Leia on the beach
The gold bikini...in its natural habitat?
Wolfgang Wild
1983
It was like, not steel, but hard plastic, and if you stood behind me you could see straight to Florida. Ask Boba Fett. - Carrie Fisher
In 1983's Return of the Jedi, Princess Leia, played by then-27-year-old Carrie Fisher, is taken prisoner by Jabba the Hutt, made his slave and forced to wear a gold bikini. So when Rolling Stone ran an article on Fisher and the film, a beach was the obvious place to showcase both the cast and Fisher's interstellar swimwear (we're guessing).At California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the shoot featured Fisher together with Leia's dad (Darth Vader), plus an Ewok and a Gamorrean Guard. And a beatbox.According to the bikini's Wikipedia page (yes, that's correct), Fisher's breasts had to be taped into place to prevent them from escaping her costume.Thirty years later, Fisher has returned as General Leia Organa in The Force Awakens. During the run up to the new film's release, Fisher was asked whether she still had the bikini. "I wear it on special occasions. I've got it on underneath now. I wear it always, for luck." The Wall Street Journal also asked Fisher for her take on rumors that Disney will no longer market or sell "Leia as slave" merchandise. “I think it’s stupid,” she replied. “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.”
That bikini was what supermodels will eventually wear in the seventh ring of hell. - Carrie Fisher
