Princess Leia's iconic golden bikini is up for auction

The iconic golden bikini worn by Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi is currently up for bidding at Heritage Auctions' July Entertainment Sale. Bidding starts at around $30,000 and is quickly increasing.

Among the memorabilia on the catalog are Din Djarin's helmet from The Mandalorian and a prop Y-wing helmed by Gold Leader, who helped Luke Skywalker in talking down the Death Star in A New Hope. The starting bid for Mando's headgear is $20,000. The Y-wing, one of just two hero filming minatures, is at an expensive $300,000.

Carrie Fisher, who has shared her love-hate relationship with the metal bikini over the years, donned the golden two-piece in the 1983 film during the famous scene at Jabba the Hutt's palace where she was held captive. She later chokes Jabba to death with the chains she was enslaved with while wearing the same set.

As the franchise grew older, the costume became more than just a piece of wardrobe in a sci-fi movie. It turned into a cultural phenomenon, a divisive metaphor, and a fan-favorite cosplay to flaunt at Halloween or comic cons.

While speaking about her memoir, The Princess Diarist, Fisher told Fresh Air's Terry Gross what her initial reaction was to the choice of clothing. "When [George Lucas] showed me the outfit, I thought he was kidding, and it made me very nervous."

However, despite her feelings about the costume, Fisher had never shied away from owning it either. In 2015, a father's misgivings about his daughter wanting the wardrobe sparked rumors that Disney was planning on retiring the "Slave Leia" merchandise. Fisher thought it was "stupid."

She told the Wall Street Journal, "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."

With all this legacy behind the merchandise, the golden bikini will surely sell at an impressive price. Star Wars memorabilia items regularly attract a lot of dollars, with some rare ones like a lost X-Wing from A New Hope selling for a record-setting $3.135 million in October 2023.