Everyone over a certain age in 1983, and many millions born later, cannot help but remember that bikini -- the metal one worn by Carrie Fisher as a captive of Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi, the one unfortunately named the "Slave Leia" costume.
Now it looks like Disney and Lucasfilm may be doing their best to retire the skimpy outfit, if a report on the well-sourced rumor website Making Star Wars is to be believed. "Slave Leia costume is being retired from the Star Wars IP for merchandise and marketing," the site's editor in chief Jason Ward says he has been told by several sources inside the Mouse House.
Given that Ward has pretty much revealed all of The Force Awakens' spoilers already, you can take that to the bank. (We've reached out to Lucasfilm for confirmation, of course).
Simultaneously, a Marvel comic book artist revealed on Facebook that he isn't allowed to "draw Leia in a sexy pose, let alone that outfit," and that a toy manufacturer has had a statue of Leia in the costume nixed because "there will no longer be any [slave Leia] merchandise."
That doesn't mean that the costume won't continue to exist at Star Wars fan conventions, and other nerd gatherings such as Comic-Con, where it remains among the most reliably popular costumes (and is often seen worn by men as well as women).
Return of the Jedi costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers told me the bikini was a deliberate throwback to Dejah Thoris, the eponymous heroine of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Princess of Mars, as envisioned by artist Frank Frazetta in the 1960s; it has roots in science fiction history and Art Deco design.
But even in the world of fandom, there are changes afoot when it comes to the name of the outfit and the figurine. After all, the primary function of Fisher's character in that part of the narrative is to kill Jabba the Hutt, so focusing on the captivity part gives short shrift to her achievements -- as Fisher herself has pointed out.
That chain only"enslaved"me until I could use the frabjous thing to KILL THAT DROOLING SWOLLEN SUPERTONGUED SLUG&whirl him off into infinity— Carrie Fisher (@carrieffisher) July 15, 2015
Hence a name suggested and embraced by many fans late last month: "Leia the Hutt slayer." The name change began with this tweet, and a post that was liked or reblogged more than 44,000 times on Tumblr:
Can we petition to replace the term "Slave Leia" with "Leia the Huttslayer"? (cc: @FullOfSith)— ANGIE P (@tonks17) July 23, 2015
The "Slayer Leia" concept appears to be riding a wave of unease in the Star Wars fan community -- unease not with the costume itself, but with the way it has traditionally been portrayed in various forms of merchandise.
"Not only does Leia win, but she slays her oppressor Jabba with the chains that bind her," Star Wars blogger Tricia Barr wrote this summer on her site Fangirl, in a post decrying the double standard shown by Lucasfilm towards Amy Schumer's GQ magazine cover, in which the comedian wears the same outfit.
"Female cosplayers have taken the powerful message embedded in the character and worn the costume with pride," Barr wrote, adding that she'd be happy to do so herself. But she continued:
The fact that the slave attire serves valid storytelling and characterization purposes within the movie, however, does not somehow automatically give a free pass to all the ways Lucasfilm or its licensees have exploited the costume and its image since then.
All too often, Slave Leia has been the only costume used to represent Leia –- even in products expressly created for young children like LEGOs -– despite her much greater role in the saga as a leader and warrior.
Indeed, collectors and toymakers have had a rather unhealthy obsession with the minutiae of the Slave Leia outfit for some time. I recall being at San Diego Comic-Con 2013 for the unveiling of the first Leia figurine in Hasbro's "Black Series," a larger, pricier line of Star Wars figures. It was, of course, Slave Leia.
The blueprints were covered in notes to the design team that seemed to illustrate the objectification problem: “Eyes should be more sultry. More petite overall. Smaller breasts. Outer parts of nostrils not so tall. Please sculpt some underpants!”
It was this same Black Series figure that caused a stir in Philadelphia this summer, where a father told a local TV station of his outrage at finding it in the toy aisles at Target, and his embarrassment at being asked by his kids why Leia had a chain around her neck.
"That’s pretty inappropriate,” he said. "I got two daughters I don't need seeing that crap."
Four-year-old daughter: "Why is everyone wearing their regular clothes except Princess Leia?" Good question. pic.twitter.com/s9lZlZt6Dz— Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) January 9, 2015
In her autobiographical stage show Wishful Drinking, Fisher once made an acerbic attack on a Leia figurine she once received that seemed a little too revealing. “I told George, ‘You have the rights to my face,’” she said. “You do not have the rights to my 'lagoon of mystery!'’”
Now, with the costume apparently becoming the sole purview of cosplayers, it seems no one will ever have to take an unexpected trip to the lagoon of mystery ever again -- at least, not in the aisles of Target.