy hand."

When she kills Jabba, "Like Luke, Leia is now beyond fear. And even beyond anger. Jabba simply must die! A grim power flows through her. Jabba thought she was a plaything. But he underestimated this princess." Although the film doesn't show her in peril afterward, this book says, "Defenseless in her slave dancer's outfit and still chained to Jabba, she is in great danger."

More characters; more costumes

Both continuities share TPM and The Clone Wars, which have Leia-inspired costumes. Since the continuity split, and unlike Legends, New Canon hasn't made any new versions or put Leia's costume on any characters besides Leia herself (as of 2024).

Both continuities

A non-speaking extra (character later named Diva Shaliqua) wears a dancing-girl costume in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Her version has a dark-colored brassiere and filigreed bikini briefs over pink harem trousers.

In The Clone Wars, holographic images on Coruscant in the episode "Lethal Trackdown", which are better seen on StarWars.com, advertise for an underground nightclub by depicting a blue-green Twi'lek wearing a bikini set with coordinating accessories. In "Hunt for Ziro", at Gardulla the Hutt's palace on Nal Hutta, three Twi'lek chorus girls each wear an outfit noted by their concept art as being "similar to slave Leia bikini". These have briefs and thigh-high stockings and use different color schemes to match three Hutt crime lords, who are also depicted as the trio's headdresses. "Slaves of the Republic" includes another Tw'ilek wearing one of these costumes while accompanied by a Zygerrian enslaver on Zygerria. Back to Nal Hutta for "Friends and Enemies", Twi'leks in filigreed bikinis dance on a bar while another Twi'lek pair escorts out Sy Snootles because she's long-snout-girl–wasted.

Legends

Video games

[If the player suggests Kreia, an old woman, could dance for Vogga the Hutt]

Player character

What about Kreia?

Twi'lek Domo

I don't mean any offense to you, but Vogga tends to favor younger dancers.

Kreia

None taken.

— And so, Kreia does not don a Dancer's Outfit in the quest Vogga's Dancers

The single-player combat game Demolition (from 2000) depicts twin pilots Tia and Ghia, who are captured by Jabba, wearing Leia-style costumes modified to be in their respective color schemes of blue and green.

The 2004 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords has a Dancer's Outfit inspired by Leia's costume rather than a direct copy; differences include a small loincloth instead of long veils. The player character (canonically named Meetra Surik, addressed in-game as "exile", fanon "Jedi Exile") needs to negotiate a solution for shipments of Sleheyron fuel for the Telosian Restoration Project. In the Entertainment Promenade on Nar Shaddaa, the PC must seek an audience with Vogga the Hutt by speaking to his majordomo. The majordomo is searching for new dancers who must be young and female. If the PC is female, she can volunteer to do it herself; however, if she's dark side-aligned, she's "a bit too imposing" and has to successfully use Persuade to do the job. If the female PC doesn't do it or if the PC is male, they must suggest one of their female party members to do it instead. The Handmaiden companion (male PC only) is willing to dance; Mira initially refuses and has to be convinced; Visas Marr completely refuses; and Kreia will be turned down. Whoever ends up doing the job must wear a Dancer's Outfit (female PC, Mira, or the Handmaiden). After completing the quest, the PC receives some credits and keeps the costume.

The two SW MMORPGs made similar costumes available for player characters to wear. The now-defunct Star Wars Galaxies adapted Leia's costume as three parts: Metal Bikini, Extremely Revealing Skirt, and Metal Band.

The ongoing Star Wars: The Old Republic has a purchasable Slave Girl armor set inspired by Leia's costume. Various NPCs also wear the SWTOR version while dancing in cantinas on Nar Shaddaa.

Comic books

Shapeshifting bounty hunter Zam Wessel wears a Leia-inspired costume in the AOTC comic book tie-in Jango Fett, with the addition of a jeweled belt for the skirt veils and a sheer face veil. Jango Fett finds that Zam has assassinated his employer Dreddon the Hutt and is disguised as an auburn-haired human harem girl. Zam jokes: "You do recognize me. I wasn't sure you would, given my state... of undress." She used this to get near Dreddon and told him to dismiss the rest of the staff so they could be alone.

Fan resources

• Cosplay resources:
  • "Collection & Costumes - Princess Leia Metal Bikini - Jabba's Slave" by Kathy S. on Kay Dee Collection. (Archived on 2023-05-30)
  • "Leia Organa (Dancer Bikini/Sandstorm)" (via Archive.org due to broken images on live URL) for Rebel Legion — cosplay resources specific to this organization's costuming standards
  • "Slave Leia Costume Tutorial ENG ( Rebel Legion Approved )" by Ahsoka 94 on YouTube. Posted on 2018-06-05.
• Essays:
  • "Does Slave Leia Weaken or Empower Women?" by Tricia Barr on FANgirl Blog. Published 2011-07-18. (Archived on 2024-04-22)
  • "In Defense Of Slave Leia" by Olivia Waite on Olivia Waite. Published 2011-08-29. (Archived on 2024-08-31)
  • "Slut-shaming Princess Leia or protecting childhood from adult sexuality?" on Reel Girl. Published 2014-06-06. (Archived on 2024-04-25)
• Photographs:
  • "Princess Leia Slave Costume" by Maggie on The Padawan's Guide to Star Wars Costumes. (Archived on 2024-07-28)
• César Villar Toro's photography — Flickr gallery of photographs of Princesa Leia esclava de Jabba (Princess Leia Jabba's slave) from Star Wars: The Exhibition, taken on multiple dates (2008-11-30, 2009-03-12, 2009-06-19) in Madrid, Spain
  • "Slave Bikini" by Adi on Star Wars: Fit for a Queen. (original link down; URL was: <http://www.rebelshaven.com/SWFFAQ/slave.php>) (Archived on 2022-12-10)

References

Star Wars sources

StarWars.com and official accounts [SWweb]

Print sources [prt]

Online sources [web]