“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
Those might be the first words that we ever hear her say, but no one could mistake Princess Leia for a damsel in distress. Equal parts brave and stubborn, quick-tempered and quick-witted, she has delighted audiences from the very beginning and remains one of sci-fi’s most loved heroines. She’s not your average storybook princess waiting to be swept off her feet, either: her prickly romance with Han Solo provides some of the most quotable lines of the trilogy. She’s more than a match for the sarcastic smuggler, and she always has a put-down up her sleeve:
- ” I don’t know where you get your delusions, laser brain.”
She’s not particularly impressed with Han’s pride and joy, the starship Millennium Falcon:
- “This bucket of bolts is never gonna get us past that blockade.”
Or his furry Wookie companion, Chewbacca:
- “Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?”
If you’re planning to dress up as the princess this convention season, it’s a blessedly simple costume. First, and most importantly, you need to achieve the famous cinnamon-bun hairdo.
Princess Leia had many hairstyles throughout the films, but this is the one that’s stuck in the public imagination. It has to be one of cinema history’s most-recognizable (and most-mocked!) styles, but it’s not actually hard to reproduce. The more hair you have the better, but there are video tutorials to teach you how to get the look on longer and shorter hair.
Leia’s makeup is very simple, fresh, and young: just a touch of pencil eyeliner and a strong, glossy lip.
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As for her white dress, there are plenty of official Princess Leia costumes available, from inexpensive thin robes to reproductions costing hundreds of dollars. If you’re on a budget, you can sew your own or just cut a hole in a white sheet for your head and then belt it around your waist! But, if you’re really going for the kitsch factor, it’s hard to do better than a big old fluffy white bathrobe. It might not be authentic, but it’s been Princess Leia costume of choice for generations of little girls since the first film was released in 1977!
Put it all together and you’re ready to head out and greet your own Han Solo with a charming Princess Leia quote like this one:
- “Why, you stuck up…half-witted….scruffy-looking…Nerf herder!”
Well, it worked for her!
This post is in collaboration with Costume Super Center.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Oo, this is perfect! I started growing my hair out last year so I could be Princess Leia for Halloween, but it wasn’t quite long enough so I went with Han instead. It’s definitely long enough now, so now I just need a costume! Thanks